Business process automation
Business process automation that starts with understanding the process rather than with buying a system. First we remove the unnecessary steps, then we automate what is left.
The most common mistake in automation is simple to state: you automate chaos and get fast chaos. A process where three approvals exist only for form remains a process with three unnecessary approvals after a system is rolled out, except that now they are clicked in an interface and cost more.
So we begin by mapping. We look at how the process actually works rather than how the policy describes it, and those are usually different things. We count the steps, the people, the time, and where a request sits longest. It often turns out that half the steps can simply be removed, and that is the cheapest automation available.
Then we automate what is left, one process at a time. A pilot on a single area shows the real benefit within a month and costs little. Rolling out everything at once costs several times more, drags on for a year and ends with people still working in email and spreadsheets.
People deserve a separate word. A system that adds work for an employee will be worked around by that employee, and that is a reasonable thing for them to do. So we design it so that the person entering the data gets something out of it: fewer clicks, less correspondence, fewer questions from colleagues.
Tools are chosen to fit the task. Some steps are covered by bots in messengers, some by language models, and the foundation is usually a corporate system or server software with a backend and analytics. If it is not yet clear what to tackle first, start with business consulting or an audit.
What the service covers
Any combination of the items below can be taken on its own.
As it is and as it should be, with numbers: how many steps, how long they take, where the bottlenecks are, what the process costs per month. This is usable even if you postpone the automation.
Approval routes, document versions, deadlines, reminders, a searchable archive. Plus a report showing whose desk a document has been sitting on for three days.
Accounting, warehouse, CRM, bookkeeping, the website, hardware. Data is entered once and spreads on its own from there.
Moving data, reconciliations, generating documents and scheduled reports. The things an employee does by hand every morning.
How many requests are in progress, where they are stuck, who is overloaded, what is overdue. Numbers that decisions are made on rather than charts for the sake of charts.
Launching one process at a time, help with training the staff, refinement based on feedback and further development.
How we work
We talk to the people who work inside the process every day and reconstruct the real picture.
What we remove, what we automate and in what order. An estimate by stage and a calculation of the benefit.
The most painful or the simplest part, depending on what matters more to you: a quick effect or a quick result.
We carry the approach over to the remaining processes, reusing what has already been built.
Monitoring, refinements, new processes and onboarding of new staff.
Stack and tools
Frequently asked questions
With one process where the losses are visible and measurable. The mapping takes one to two weeks and already shows on its own what can be removed with no development at all.
If your process is a standard one, a ready system is cheaper, and we will say so. Building your own is justified when the process is unique, when licences are counted in hundreds and thousands of workplaces, or when the ready product fits only halfway.
We work it out during the mapping: what the process costs today against the cost of the rollout and of ownership. If the payback period runs beyond anything reasonable, we say so before the work starts.
That is the most common way to fail a rollout, and it is prevented at the design stage. We talk to the people who will work in the system and make sure it saves them time rather than adding reporting.
Everything is set by the contract, and we put it in writing at the specification stage, before the work starts. During the project the team works either on our infrastructure or on yours: the choice depends on the complexity of the project and on whether you already have infrastructure in place. Every approved stage is transferred to your servers and your repository, so the work accumulates on your side rather than ours. Once the project is closed, all code, materials and documentation are handed over to you together with the rights to them.
Yes, under a separate agreement: refinements, new processes and help with onboarding new staff.
Related services
Shall we discuss your task?
Tell us what needs to be done and we will come back with an estimate, the team composition and a plan for the first two weeks.