Automate Invoice and Payment Status Questions with Voice AI
Voice AI answers common client invoice questions by connecting directly to your accounting system to provide instant, spoken answers.
It checks payment status, clarifies line items, and confirms due dates 24/7, freeing up your administrative staff.
The complexity depends on your accounting software. Integrating with a modern system like QuickBooks Online via its API is a standard build. Connecting to a legacy desktop system requires an intermediate data export step.
We deployed a voice agent for a 20-person managed service provider that handled 300 monthly invoices. Their office manager was spending 8 hours a week on billing calls. The system went live in 2 weeks, and those calls dropped by 90%.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Traditional Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are the first thing most businesses try. This is the classic 'Press 1 for sales, press 2 for accounting' phone tree. These systems are frustrating because they can only route calls, not answer specific questions like 'Was my payment from check #1234 applied yet?'. This just leads to long hold times and annoyed clients.
Next, businesses try website chatbots from services like Tidio or Intercom. These bots are good for answering general questions but cannot access account-specific data. When a client asks about their invoice, the bot can only create a support ticket, which a human still has to answer later. This adds a step without solving the core problem.
Consider a regional wholesale distributor with 3 administrative staff. They spend their mornings answering calls from retailers asking 'Did you receive our payment?' or 'Can you resend invoice #5678?'. The information exists in NetSuite, but getting it requires a human to log in, search, and read it over the phone, delaying their core work.
How Does It Work?
We start by connecting to your accounting system's API, typically QuickBooks, Xero, or a custom ERP. We use Python with the httpx library to pull invoice data, customer records, and payment statuses. The initial sync pulls the last 12 months of activity, which for a typical client is around 2,000-5,000 records. This data is indexed in a Supabase Postgres database for fast lookups.
The core of the system is a FastAPI application that exposes a single endpoint. When a call comes in, the audio is transcribed to text. This text is passed to the Claude API along with a prompt engineered to extract key information: client name, invoice number, or question type. The system then queries the Supabase database to retrieve the specific invoice or payment record, with a typical lookup time under 80ms.
Once the data is retrieved, a second Claude API call generates a natural language response. For example, 'Yes, I see invoice #5678 for ABC Plumbing. It was paid on May 15th via ACH transfer, and the current balance is zero.' This text is converted back to speech. We deploy this entire FastAPI service on AWS Lambda, so it only runs when a call is active, keeping hosting costs under $30/month for most clients.
We connect the FastAPI endpoint to a telephony service. This gives you a dedicated phone number clients can call. The service handles the real-time audio streaming. When a question is too complex for the AI, like a dispute over billable hours, the call is automatically forwarded to your office manager's extension. The entire process from a client speaking to hearing a response takes less than 3 seconds.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Answer Client Calls in 3 Seconds, Not 3 Rings
The system responds instantly to client queries about their invoices. No hold music, no transfers, just immediate answers 24/7, even outside of business hours.
Reduce Billing Questions by 90%
By handling the most common queries automatically, your team is free to focus on complex issues. One client reduced their weekly time on billing calls from 10 hours to 1.
You Get the Keys to the Code
We deliver the complete Python source code to your company's GitHub repository. You are not locked into our service or a proprietary platform.
Monitors Itself, Alerts on Failure
The system includes structured logging with structlog and health checks that run every 5 minutes. If an API connection fails, you get an immediate Slack alert.
Connects to Your Existing Accounting System
Direct API integration with QuickBooks, Xero, and other modern ERPs. No need to change your existing financial workflows or software.
What Does the Process Look Like?
System Access (Week 1)
You provide read-only API credentials for your accounting platform. We map your data schema and define the top 5-10 common questions to automate.
Core Engine Build (Week 2)
We build the FastAPI application and integrate the Claude API for language understanding. You receive a private demo link to test the logic with your own data.
Telephony Integration (Week 3)
We connect the engine to a telephony service and provision a phone number. You receive the number to test with live calls from any phone.
Launch and Monitoring (Week 4+)
The system goes live. For the first 30 days, we monitor every query to fine-tune accuracy and provide a runbook for future maintenance.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a custom Voice AI system for invoices cost?
- Pricing is based on the complexity of your accounting system's API and the number of unique question types you need to handle. A standard build for a business using QuickBooks Online is a fixed-price project. After a 30-minute discovery call, we provide a detailed proposal with a firm price.
- What happens if a client asks a question the AI can't answer?
- The system is trained to recognize when it cannot answer a question, like a billing dispute. In these cases, it says 'I can't answer that, but I can connect you to someone who can.' It then automatically forwards the call to a pre-configured number, like your office manager or main line.
- How is this different from a standard phone tree (IVR)?
- An IVR routes calls based on button presses ('Press 2 for billing'). Our system understands natural language. A client can simply ask, 'Did you receive my payment for invoice 1234?' and get a direct, specific answer pulled from your accounting data. It resolves queries, it does not just route them.
- What specific accounting software can you integrate with?
- We have pre-built connectors for QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Stripe Billing. We can also integrate with any system that has a documented REST API, including NetSuite or Sage Intacct. Desktop software without an API requires a different approach using scheduled data exports.
- Does Syntora listen to or store the phone calls?
- No. The audio is streamed in real-time for transcription and then immediately discarded. We only log the transcribed text of the question and the system's final response for monitoring and debugging, with all personal client information redacted.
- What are the ongoing costs after the system is built?
- You pay directly for the cloud services used. This typically includes AWS Lambda for hosting and the telephony service for the phone number. For most clients handling under 500 calls per month, the total ongoing cost is less than $50 per month. There are no recurring fees paid to Syntora unless you opt for a maintenance plan.
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