Built and running
Twelve systems in production across our own companies.
Every recommendation we make is something we already run.
Consulting here means choosing which of those to rebuild around you, and saying no when none fit.
Consulting that can end in do not build
The usual automation engagement produces a roadmap: a stack diagram, a vendor list, a phased plan, and a set of numbers that assume every phase lands. Nobody who wrote it has run the thing it describes, so the risky part, where the plan meets your data and your people, is handed back to you.
We run twelve systems in our own companies. Everything we recommend is something already in production somewhere in our group, doing that job daily, with its failure modes known. That narrows every conversation to one question: which of them belongs in your business, and whether any of them does.
01
Advice you can check
We only recommend what we already run.
A recommendation from someone who has never operated the system is a guess with good formatting. The interesting questions are the ones that only show up in production: what happens on the day the data is wrong, who notices, what it costs to keep running in month nine.
We can answer those about our own systems because we operate them. When your process does not resemble any of them, that is information too, and we would rather tell you than design something speculative on your budget.
02
The audit is the front door
A fixed fee, a fixed scope, and a verdict in writing.
We look at the process as it actually runs: who touches it, where the records live, what the exceptions are, and what it costs you in hours. Out of that comes a written verdict with a scope, a build price, and the honest case against building anything. The audit page lays out what the engagement looks like and what lands at the end of it.
The verdict is often do not build. Too many exceptions, not enough volume behind the chore, or a product already on the market that does it well enough. You keep the audit and the spec either way, so it is worth having even if you walk.
03
What happens after the verdict
If the answer is build, we build. The audit fee stays separate and is never credited toward the build, because the moment it is, the verdict has a sales agenda behind it. If the answer is build something different, we say which of our systems is closest and what rebuilding it around your business would involve. If the answer is do not build, the engagement ends there, which is the part that keeps the rest of it honest.
Proof
Built and running
Scope
What the engagement covers
Process mapping
How the work runs today, including the exceptions nobody documents.
Data reality check
Where the records live and whether they are clean enough to build on.
Build verdicts
A written verdict on each candidate, with the case against it.
Scope and price
A fixed scope and a fixed build price rather than a range.
Order of work
Which job to do first and which to leave alone this year.
A spec you keep
The written spec stays with you whether or not we build it.
FAQ
Questions
What is automation consulting?
Deciding which parts of a business are worth automating, in what order, and with what, before anyone writes code. Done properly it includes the answer that a given process should be left alone.
How is the audit priced?
A fixed fee agreed before we start, with a fixed scope and a delivery date. No hourly meter, and no discovery phase that grows while you watch it.
Do you actually tell people not to build?
Yes, and it is the most useful thing we sell. A chore with more exceptions than rules, or with too little volume behind it, will not repay a build, and saying so at the start is cheaper for everyone.
What do we have at the end?
A written verdict, a spec for anything worth building, a price, and a recommended order of work. It is yours whether you hire us, hire someone else, or do nothing at all.
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Start with the audit.
One fixed fee. A build-or-don’t-build verdict in writing.