Solution
Business process automation
If your team spends its days re-typing details, chasing approvals, and updating the same record in three places, the process is doing work that software can do. We automate the repeated steps and leave the judgment to people.
- 1,200+ clients helped
- Building since 2010
- 15 services, one team
- 50+ technologies
At a glance
What we build
We let software carry out the repeated steps of your processes, such as collecting a request, checking it, routing it for approval, and updating records.
Problems we solve
Work moves by email and spreadsheet, details are typed more than once, approvals stall in inboxes, and nobody can see where a request has got to.
Who we serve
Operations, finance, and service leaders whose teams spend hours on routine steps, and owners who feel the business is held back by manual work.
How to choose
Automate the steps that follow fixed rules and repeat often. Fix an unclear process before you automate it, and keep people in the steps that need judgment.
The problem
Where the hours go
Most businesses do not have one big inefficiency. They have dozens of small ones. A new customer is entered into the sales tool, then the accounts tool, then a spreadsheet. An invoice waits two days for a signature because the approver was away. A weekly report is rebuilt by hand every Friday.
Each of these costs a few minutes, and none seems worth fixing. Together they cost whole working days, and they add errors, because every re-typed detail is a chance for a mistake. They also hide in people's habits, so the cost is rarely written down.
Business process automation is the practice of finding these steps and making software do them. It is not about replacing people. It is about stopping skilled people from acting as couriers between systems.
How we solve it
Manual hand-offs and an automated process
Before: Work moves by hand. Requests arrive by email; Details are typed again; Approvals wait in inboxes; Status is a question. After: Work moves by itself. One form collects the request; Details reach every system; Approvals are timed and tracked; Status is always visible.
Before
Work moves by hand
Each request depends on someone remembering the next step.
- Requests arrive by email
- Details are typed again
- Approvals wait in inboxes
- Status is a question
After
Work moves by itself
The process carries each request to the next step.
- One form collects the request
- Details reach every system
- Approvals are timed and tracked
- Status is always visible
- Systems we build
- Workflow AutomationAutomation SystemsInternal Business Tools
- Often built with
- ZapierMaken8nMicrosoft Power AutomateAirtable
How we do it
From a tangled process to a working automation
Find where the time goes
We watch the process as it runs, count the hand-offs, and list the delays. The biggest, most repeated steps come first.
What it produces
- Process list
- Time and delay notes
Map and simplify
We write the process down as it really works, remove steps that need not exist, and settle the rules and the exceptions.
What it produces
- Process map
- Rules and exceptions
Build one automation end to end
We choose the tool that fits, build the first flow, and run it beside the manual process until it matches.
What it produces
- Working automation
- Test results
Hand over and extend
People are trained, monitoring is switched on, and the next process is chosen from what the first one taught.
What it produces
- Runbook
- Monitoring
- Next-process list
What it looks like
What an automated request looks like
The easiest way to see automation is to follow one request. Each step has an owner and a status, and every step is recorded.
Routes
Four ways to automate a process
Fix the process first
Suits
A process nobody can describe, or one that changes every week.
- Watch for
- Automating confusion makes it faster, not better.
A no-code platform
Suits
Common steps between popular tools, such as Zapier, Make, or Power Automate.
- Watch for
- Cost and limits grow with volume, and many unmanaged flows become a risk.
A self-hosted workflow engine
Suits
Teams that want control, custom logic, and data kept on their own servers, such as n8n.
- Watch for
- You run and secure it, so it needs an owner.
A small custom service
Suits
High volumes, strict rules, or steps no platform handles well.
- Watch for
- More to build, but the most control and the lowest running cost at scale.
What to automate
Which kind of automation do you need?
Processes differ, and so does the automation. Four kinds cover most of what businesses ask for.
What is the process doing today?
Choose this when
Leave, purchases, expenses, onboarding, or any request that needs a decision.
- What you get
- One form, rules that send it to the right approver, reminders, and a record.
- Keep in mind
- Decide who approves when the usual person is away, before you build.
Choose this when
The same details are typed into the shop, the accounts, and the customer records.
- What you get
- Connections that carry data once, with checks for duplicates and gaps.
- Keep in mind
- Choose which system is the source of truth for each field.
Choose this when
Numbers are gathered by hand and sent on a schedule, or follow-ups depend on memory.
- What you get
- Scheduled reports, alerts when a figure moves, and automatic follow-up.
- Keep in mind
- Agree the definitions first, or the report will be fast and disputed.
Choose this when
Emails, documents, or forms must be read and sorted before anyone can act.
- What you get
- An AI step that reads and classifies, with a person checking the unclear cases.
- Keep in mind
- Keep a person in the loop wherever a wrong answer would be costly.
What you get
What an automation project delivers
Clarity
- A written map of the process and its exceptions.
- A list of what to automate first, and what to leave alone.
Automation
- Working flows for requests, approvals, data, and reports.
- Connections to the tools you already use, including Airtable.
Safety
- Logs of every run, alerts for failures, and a way to stop a flow.
- Access rules, so automations reach only the data they need.
Ownership
- Documentation your team can follow.
- Training, or ongoing care if you prefer us to look after it.
Technical depth
The engineering behind a dependable automation
What we settle early: reliability, connections, AI steps, and governance, so nothing surprises your team later.
- Every step is built to be repeated safely, so a retry after a failure cannot create a duplicate.
- Temporary errors are retried with increasing delays, and permanent ones raise an alert with the data needed to fix them.
- Each run leaves a log that shows what came in, what was decided, and what was changed.
- Connections to other systems use dedicated service accounts with limited permissions, not a person's login.
- Where a system offers an event feed, we use it instead of polling, which is faster and lighter.
Where a step must read or classify text, we call a language model and keep a confidence check and a human review for unclear cases. Details are on our AI and machine learning page.
Flows have named owners, naming standards, and a review date, so a growing set of automations does not turn into an unmanaged risk.
Common questions
Questions about automating a process
Which processes should we automate first?
Start with a process that repeats often, follows clear rules, and has an owner who wants it fixed. A small, visible win teaches more than a large project.
Will automation replace our staff?
Its purpose is to remove the routine steps, so people can spend time on work that needs judgment. We design with the staff who run the process.
What if our process has many exceptions?
Automate the common path and route the exceptions to a person with the facts attached. Trying to automate every exception is how projects stall.
How is this different from AI automation?
AI is one tool inside automation. It suits steps that need reading or sorting. Most of a process follows fixed rules, which ordinary automation handles more cheaply and predictably.
How long does a first automation take?
It depends on the process and the tools. A focused first flow is usually a matter of weeks, not months, and we agree the scope before we start.
Have a different question?
Tell us what you are weighing up and we will answer it plainly.
Ask a questionAlready a client? Email support@dechytech.com
Tell us which process costs the most time
Describe the process, who is involved, and where it slows down. We will map it with you and outline what to automate first.