Copying data between systems
Information already exists in one system. It gets typed into another. We transfer it instead.
Practical automation for local business
Less Admin. More Business. Automate your spreadsheet clean-up
Your team already has enough to do. They should not be spending hours copying information between systems, processing the same spreadsheets or rebuilding the same reports. We build software that connects the systems your business already uses and automates repetitive computer work.
- Keep the software you already use
- People stay in control of decisions
- If it won't pay back, we tell you
The problem
Your systems don't talk. So your staff do the talking.
Most small businesses already have software. The problem is that their systems, spreadsheets, email inboxes, folders, portals and staff workflows often do not work together. When they do not connect, employees become the connection: copying information, renaming files, updating spreadsheets, preparing reports, chasing documents and entering the same data more than once.
Software A cannot talk to Software B, so an employee exports a file, opens Excel, changes the columns, copies data, saves another file and imports it somewhere else. That employee has become the API. Where the workflow is predictable, we replace the manual hand-offs with a controlled software workflow and leave the employee responsible for exceptions and judgement.
- Copying data between two systems
- Processing the same CSV or Excel files
- Preparing recurring reports and standard documents
- Reconciling two datasets and checking for missing fields
- Monitoring folders or inboxes for expected items
Admin Cost Calculator
Turn minutes into annual cost
Small recurring tasks are easy to ignore because each occurrence feels cheap. Enter your own timings and hourly cost to annualise one process.
- Hours a year
- 87
- Labour value a year
- £1,300
- Hours over three years
- 260
See if this process can be automated.
Show Us What You Want to AutomateIllustration only, using your figures (260 working days, 52 weeks). We never present illustrative ROI as guaranteed cash savings, and we sell the amount of human involvement that can realistically be removed.
Small recurring tasks add up
- 0 hours a year from a 20-minute task every working day
- 0 hours a year when three staff each lose 30 minutes a day
- 0 hours over three years from five hours a week
- 0% percent of UK private-sector businesses are small businesses
How it works
Show us. We measure. We build. It runs.
You do not need a technical specification. Show us the task exactly as it happens today and we take it from there.
-
01
Show us
Screen-share the task or record a short video. You do not need a specification.
Step 1 -
02
We measure
We establish the steps, frequency, time, systems, exceptions and business importance.
Step 2 -
03
We design
We identify which steps can safely be automated and where people should remain involved.
Step 3 -
04
We build and test
The workflow is developed against test data and validated before live use.
Step 4 -
05
We deploy
The local agent, cloud service or portal is configured as required.
Step 5 -
06
We support
The workflow is maintained, updated and expanded as the business changes.
Ongoing
Industries
Repetitive admin looks different in every trade. The fix is the same.
We start where the office and the systems hand work to each other. These are the sectors where we know the workflows and the language.
Accountants & bookkeepers
- Spend less time preparing the data and more time reviewing it.
- Client data arriving in inconsistent formats
- Repeated CSV clean-up and moving figures between systems
- Recurring management reports
- Document collection, client folders and reconciling exports
Garages & vehicle workshops
- Keep the workshop moving without adding more office admin.
- Job-card administration
- Parts and supplier data imports
- Customer reminders and recurring service notifications
- Invoice preparation, daily workshop reports and job status dashboards
Construction & trades
- Less paperwork between the office, site and accounts.
- Job setup and folder creation
- Timesheet processing and site paperwork
- Quote-to-job handover and purchase-order workflows
- Supplier documents, photo filing and job-cost data
Property, lettings & maintenance
- Turn repetitive property administration into repeatable workflows.
- Property onboarding and contractor job allocation
- Inspection workflows and document reminders
- Tenant and landlord communications
- Invoice routing and portfolio data consolidation
Wholesalers & distributors
- When volume grows, admin should not have to grow at the same rate.
- Supplier price-file processing and order imports
- Stock file transformations and customer price lists
- Dispatch paperwork and daily sales reports
- EDI and file-based integrations, reconciliation, exception alerts
Manufacturing
- Connect the gaps between production, office systems and management reporting.
- Production data collection and machine export processing
- Quality-check records and stock movements
- Scheduled reports and job status dashboards
- ERP import/export preparation and legacy system integration
Logistics & haulage
- Move information as efficiently as you move goods.
- Job imports and driver paperwork processing
- Proof-of-delivery organisation
- Customer status reports and invoice preparation
- Daily operational dashboards and file conversions
Recruitment & staffing
- Personal data makes security, retention and permissions especially important.
- Candidate document workflows and timesheet imports
- Client reporting and placement administration
- Recurring reminders and status updates
- Data validation and system-to-system transfers
Professional services
- Automate the administration around professional work, not the judgement itself.
- Client onboarding and project setup
- Recurring reporting and document generation
- Approval workflows and billing preparation
- Data consolidation and management dashboards
Retail & e-commerce
- Use supported platform interfaces rather than brittle screen automation.
- Order file processing and supplier imports
- Stock and price updates
- Marketplace reports and daily sales consolidation
- Customer-service routing and returns administration
Care & regulated services
- Valuable opportunities, handled with greater care and human review.
- Administrative scheduling and staff onboarding
- Document organisation and reminder processes
- Non-clinical reporting and approved data transfers
- Never clinical, safeguarding or high-stakes decisions
Before and after
What actually changes
Before
- Download attachment
- Save to folder
- Open spreadsheet and remove columns
- Change dates and copy data
- Save as CSV
- Open second system and import
- Fix errors
- Email the manager
After
- File received
- Validated
- Transformed and imported
- Exceptions flagged
- Status recorded
What stays with people
Judgement, approvals above a threshold, payments, legal submissions, customer communications and anything sensitive.
Manage exceptions, not every transaction
If 999 records are valid and one is wrong, the system processes the routine records and surfaces the exception. Successful: process. Warning: record and review. Failed: stop safely and alert. Approval required: ask a person.
Data & security
Local where it makes sense. Cloud where it adds value.
A local business agent works with approved files, folders and desktop systems on your own computer. The cloud handles licensing, configuration, updates, monitoring, notifications and web dashboards.
Data minimisation
If a workflow only needs customer ID, invoice number and total, we do not move the whole database.
Specific controls
Encrypted communications, signed updates, role-based permissions, audit logs and secure authentication. Only controls that actually exist.
Fails safely, not silently
Every important automation has logging, validation and clear failure and exception handling.
You can see what is enabled
Customer visibility over enabled integrations, what ran, when, and what it used.
Examples
All examples
Before and after, in plain English
Illustrative workflows, clearly labelled. Measured case studies replace them as implementations are baselined and measured.
Wholesale & distribution · System Integration
Supplier Price Files into the Stock System
117 hoursEstimated annual time released (3 × 45 min × 52 weeks) Before importWhen price and code problems are caught
Construction & trades · Business Automation
Timesheets to Payroll for a Trades Business
156 hoursEstimated annual time released (3 h × 52 weeks) 1 approvalHuman step retained before payroll
Garages & workshops · Automatic Reporting
Monday Management Report for a Workshop
104 hoursEstimated annual time released (2 h × 52 weeks) Same calculationEvery week, from the source data
Do I need to replace my existing software?
Usually not. Many projects connect or automate around existing systems. Our work often begins where existing software stops: the manual steps between systems.
Can you automate spreadsheets?
Often, yes. Repetitive Excel and CSV processing is a strong automation candidate when the steps are predictable. Keep Excel for the work it is good at; we automate the repetitive work around it.
It only takes 20 minutes.
How often? Twenty minutes every working day is approximately 87 hours a year. The frequency matters more than how small the task feels once.
Does everything need to be in the cloud?
No. Some workflows process data locally on your own computer. Cloud services are used where the feature benefits from them: licensing, configuration, monitoring, updates or web access.
What happens when something fails?
Important automations include logging, validation and clear failure and exception handling. Automation should fail safely and tell you, rather than silently.
From the blog
All posts
Practical reading for busy offices
10 Office Tasks a Small Business Can Automate
Copying data, CSV processing, weekly reports, document filing, reconciliations. The ten most common candidates and why they qualify.
Read post
How to Calculate the Cost of Repetitive Admin
Time per task, frequency, people, hourly cost. Annualise it, then think in three years.
Read post
When Should You Automate a Spreadsheet?
Excel is not the enemy. The question is whether a person repeats the same twenty operations every day.
Read post
You don't need more admin software. You need less admin.
Your business already produces data. Your existing systems already do important jobs. We build the software between them. Start with one repetitive task: show us what you do today and we will show you what could happen automatically.
Show Us What You Want to Automate