What a workflow can actually take over.
Useful work runs through inboxes, documents, databases and decisions. We connect the whole chain, not just the part that demos well.
Four words to define before you choose.
These four ideas settle what a system does on its own, and when you take back control. A supplier who cannot tell them apart is selling a demo.
- Production workflow
- A system that spots an event, finds the rule that applies, acts in your tools and logs the result. It finishes the work instead of suggesting text.
- Grounding
- The system answers from approved, named sources. Without a solid source, it declines instead of inventing one.
- Graduated autonomy
- Freedom varies with the action and the risk. Reading is unrestricted, a reply is bounded, a commitment goes through a person.
- Approval point
- The step where the workflow stops and waits for a human decision. Set at design time, by amount, sensitivity or confidence.
Four workflows, described the same way.
Six lines: trigger, context, work, action, human control, outcome. Anyone who cannot fill them in has written a prompt, not designed a workflow.
Operations
Document intake and extraction
| Trigger | An invoice arrives by email, shared drive or scan |
|---|---|
| Context | The original order, the supplier record, your approval thresholds |
| Work | Identify the issuer, extract every line, compare prices and quantities |
| Action | Post the matching lines, flag the mismatch, open the task |
| Human control | Any exception, and any amount above your threshold |
| Outcome | Hours of data entry gone, mismatches caught straight away |
Customer experience
Shared inbox triage
| Trigger | A message lands in the contact, support or orders inbox |
|---|---|
| Context | The customer record, the open order, your written procedures |
| Work | Sort by subject and urgency, draft a reply with its sources |
| Action | Reply, route it to the right person, create the ticket |
| Human control | Sensitive topics, and anything the system is unsure of |
| Outcome | Immediate acknowledgement, no message without an owner |
Internal knowledge
Search across company documentation
| Trigger | A question asked in plain language, from the internal chat tool |
|---|---|
| Context | Procedures, framework contracts, internal notes, wiki, document storage |
| Work | Find the exact passage, check it is current, write the answer |
| Action | Return the answer with its source, or say it is missing |
| Human control | A missing or uncertain answer goes to the document owner |
| Outcome | Seconds, instead of interrupting a colleague |
Oversight
Weekly leadership briefing
| Trigger | Every Monday at 7am |
|---|---|
| Context | CRM, tickets, accounting, calendars, shared inboxes, operational spreadsheets |
| Work | Pull the numbers together, spot the gaps and what has not moved |
| Action | Send the briefing, raise an alert on every gap |
| Human control | Leadership decides what gets acted on |
| Outcome | Monday's numbers, not last week's |
The same invoice: three weeks, or one minute.
Document intake, minute by minute: a supplier invoice whose total does not match the purchase order.
Today
- Tue 08:12 the invoice arrives by email
- — it waits for manual entry
- +2 days someone rekeys it
- +9 min they reopen the order to compare
- +3 weeks the gap resurfaces when the supplier chases
It holds together because experienced people patch it.
With the workflow
- Tue 08:12 the invoice arrives by email
- +25 s the fields are read and extracted
- +30 s the total is checked against the order
- Tue 08:13 matching lines are posted
- Tue 08:13 the €380 gap waits for approval
Under control. A human still decides what deserves deciding.
What does a workflow plug into?
A workflow only creates value where the team already works. These are the families of systems we connect to most often.
- CRM
- Email and shared inboxes
- Document storage
- WhatsApp Business
- Calendars and scheduling
- Product catalogues
- Databases
- ERP and systems of record
- Ticketing tools
- Custom APIs
Examples of compatible systems. We claim no official partnership with any vendor.
What if your process fits none of the four?
These four shapes cover most of what we are asked for. The limit is not the list. It is system access, the state of the data, and the risk you are willing to carry. Describe yours and we will say whether it is worth building.
Which of the four costs you most?
If you are not sure, that is what the diagnostic is for. Twenty minutes settles it.