A-Z-Z Inc. is a tax and accounting firm that’s been servicing clients for over 29 years and helped with 20,000+ tax returns. The partners Elias Azzouz and Ryan Gallo, faced a challenge as their longtime receptionist retired, forcing them to handle more customer service calls and pulling their time away from client work.

Challenges

Seasonal call volume spikes and a retired receptionist meant A-Z-Z’s partners were spending valuable time answering calls instead of serving clients. Several challenges included:

• Partners Managing the Phone: Without a receptionist, the customer service inquiries and scheduling were being handled by the partners.

• Time Management: Answering calls takes time and disrupts workflow, affecting their availability to work on client accounting activities.

• Scalability Issues: Handling a growing volume of calls without automation was unsustainable.

“Our receptionist retired a few years ago, and ever since my partner and I don’t have the time to handle the inbound calls, especially when tax season comes around” - President Elias Azzouz

Solution

To address these challenges, we developed a Reception Agent System with voice capability that engages in real-time phone conversations trained for A-Z-Z Inc.’s current scheduling and customer service workflows. The system includes:

• Receptionist Agent: Automatically answers incoming call with a greeting. It then asks about the purpose of the call and responds appropriately.

• Scheduling Action: Checks availability and schedules meetings then sends confirmations automatically, reducing manual scheduling effort.

• Call Forwarding Action: Transfers complex inquiries automatically, ensuring clients speak to the right person without delay.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Action: Pulling information from its knowledge base the Agent responds to frequently asked questions. Hours of operation, address, ect.

• Reporting Action: After the call a report in compiled analyzing the sentiment and success of the conversation. Updating the knowledge base to improve learnings.

Agent Architecture

This Agent System handles A-Z-Z Inc.’s customer service inquiries giving them the time to focus on accounting activities. The agent answers multiple calls simultaneously ensuring that all calls are answered 24/7.

Building this framework enables A-Z-Z Inc. to handle increased volume without losing time or sacrificing quality of accounting work.

Build Phases

Phase 1 - Minimum Viable Product

• Agent capable of answering basic questions, check calendar availability, book a Zoom/in-person meeting, forward calls to partners, and send email with instructions

• Dashboard with received calls in Airtable

• Send link with national tax return URL for refunds

• Schedule 6 different types of appointments

Phase 2 - CRM Integration

• Check CRM for existing phone number, if available, greet caller by their name

• CRM synchronized with ringcentral + google calendar

• Unique customer URL for document uploads to TaxDome in confirmation email

• Adjusting prompts to dynamic working hours representing exact availability in Acuity

Phase 3 - Additional Improvements

• sms approvals + on call cancellations with CRM integration

• memory of prior conversations with customer

Why This Matters for You

Whether you’re an accounting firm like A-Z-Z or a growing business juggling client inquiries. These challenges might sound familiar: repetitive inquires taking your time, team members answering the phone instead of focusing on their tasks, and difficulty scaling.

Our approach demonstrates how AI can bridge these gaps by:

• Automating repetitive tasks to free up your team’s time.

• Creating an extension of your team that’s always available 24/7.

• Ensure scalability without sacrificing quality.

For businesses looking to automate and optimize their operations, agent systems are no longer a luxury—they’re a necessity.

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