Skip to content
Etechan Butt

Home / Process automation

Process automation · companies

The tasks that repeat every day and end up eating someone's whole shift.

Invoices that get typed in, delivery notes printed out to be written again, work reports that arrive folded on a Friday, new customers copied from an email into three programs. That is what I automate. Not with a new platform: with what you already have.

Book 15 minutes Request the X-ray
4 to 12weeks per implementation, depending on the processes
96 %of one distributor's invoices, with nobody touching them
1 monthof support after delivery
0systems that need replacing, almost always
What gets automated

Whatever is done many times the same way.

The rule is simple: if something happens four times a year, it isn't worth it. If it happens four hundred times a month, it is a candidate. These are the ones I come across most, and the catalogue has them with measured times.

01

Supplier invoices

They arrive by email as PDFs and someone types them into the ERP one by one. They get read automatically, matched against the purchase order, and the ones that don't match are checked by a person before they reach accounting. This is the 792-hour case.

02

Delivery notes and orders

They get printed, typed in and, at the end of the month, reconciled against the invoices. With automatic reading, the delivery note goes straight in and the reconciliation happens on its own.

03

Work and site reports

They are filled in on paper and reach the office whenever they reach it. From a phone, with a photo and a signature, they come in on the spot and the hours per job are visible the same day.

04

New customers, notices and reminders

A new customer gets copied from an email into the CRM, into invoicing and into the WhatsApp group. Appointment reminders are phoned one by one. Both happen on their own, with replies.

05

Reports put together by hand every Monday

Someone opens four programs, copies numbers into a spreadsheet and sends it. The report builds itself and arrives before the meeting starts.

How I do it

First look, then remove, and only then automate what is left.

  • LookI sit with the person who does the work and see how they really do it, not how the manual says. With a stopwatch. That is where the unnecessary steps and the odd cases nobody mentions show up.
  • RemoveBefore automating, whatever isn't needed goes. Automating a useless step just makes it faster; it doesn't remove it.
  • ConnectThe work sits on top of the ERP, the CRM and the programs you already have. With n8n, Make, Power Automate or code, depending on what is there. Replacing a core system is the last option, and it is almost never needed.
  • TestWith real data and with the exceptions planned for from day one: the supplier who changes the PDF layout, the invoice with no order, the duplicated delivery note.
  • SupportFor the first month after delivery I stay available, because that is when the cases that never came up in testing appear.

72 ha month typing invoices at a 34-person distributor. Now, six.

From seventy-two hours a month to six.

Before72 h a month
Now6 h a month

The six hours left are the invoices that don't match and that a person has to look at. That doesn't get automated: it gets clearly flagged.

Who it's for

Where it shows most.

Distribution and import

Supplier invoices and splitting customs costs

Invoices arrive as PDFs and the customs declaration is split by hand in a spreadsheet that decides the margin.

See the case Construction and installations

Quotes in hours and work reports from a phone

Whoever answers first wins the job, and the reports stop arriving on Friday.

See the case Holiday rentals and non-hotel accommodation

The guest registration form, typed once

Guest details go in once, and the registration form, the owner statement and the commission all come from there.

See the case Clinics

Reminders people reply to, and consent forms without paper

The last hour of the day stops going on calling tomorrow's appointments.

See the case
Questions

Before you book.

Do we need to change the ERP to automate?
Almost never. It connects on top of what is there: Sage, Odoo, A3, Holded, Microsoft 365, whatever you run. Replacing the ERP is the most expensive and slowest option, and it is usually the last one I propose.
What happens when a supplier changes the invoice layout?
The invoice lands in the review tray and a person looks at it, instead of going into accounting wrong. Exceptions are planned for from day one; whatever can't be foreseen gets flagged.
And if the process only happens a few times a month?
Then it isn't worth automating, and I tell you so in the fifteen minutes. What it needs is volume: something that repeats many times the same way. If you want to check before calling, the five-question test tells you whether it pays off.
Get started

Tell me what gets typed by hand in your company.

Fifteen free minutes to assess whether it is worth it and where to start.

I need to know your name.
I need a number to confirm the time.
Check the email, it looks incomplete.
For example: «three people copy supplier invoices from email into the ERP by hand, about 400 a month». Tell me the case, even in one line.
When suits you

Tick as many as you like. I fix the exact time when I confirm.