Your bottleneck is not on the list.
Every firm has one task that has been done by hand for years and fits nowhere. Repetitive, rule-based work is usually automatable — even when there is no ready-made product for it.
Two questions that give the answer
Does it repeat?
It is not the size of your firm that determines the gain, but the frequency. A task that recurs a hundred times a month is worth more to automate than a complex file that passes twice a year.
Does it follow rules?
Can you describe the task as “first this, then that, except when…” and does that description fit on half a page? Then it is usually automatable. If you need three pages, usually not.
Common examples
Checklists per file type, alerts when a threshold is crossed, bespoke exports one client asks for every time, recurring mail flows.
Checks up front
Fixed reviews on a file before it goes out, performed and reported automatically — so the error is caught before the client sees it, not after.
Honest about what is not possible. Not every bottleneck is an automation question. If it turns out during the scan or the prototype that it is not feasible, you hear that straight away — which is exactly why the prototype sits at the front of the process.
A recurring task
Today
- Gather the data by hand
- Follow the same steps in the same order
- Check twice to avoid mistakes
- Start over at every occurrence
± 45 min per time
With the workflow
- The workflow gathers and prepares on its own
- The same rules, applied the same way
- You check the result and approve
- Exceptions arrive separately, with the reason
± 5 min per time
Test case for illustration, not a measured result at a specific firm.
About custom work
When does something lend itself to automation?
When it repeats and follows rules. Rule of thumb: if you can describe it as “first this, then that, except when…” and that description fits on half a page, it is usually automatable.
What if it turns out not to be possible?
You hear that during the scan or at the latest after the prototype, and it stops there. The prototype exists precisely to answer that question early rather than late.
Is custom work more expensive than a standard product?
Not necessarily. Much custom work reuses building blocks from the existing products — reading, linking, checking, alerting. What remains is the logic specific to you. After the scan you get a fixed price.
Who owns what gets built?
The workflow runs on your data and hangs off your packages. If the collaboration ends, your bookkeeping stays exactly where it is — there is no vendor lock-in.
Where does your time actually go?
We walk through your processes together, at your pace. You will know what can be automated in your firm, what it would save, and what is better left as it is. No strings attached.