Before
Someone logs into vendor and carrier websites all day, looking up statuses one at a time.
After
An automation checks every portal overnight and hands the team only the exceptions.
Plain automation
Automate looking up statuses on vendor and carrier portals
Someone logs into vendor and carrier websites all day, looking up statuses one at a time. An automation checks every portal overnight and hands the team only the exceptions.
In short
Someone logs into vendor and carrier portals all day to read one status at a time. We build an automation that checks every open item overnight, writes the answer where the team already looks and hands them only the exceptions. Plain automation, no AI. Usually a larger workflow, $25,000 to $75,000, sized by the number of portals. First deliverable running within 30 days.
Watch a simulated run of this job- Free evaluation
- Fixed quote before work begins
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed
- Small tasks welcome
What this costs you today
A person keeps a list of open items. For each one they log into a portal, search for the record, read the status, and copy it into a spreadsheet or the system. Then the next portal, with a different login and a different screen. In the companies we meet this fills a whole day, and the list is never finished.
The work is not hard. It is slow, and it is easy to lose your place. A status changes an hour after it was checked and nobody knows until the customer calls.
Call a fully loaded employee $45,000 a year, as an illustration. When portal lookups are someone's whole day, that is 40 hours a week of a person's time spent reading screens.
- Typical time
- 40 hrs / week
- That is
- a whole person
- At an illustrative $45,000 a year
- $45,000 / 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 list the portals, what gets looked up on each, and where the answer needs to land.
- 2
Step 2
For each portal we check whether it offers a connection or a file exchange. Where it does, we use that. Where it only has screens, we review the portal's terms with you and work through your own login.
- 3
Step 3
We build the checks to run on a schedule, usually overnight, and write results back to your system or sheet.
- 4
Step 4
Anything unexpected stops that portal's run and goes on an exceptions list with a note.
- 5
Step 5
The first portal goes live within 30 days. Then we add the rest, one at a time.
What CBIT builds instead
We build an automation that logs into each portal on a schedule, usually overnight, and checks every open item on the list. It reads the status and writes it where your team already looks for it.
Where a vendor offers a proper connection, we use it. Where they only have a website, the automation uses the website the way a person would, screen by screen. If the portal changes its layout, the job stops and tells us, rather than writing bad data.
Plain automation handles most repetitive work. We use newer tools only where they clearly earn their place, and we tell you when we do. Portal lookups do not need them.
What the person gets back is a morning that starts with a short list of exceptions, not a long list of logins.
Plain automation or AI?
This is plain automation. No AI. The steps never change: log in, search, read a field, write it down. A script does that faster than a person and does not get bored.
What business automation actually costsOne 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
- Larger workflow
- Band
- $25,000–$75,000
- First deliverable running
- Within 30 days
This kind of project
Usually more involved
Portals built for people rather than for software are the main driver. Each one is its own login, its own screens and its own way of breaking, so the number of portals sets the scope. One portal with a proper connection is a much smaller job than six websites.
- 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.
40
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
40 hrs / week
About 2,080 hours a year of a person's time.
- Labor value of that time
- $45,000 / 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.
Do you need a connection to each portal?
No. Where a portal offers an API, EDI or file exchange, we use it, because it is faster and more stable. Where the only way in is the website, the automation uses the site the way a person does, through your own authorized login, after we review that portal's terms with you together.
What happens when a portal changes its layout?
The job stops for that portal and tells us, rather than writing bad data. The other portals keep running. The fix is quoted when it comes up, or covered under the managed plan, which includes unlimited fixes when a portal, login or file format changes.
Where do the results go?
Wherever the team already looks: your operations system, the ticket, a spreadsheet, a morning email. The automation writes the status, the reference and the time it was checked. Only the items that changed or failed are called out.
How is this priced?
By the number of portals and how each one can be reached. Six websites with separate logins is a larger workflow, $25,000 to $75,000. One portal with a proper connection is a single-task automation, $7,500 to $25,000. The quote is fixed after the free evaluation.
How long until it is running?
The first portal is checked automatically in your operation within 30 days of us having access and a list of open items. The rest follow one at a time, so the team sees the work shrink as each one goes live.
Can it check more often than overnight?
Yes. Hourly during the day is common for shipments or claims that move. The schedule is a setting, and it can differ by portal.
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
Automation, AI where needed
Automate status checks and follow-up calls that put someone on hold every afternoon
The checks happen on their own. Exceptions come back with everything already filled in.
Plain automation
Automate checking one system against another
Records processed, exceptions flagged, run before the day starts. Ran today in 0:48.
Guide
What business automation actually costs
What makes a project small or large, how the fixed quote works, and how the cost compares to the time the task takes today.
Everything we automate, with what goes into each one.