The valuable part of automation isn't the software. It's the honest process map you're forced to draw first.
Automating a broken process gives you a faster broken process.
Before any tooling decision, draw the process exactly as it happens today — including the WhatsApp message someone sends to unblock step four.
Three questions per step
- What triggers this step?
- What does it wait for?
- What does it produce, and who needs it next?
Automate waiting first
The time in most processes isn't spent doing the work. It's spent waiting for someone to notice the work exists. Notifications, routing and status changes are unglamorous, cheap and often the biggest single improvement.
Then apply judgement selectively
Use models where the task genuinely requires interpretation — reading a document, summarising a call, classifying an enquiry. Use plain logic everywhere else. It's cheaper, faster and it doesn't hallucinate.