The Disciplines Plate III Intelligent Automation
Intelligent
Automation.
For the jobs you do every week and wish you didn't.
Workflows and custom code that connect the tools you already use and pass the work between them, so nobody has to copy it across by hand. For small businesses across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Return to the workshopHow much time does your team spend copying data between systems? Sending the same emails? Creating reports manually? Chasing information across four different places nobody remembers signing up to?
Work like that is slow and easy to get wrong, and nobody enjoys it. I build automations that take it over, so the people you pay spend their time on the parts that need a person.
I build on self-hosted automation tools, so your workflows run on infrastructure you control and cost nothing per run, however often they fire. Those tools are good until a job outgrows them, which happens sooner than the demos suggest. When it does, I switch to custom code in Python or Node.js.
§ What I automate
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I.
Data sync & integration
New customer in CRM? Add them to the email platform. Order placed? Update inventory and notify fulfilment. No more typing the same record into two systems and wondering which one is right.
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II.
Email & notification workflows
Emails sent when something happens: onboarding, order confirmations, follow-ups and internal alerts, each addressed to the person it is for. Works with Gmail, Outlook, or any mail system with an API.
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III.
Document generation
Quotes, invoices, contracts, reports - generated from templates against your live data. A quote that took twenty minutes to put together takes about twenty seconds.
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IV.
Automated reporting
Daily, weekly or monthly reports pulled together from several sources and sent to the people who need them. No more Friday afternoons spent rebuilding the same spreadsheet.
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V.
Scheduling & booking
Booking flows that sync with Google Calendar, Outlook or Radicale, and send the reminders, confirmation texts and rescheduling links without anyone touching them.
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VI.
Alerts & monitoring
Stock running low, a complaint that needs escalating, a website that has gone down: you set the rules once and you are told when one of them trips, at any hour.
§ The process
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Step 1
Process mapping
I write down how the job is done now, step by step: what starts it, what information it needs and where that comes from. This usually turns up steps nobody realised they were doing.
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Step 2
Workflow design
I design the automated version, including what happens when something goes wrong. You get a diagram showing exactly how it will work before anything is built.
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Step 3
Build & test
I build it, as a workflow or as custom code depending on the job, and test it against your own data. If something fails it sends an alert, so nothing breaks without anyone knowing.
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Step 4
Deploy & monitor
It goes onto your infrastructure, or I host it. I keep a close eye on it at first, and you get written notes on what it does, plus training for any step that still needs a person.
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Step 5
Refine & expand
Once it has been running a while, I ask how it is going and adjust it. The first automation often shows up the next one worth doing.
Questions, answered
Will this stop working when something changes?
Sometimes, yes. Automations break when a system they depend on changes. Mine are monitored and send an alert when they fail, so you hear about it before a customer does.
Is there a per-run fee?
No. Automations run on infrastructure you control, so you pay for the build and the hosting, and nothing each time one runs. Platforms that bill per run charge you most when the automation is doing its job.
What will it cost?
The prices on this page are starting points, so you can tell in a minute whether you are in the right range. Each job is then quoted after a conversation, because the price depends on the shape of the job and nobody knows that yet. The first half hour is free, and it usually settles whether this is a small piece of work or a large one before any money is discussed.
Who owns the code when it is finished?
You do, outright, including the source. It is handed over with the runbooks needed to keep it running, and there is no licence to renew and no seat to pay for. Commissions, not subscriptions, is meant literally.
What happens if you are unavailable?
Everything is built so somebody else could pick it up: common technologies, readable code, written runbooks and nothing proprietary. It is a fair question to ask of a one-person business, and the answer is in how the work is built.
Do you work outside Suffolk and Cambridgeshire?
Yes. Local work gets the option of somebody in the room, which is worth more than it sounds for the first conversation and the handover. Everything after that is done remotely for most clients anyway.