Castatus Virtual Assistant

Live reception, on demand — from anywhere

When the desk sits empty, a single tap puts a visitor face-to-face with a real member of your team over live video. Staff take the call from wherever they already are — laptop, tablet, or phone. Nothing to install for visitors, and nothing to install for your team.

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iPad kiosk showing live staff video feed

Staff your lobby without staffing your lobby

An unstaffed lobby is both a security gap and a weak first impression. Castatus Virtual Assistant covers it without adding a single hire. A visitor at an unattended kiosk taps Call for Help and is connected in seconds by two-way video and audio to the first available team member — at their desk, out on the floor, or working from home. One person on call can watch over several entrances, multiple buildings, and every hour of the day.

One feature. Coverage everywhere you need it.

Cover Unattended Entrances

Secure side entries, back-office check-ins, and low-traffic lobbies that don't justify a full-time greeter but still shouldn't sit unwatched.

Extend a Lean Team

Keep coverage when the receptionist steps away, takes lunch, or it's simply a quiet branch. Whoever's free answers.

Run After-Hours & Early-Morning

Assign different people to before-hours, during-hours, and after-hours so visitors always reach someone — or a clear message if they shouldn't.

Support Deliveries & Vendors

Give couriers and vendors a face to talk to at the door instead of a locked lobby and a guess.

The Difference

A real person, on video, in seconds

This isn't a callback queue or a chatbot. Castatus Virtual Assistant is genuine two-way video and audio, built on an enterprise WebRTC platform for HD video, echo-cancelled audio, and automatic bandwidth adaptation. Each call runs on its own token-secured channel. Visitors see themselves, see your team member the moment they answer, and get clear status the whole way — Calling…, Connecting…, In Progress.

The video window is the visitor's to arrange. They can expand it to full screen for a face-to-face conversation, shrink it to a small floating tile, or drag it anywhere on screen to clear room to type.

And the call doesn't drop when check-in moves ahead — it stays connected from one step to the next, so a visitor can keep talking while they enter their details and even take their check-in photo, all without leaving the call.

visitor call for help, connecting and in progress view
A staff member answering a visitor video call on a phone in a browser

Your team answers from wherever they work

No app to install and nothing to keep open. When a visitor calls, eligible staff get a notification with a one-click answer link — open it on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone and you're in the call. A secure one-time token in the link means staff can answer even when they aren't already logged in. Reception coverage follows your people instead of tying them to a desk.

Get notified the way you already work

When a visitor calls, every eligible team member is alerted in parallel across the channels you've turned on — each notification carries the calling location and station, the time period, and a deep link to claim the call.

Email SMS / Text Microsoft Teams Slack Desktop Alerts SafeStatus

First to answer wins. Everyone else knows it's handled.

Everyone eligible is notified at once, but only the first to tap Answer joins the call. Anyone who opens the link after that sees a clear "claimed by another team member" indicator — no double-answering, no "who's got it?", no visitor talking to two people at once.

3 team members notified

1 connects · others see "handled"

The right people, at the right time of day

Coverage is split into Before Hours, During Hours, and After Hours, each with its own list of staff and its own notification preferences. Routing automatically picks the right group based on when the visitor calls. Security covers the night, reception covers the day — set it once and it runs itself.

Before Hours During Hours After Hours

Settings UI showing Before Hours, During Hours, and After Hours coverage periods on a timeline
Kiosk showing a custom unavailable message directing the visitor to a phone by the door

When no one's available, visitors still get an answer

If no one is on coverage for the current period, the kiosk shows a custom message you control — for example, "Reception is offline right now. Please use the phone by the door to reach security." And if the system sees there's literally no one assigned for that period, it short-circuits cleanly: no notifications fire into the void, the visitor sees your message right away, and the event is logged so you can spot the gap.

See every call as it happens

A live call log shows every call — pending, in progress, completed, missed, abandoned — and updates in real time as calls come in, get claimed, or end. No refresh needed. Stat counters adjust on the fly, and the log is filterable, searchable, and exportable. Calls left unanswered for two minutes are automatically marked Missed so nothing sits stuck in limbo, and missed-call data feeds reporting so you can find and fix coverage gaps.

Live call-log dashboard with real-time status counters for pending, in progress, completed, and missed calls

A clear record of every visitor call

For Security

Every call captures who answered and when, along with a transcript of what was communicated, so you have an audit trail when you need it.

For IT

Role-based access keeps the settings out of guard and receptionist hands — they answer calls, admins configure coverage, stations, and notification rules.

For Ops

Configurable visitor A/V controls let you allow visitors to toggle their own camera and mic, or lock both on for the entire session when policy requires it.

Part of the Enterprise edition of Castatus Visitor Manager, Castatus Virtual Assistant can be switched on at any station where you need coverage.

Available with the Castatus Workplace Productivity Enterprise plan
FAQ

Still have questions?
We can help.

Quick answers about Castatus Virtual Assistant — live video reception for unattended lobbies.

Castatus Virtual Assistant turns an unattended visitor kiosk into a live, on-demand video reception point. When no one is at the desk, a visitor taps "Call for Help" and is connected by two-way video and audio to an available team member, who can answer from a desk, phone, or browser anywhere.
Standard check-in is self-service — the visitor enters their details and a host is notified. Virtual Assistant adds a live human on video for the moments self-service can't cover: a confused visitor, a delivery, a lost badge, or an entrance with no one stationed nearby.
No. There's no app, no QR code, and no login for the visitor. They tap one button on the kiosk and the call begins using the device's existing camera and microphone — typically an iPad at the entrance.
No. Staff answer from any modern browser on desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. The notification includes a one-click link with a secure one-time token, so a team member can join the call even if they aren't currently logged in.
Yes. The call stays connected as the visitor moves through check-in from one step to the next, so they can keep talking while entering their details and even take their check-in photo without leaving the call. Visitors can also expand the video to full screen, shrink it to a small floating tile, or drag it anywhere on screen to make room to type.
Coverage is organized by time of day — Before Hours, During Hours, and After Hours — each with its own list of staff. Everyone in the active group is notified at the same time, and the first person to tap "Answer" is connected. Everyone else sees that the call was already handled.
Email, SMS/text, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are available across plans. Desktop Alerts and SafeStatus push notifications are available with the Mass Notifications plan. You choose which channels each coverage group uses.
Instead of dead air, the kiosk shows a custom message you set — for example, directing the visitor to a phone by the door. If no one is assigned to the current period at all, the system skips notifications entirely, shows the message immediately, and logs the gap so you can address it.
Yes. Virtual Assistant is enabled per station, not just per account. You can run it at a busy main lobby while leaving back-office stations as standard kiosks, which also makes it easy to pilot one entrance before a wider rollout.
Calls run on an enterprise WebRTC platform. Each call uses its own unique channel secured with short-lived tokens, with HD video and echo-cancelled audio that adapts to available bandwidth.
A call left unanswered for more than two minutes is automatically marked "Missed" so it doesn't sit in a perpetual pending state. Missed calls feed into reporting, helping you identify and close coverage gaps.
Yes. Per station, you can let visitors toggle their own camera and microphone, or lock A/V on for the entire session when your security policy requires always-on video.
Castatus Virtual Assistant is an Enterprise feature included with the Workplace Productivity Enterprise plan. Some notification channels (Desktop Alerts, SafeStatus) require the Safety & Mass Notifications plan. Contact us to confirm what's enabled for your account.

Let us show you how one team can cover every entrance, every hour — without staffing a single empty desk.

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