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Communication Integrations

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Overview#

AutomateNexus CRM supports communication channels beyond email: SMS and voice through your own Twilio account, WhatsApp through Twilio, lifelike voices from ElevenLabs and meeting transcription from Deepgram, web push notifications for your team, and the app credentials your Social Scheduler posts with. Text, voice, WhatsApp and website chat conversations come together in one inbox. This guide covers the setup of each channel available under Settings → Integrations → Communications.

Prerequisites#

Before setting up communication integrations, ensure you have:

  • An active AutomateNexus CRM account with permission to change your organization's settings.
  • A Twilio account (for SMS, voice and WhatsApp), with a payment method on it: SMS and voice usage incurs per-message and per-minute charges billed by Twilio.
  • Developer apps on the social networks you post to (X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram) if you use the Social Scheduler.
  1. Log in to your AutomateNexus CRM dashboard.
  2. In the sidebar, under Administration, click Integrations.
  3. Choose Communications in the left menu of the Integrations page.

The Communications section is arranged under headings: Voice & SMS (Twilio, ElevenLabs, Deepgram), WhatsApp, Email, Email sync, File storage, Social media and Push notifications. Each card expands to show its fields, has an on/off switch, and shows Connected once it is set up.

Twilio SMS and Voice#

About Twilio#

Twilio provides the programmable phone line behind AutomateNexus CRM's SMS, voice and WhatsApp features: text conversations and SMS campaigns, the in-app dialer and Power Dialer, and the AI phone receptionist. One card covers SMS and voice.

Step-by-Step Twilio Setup#

  1. Log in to your Twilio Console at console.twilio.com.
  2. On the dashboard, locate your Account SID and Auth Token. Copy both values.
  3. Navigate to Phone Numbers → Manage → Active Numbers to find your Twilio phone number. If you do not have one, you can buy one in Twilio or, later, inside AutomateNexus CRM.
  4. In AutomateNexus CRM, navigate to Settings → Integrations → Communications and expand the Twilio card.
  5. Enter the following fields:
    • Account SID: Your Twilio Account SID.
    • Auth Token: Your Twilio Auth Token.
    • Phone Number: Your Twilio phone number in E.164 format (e.g., +15551234567).
  6. Click Save, then turn the card's switch on.

Phone Numbers#

Numbers live under Inbox → Communication Hub → Phone numbers. Use Find Available Numbers to buy a number in the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom, or Check Twilio under Numbers on your Twilio account to connect one you already own. A number bought or connected there has its messaging and voice webhooks set for you. See AI Phone Receptionist.

Setting Up Inbound SMS and Voice by Hand#

For a number you manage in the Twilio console rather than in the app, point Twilio at AutomateNexus CRM yourself:

  1. On the Twilio card, copy the Inbound SMS webhook.
  2. In the Twilio Console, open Phone Numbers → Manage → Active Numbers and click your number.
  3. Under Messaging, set A message comes in to Webhook with the copied URL and the HTTP method POST.
  4. Back on the Twilio card, copy the Inbound Voice webhook, and under Voice set A call comes in to Webhook with that URL and POST.
  5. Save in Twilio. Incoming texts now appear in the inbox and incoming calls reach AutomateNexus CRM.

Browser Calling#

The in-app softphone and Power Dialer need a Twilio API key (separate from your Auth Token) and a TwiML Application. The Browser calling part of the Twilio card shows Not set up until these are saved:

  1. In the Twilio Console, go to Account → API keys & tokens and create a Standard API key. Paste its SID and secret into API Key SID and API Key Secret.
  2. Copy the TwiML App Voice URL from the card. In the Twilio Console, go to Voice → TwiML → TwiML Apps, create an app, and set its Voice URL to that address (HTTP POST).
  3. Paste the app's SID into TwiML App SID and click Save. The card then shows Configured.

Voice Settings#

Call recording, voicemail, business hours, transfers and the greeting belong to the AI phone receptionist, under AI → AI communications → Calls → Settings. See AI Phone Receptionist.

ElevenLabs and Deepgram#

  • ElevenLabs — Voice synthesis for calls. Expand the card and paste an API Key from elevenlabs.io → Settings → API Keys. The voice itself is chosen in the receptionist's settings under AI → AI communications.
  • Deepgram — Meeting transcription with speaker names. Expand the card and paste an API Key from console.deepgram.com → API Keys (new accounts come with free credit). It is used when a meeting is recorded with In the cloud → Deepgram Nova-3, and Deepgram bills your account. See AI Meeting Notes.

WhatsApp#

WhatsApp runs through your Twilio account, and messages land in the inbox next to SMS and email. On the WhatsApp card choose Twilio Sandbox to try it today with no approval (each person first sends your Sandbox join code to the sandbox number) or your own approved WhatsApp sender number, entered in full international format, then turn the card on.

Push Notifications#

About Push Notifications#

AutomateNexus CRM sends web push notifications to team members' browsers and computers for the events they have turned on, such as messages taken by the phone receptionist. Push works through the web app once your organization has keys set up and each person has enabled it.

Enabling Push Notifications#

  1. Navigate to Settings → Integrations → Communications → Push notifications.
  2. Generate a VAPID key pair with npx web-push generate-vapid-keys, or at vapidkeys.com.
  3. Paste the VAPID Public Key and VAPID Private Key into the card, click Save, and turn the card on.

Per-User Notification Settings#

Each team member controls their own notifications:

  1. Open Settings → Notifications.
  2. On the Preferences tab, toggle in-app notification types on or off.
  3. On the Push tab, allow the Browser Permission when asked and switch on Enable Push Notifications. Push notifications need a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

Social Media#

The Social media heading holds the OAuth app credentials for the Social Scheduler: one card each for X / Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Create an app in the network's developer portal (developer.twitter.com, linkedin.com/developers or developers.facebook.com), paste its Client ID and Client Secret into the card, click Save, and turn the card on; it then shows Configured.

The accounts you post from are connected in the Social Scheduler itself:

  1. Navigate to Marketing → Social Scheduler.
  2. Click Connect Social Account and choose X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.
  3. Sign in with the account and grant the requested permissions. The account appears under Connected Accounts.

Once connected, you compose and schedule posts from the Social Scheduler, and its Inbox tab collects comments and mentions from your connected accounts for you to reply to, with AI-suggested replies.

Unified Inbox#

Text, voice, WhatsApp and website chat conversations converge in the Communication Hub:

  1. Navigate to Inbox → Communication Hub and open Inbox.
  2. The inbox lists conversations across SMS, Email, Call, WhatsApp and Website chat, with a channel filter (All channels by default).
  3. Reply in the thread, and AutomateNexus CRM sends the response through the conversation's channel; a WhatsApp reply can carry an attachment.
  4. Start a new SMS, WhatsApp or email conversation with a contact from the same inbox.

Support conversations, including website chat, also appear under Inbox → Support Hub → Inbox.

Testing Communication Integrations#

  1. Test SMS: start a new SMS conversation to your own mobile from Inbox → Communication Hub → Inbox. Verify delivery and check that your reply appears in the thread.
  2. Test Voice: with Browser calling configured, place a call to your own phone from Inbox → Communication Hub → Dialer. Verify audio quality and that the call appears under Calls.
  3. Test Push Notifications: enable push on Settings → Notifications → Push, then trigger an event that notifies you, such as a message taken by the phone receptionist.
  4. Test Social Media: schedule a post from the Social Scheduler and check that it publishes to the connected account.

Troubleshooting#

SMS Not Sending#

  • Verify your Twilio Account SID and Auth Token are correct and the Twilio card is switched on.
  • Check that your Twilio account has sufficient balance for SMS charges.
  • Ensure the recipient phone number is in E.164 format.
  • For US/Canada numbers, verify you have completed A2P 10DLC registration in Twilio (required for business SMS).
  • Check Twilio error logs at Monitor → Logs → Errors in the Twilio Console.

Voice Calls Dropping or Poor Quality#

  • Make sure Browser calling shows Configured on the Twilio card: the API Key SID, API Key Secret and TwiML App SID are all needed.
  • Ensure you have a stable internet connection with sufficient bandwidth.
  • Allow microphone access in your browser when prompted.
  • Check that your browser supports WebRTC (Chrome, Firefox, Edge are recommended).
  • Disable VPN connections that may introduce latency.

Social Media Posts Not Publishing#

  • Verify the account still appears under Connected Accounts in the Social Scheduler; disconnect and reconnect it if its authorization has lapsed.
  • For Facebook and Instagram, ensure the connected account still has admin access to the Page and the Page is published.

Push Notifications Not Appearing#

  • Ensure browser notifications are allowed for the AutomateNexus CRM domain and Enable Push Notifications is on under Settings → Notifications → Push.
  • Check that the VAPID keys are saved and the Push notifications card is switched on under Settings → Integrations → Communications.
  • Check that the notification type is turned on in your Preferences.

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