Before
Every email gets read, and the details typed into a spreadsheet by hand.
After
The row appears on its own. Nobody retypes what was already written.
Automation, AI where needed
Stop copying email contents into a spreadsheet by hand
Someone reads each email and types the details into a spreadsheet, one row at a time. The row is added for you the moment the email arrives.
In short
Someone reads each incoming email and types the name, date, reference and amount into a spreadsheet. We build an automation that watches the inbox and adds the row the moment a matching email arrives. Plain automation when the emails follow a format; AI to pull fields from free text, and we say which. Usually a quick task, from $2,500. First deliverable running within 7 days.
- Free evaluation
- Fixed quote before work begins
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed
- Small tasks welcome
What this costs you today
Orders, requests, confirmations arrive by email. Someone reads each one, picks out the name, the date, the reference, the amount, and types them into a spreadsheet so the rest of the team can work from it. It is a few minutes per email, and there are a lot of emails.
A digit gets transposed. An email is missed on a busy day. The spreadsheet is the source of truth, and it is only as good as the person's afternoon.
Call a fully loaded employee $45,000 a year, as an illustration. In the companies we meet this typically takes 5 to 10 hours a week. Ten hours is a quarter of a person, spent retyping what was already written.
- Typical time
- 10 hrs / week
- That is
- a quarter of a person
- At an illustrative $45,000 a year
- $11,250 / 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 look at a week of the real emails to see whether they follow a form or are written freely.
- 2
Step 2
We list the fields you want in the spreadsheet and where each one comes from in the email.
- 3
Step 3
The automation watches the inbox and adds a row for each matching email.
- 4
Step 4
Anything it cannot read with confidence is set aside for a person, not guessed.
What CBIT builds instead
We build an automation that watches the inbox and, when a matching email arrives, pulls out the fields and adds the row. The spreadsheet stays the spreadsheet. It just fills itself in.
When the emails follow a form or a template, the fields come out by rule. When they are free text, written differently by every sender, we use AI to extract the fields, and we say so. Either way, anything that cannot be read with confidence is set aside for a person rather than guessed.
Plain automation handles most repetitive work. We use newer tools only where they clearly earn their place, and we tell you when we do. Unstructured email is one of the places they might.
What the person gets back is the retyping. The spreadsheet is current when they open it.
Plain automation or AI?
Plain automation when the emails follow a format, which is most of the time. If they are written differently every time, we use AI to pull out the fields, and we tell you.
Automation vs. AI: which one your task needsOne 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
- Quick tasks
- Band
- From $2,500
- First deliverable running
- Within 7 days
This kind of project
Small when the emails follow a format
Emails from a form or a template can be read by rule, and that version is a small project. Free text written differently by every sender needs extraction, which takes more work and more testing. One inbox, one spreadsheet and consistent senders keep it simple.
- 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.
10
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
10 hrs / week
About 520 hours a year of a person's time.
- Labor value of that time
- $11,250 / 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.
What if the emails are all written differently?
Then the fields cannot be read by rule, and we use AI to extract them. We say so, and we test it on a sample of your real emails first. Anything it is not sure about goes to a person. Emails from a form or a template do not need this.
Can it write to something other than a spreadsheet?
Yes. The spreadsheet is the usual starting point because that is where the team already works. The same automation can write to your operations system or a database instead, or as well.
What happens with an email that is not an order?
It is left alone. The automation only acts on emails that match: a sender, a subject pattern, an attachment type. Everything else stays in the inbox for a person.
How is this priced?
Emails that follow a form or a template are a quick task, from $2,500. Free text that needs extraction is a single-task automation, $7,500 to $25,000, because it takes more building and testing. The quote is fixed after the free evaluation.
How long until it is running?
For a quick task, rows are appearing in your spreadsheet within 7 days of us having access to the inbox. The clock starts when we have access and a sample of the emails.
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.
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Guide
Automation vs. AI: which one your task needs
A simple test you can run on your own task, and the places where each one earns its place.
Everything we automate, with what goes into each one.