Before
A daily checklist worked through by hand, in the same order, every single day.
After
The routine steps run on their own. The person handles the two that need a decision.
Plain automation
Automate anything your team does from a checklist every day
A person works down the same checklist every day, step by step, in the same order. The steps that are rules run on their own. The person keeps only the ones that need a decision.
In short
A checklist someone works down every day, in the same order. We go through it step by step, turn the steps that are rules into an automation that runs in that order, and leave the decisions with the person, who is shown what they need at each stop. Plain automation, no AI. Usually a single-task automation, $7,500 to $25,000. First deliverable running within 14 days.
- Free evaluation
- Fixed quote before work begins
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed
- Small tasks welcome
What this costs you today
Somewhere in the office there is a checklist. Open this, check that, export the other, send it here. Someone works down it every morning, or every close of business, and ticks the boxes. It is reliable because the person is reliable. It is also the clearest sign that the work could run on its own.
The checklist exists because the work is the same every day. That is the whole reason a person should not be doing it.
Call a fully loaded employee $45,000 a year, as an illustration. In the companies we meet a daily checklist typically takes 15 to 20 hours a week. Twenty hours is half a person.
- Typical time
- 20 hrs / week
- That is
- half a person
- At an illustrative $45,000 a year
- $22,500 / year
Typical figures, using $45,000 as an illustrative fully loaded cost. Your numbers go in the calculator below. If your version is a couple of hours a week, that still counts. Or open these figures in the calculator and change them.
How it works
- 1
Step 1
We take the checklist as written and go through it with the person who does it.
- 2
Step 2
Each step is marked: a rule the automation can do, or a decision that stays with a person.
- 3
Step 3
We build the rule steps to run in the same order, in the same systems.
- 4
Step 4
At each decision the automation stops, shows the person what they need, and carries on when they decide.
What CBIT builds instead
We start with the checklist as written. For each step we ask whether a machine can do it. Most steps are rules: pull this, check that, send the other. Those become an automation that runs in the same order the person did them.
The steps that need a decision stay with the person. The automation stops at those points, shows them what they need, and waits. When they decide, it carries on.
Plain automation handles most repetitive work. We use newer tools only where they clearly earn their place, and we tell you when we do. A checklist rarely needs them.
What the person gets back is most of the list. They keep the parts that needed them, and the rest is done by the time they sit down.
Plain automation or AI?
This is plain automation. No AI. A checklist is already the instructions. We turn the steps that are rules into software and leave the judgment calls with the person.
Custom app vs. forcing Salesforce or a spreadsheet to fitOne example, names left out
Real work from real clients, with the names left out. What matters is the shape of the problem, and how often we see it.
Price band and timeline
- Usually
- Single-task automation
- Band
- $7,500–$25,000
- First deliverable running
- Within 14 days
This kind of project
Sized to the checklist
A short checklist inside one or two systems can be a small project. A long one across many systems, with decisions in the middle, is a larger workflow. We go through the list with you step by step and say which steps become software, which stay with a person, and what that adds up to.
- Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. We look at what needs to happen and give you a fixed quote before work begins. No hourly meter.
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed.
- Changes to outside systems (a portal redesign, a vendor's API change) may require separately quoted repair work. We tell you when that happens.
All prices and the guaranteeWhat business automation actually costs
Run your own numbers.
Set to the typical figures for this task. Change them to match your team, however small the number.
What this task costs you in time
Hours a week, times the people doing it, at whatever a person costs you. $45,000 a year is an illustration; set it to your own figure.
People doing this work
1
Hours each, per week
Half an hour counts. 40 is a full week.
20
Fully loaded cost per person, per year
Salary, benefits, taxes, overhead. $45,000 is an illustration; set it to yours.
$45,000
Time spent on this task
20 hrs / week
About 1,040 hours a year of a person's time.
- Labor value of that time
- $22,500 / year
- Your project price
- Fixed quote after a free evaluation
These figures show the value of time spent on the task, not a project quote or guaranteed cash savings. We will help estimate what can realistically be automated.
Questions about this task.
How much of the checklist can run on its own?
Usually most of it. Open this, check that, export the other, send it here are rules. The steps that need a decision are the exception, and there are typically two or three. The evaluation goes through your list and marks each step.
What if the steps span several systems?
That is common. The automation moves between them in the order the person did. Where a system has a connection, we use it; where it only has screens, we work through your own login after reviewing the terms with you. More systems means more scope.
What does the person see at a decision step?
Whatever they needed to decide: the record, the figures, the document. They make the call in the tool they already use, and the automation picks up from there. Nothing is decided for them.
How is this priced?
A short checklist inside one or two systems is a single-task automation, $7,500 to $25,000. A long one across many systems with decisions in the middle is a larger workflow, $25,000 to $75,000. The quote is fixed after the free evaluation.
How long until it is running?
The first stretch of the checklist is running in your operation within 14 days of us having access. The rest is added in the order the person works it, so the routine steps disappear from the front first.
Tell us about the task your team keeps doing by hand.
Every morning, every Friday, or every time an order comes in. Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. The evaluation is free, and if we take it on, the first deliverable is running in your operation within 14 days, guaranteed.
Free evaluation. Fixed quote before work begins.
Related tasks
Plain automation
Automate preparing files for someone else to review
The package builds itself to the same standard, and the reviewer is told when it is ready.
Plain automation
Automate reviewing daily files to find new accounts
One scheduled run. About three minutes a day, and it flags anything that doesn't match.
Guide
Custom app vs. forcing Salesforce or a spreadsheet to fit
When a product is the right call, when it is not, and what a purpose-built app looks like.
Everything we automate, with what goes into each one.