Interactive assistant for managing telephone communications

A system comprising:

• a voice network including a service control point operable to determine how a call from a calling party to a called party is connected;
• a data network;
• a service center operable to
• receive information from said service control point, the information being associated with the call,
• send a notification of the call to a device associated with the called party via, said data network, said notification including a selectable chat control,
• provide a chat interface to said device in response to a selection of said chat control,
• receive, via said chat interface and said data network, a chat message from the user,
• convert said chat message to audio form, and
• instruct said service control point to present said converted chat message to the calling party;
• whereby said service control point is configured to cause said converted chat message to be played for the calling party prior to a disposition of the call being determined.