Case Study
Half the cost. Twice the cover.
How a Roscommon engineering firm modernised everything from inbound calls to post-site reporting.
The Client
From two people to twelve, in seven years
Sector
Consulting Engineering
Civil and structural design across the West of Ireland. Site inspections, planning documentation, structural reports.
Growth
Two to twelve
Reputation-led expansion since 2018. Almost entirely repeat business and word of mouth.
Stack
Microsoft 365 first
Team works in Revit and 3D models daily. Files held in OneDrive. Accounting in QuickBooks.
The pain
The phone never stopped
An outsourced call centre helped 2 days a week. The rest of the time, calls pulled engineers off site and admin off other work.
01
The challenge
What we found
Calls were going straight to engineers during site visits, design work, and team meetings. Every ring was an interruption.
The shift
Two ways to handle a call
Before
Patchy cover
- Outsourced call centre, only 2 days a week
- Rest of the week, calls hit whoever picked up
- Admin pulled off work to answer the phone
- Caller details lost between inboxes and notebooks
After
AI on the line
- AI receptionist answers every call, 24/7
- Over 50% cheaper once admin time is factored in
- Admin and engineers freed from phone duty
- Every call logged, daily digest each morning
02
The build
Architecture
The flow of a single call
inbound call → Dedicated business line new number, routed to the agent → AI receptionist picks up, captures the detail ↓ → Lead dashboard every call logged with context → Daily digest summary lands in the team's inbox → Callback booked added to the diary, ready to go
The stack
Built on tools they could use from day one
Each tool earns its place by removing one specific bottleneck. The AI receptionist handles inbound calls. The note-taker captures site visit detail. ChatGPT for Business drafts post-site reports, structural assessments, and routine client emails. Workflow automation glues it all together.
03
The results
The outcome
50%+
Half the cost of the call centre on its own. On top of that, an admin team member got back 70% of their week previously spent on phones. And the cover went 24/7.
From the engagement
"Reporting and incoming calls together accounted for the team's biggest time loss. Fix those, and the firm runs differently."
AppAdvisor x JLCE Discovery, 2026
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