Engagement
How we work: engagement, cost, and data handling
Handing a process to an outside team is a decision about trust as much as technology. This page sets out how an engagement runs from first conversation to after go-live, what moves the price, and exactly how your data is handled. Nothing here is a surprise later: it all ends up in the written proposal.
Engagement model
One workflow at a time, with a gate at every phase
1. Free assessment
You describe one repetitive, costly workflow. We look at how it really runs, tell you honestly whether it's worth automating, and send a written summary. No cost, no obligation.
2. Written price and timeline
If it is worth doing, you get a written proposal: what we'd build, which systems it touches, what we need from you, the price, and the timeline.
3. Refundable deposit, then design
Half the setup fee holds the project. We design the exact workflow and show it to you before touching any system. Don't approve it, and the deposit comes back.
4. Build, roll out, improve
Only after sign-off do we connect to your tools. We build with your real examples, run the new process alongside the old one where the stakes are high, and keep tuning after launch.
Phases
Discover, design, implement, deploy and improve
That order never changes. What changes is how much time each phase needs. The How It Works page lists what we need from you and what you get in each phase.
Scope and cost
What influences the price
We don't publish price bands, because two workflows that sound the same can differ several times over in effort. These are the things that move the number, so you can see where your process sits before we talk.
Systems touched
How many systems the workflow reads from or writes to, and whether each has an API, webhooks, or only exports. One system with an API is the simplest case.
Judgement versus rules
How many steps need a person's judgement or an AI step with review, versus a plain rule. Rules are cheap to build and test. Judgement steps need thresholds, review screens, and tuning.
Volume and messiness
How many items a week, and how clean they are. Structured forms and EDI are simpler than free-text emails, scans, and handwriting.
Approvals and exceptions
How many approval steps and exception paths the process has today. Each one is designed, built, and tested.
Rollout approach
Whether the old process needs to run alongside the new one for a while, and how much of your team's time that takes.
Ongoing change
How much you expect the process, the volume, or the systems to change after launch, which shapes what ongoing support needs to cover.
Data handling
How your data is handled, in plain terms
Strict, scoped access
We only access the systems and data a project needs, nothing more. Access is granted by you, scoped to the objects the workflow touches, and can be revoked by you at any time.
No training on your data
Your business information is never used to train outside models or shared beyond your project.
Full audit trail
Every automated action is logged: what changed, when, and why. You can review or reverse any step. Nothing happens off the books.
Your sign-off at every stage
We don't move to the next phase without your approval, and nothing connects to a live system until you've approved the design.
Your responsibilities
What we need from you for this to work
- Time with the people who do the work each day, not just the manager
- Real samples: real documents, real records, real messy cases
- One person who can sign off on how the new process should work
- Access to the systems the workflow touches, scoped to what the project needs
- A willingness to run the new process alongside the old one at first, if the stakes are high
- Feedback on the tricky cases the system sends to a person, so the rules keep improving
After go-live
What happens once it's running
Launch is the start of the useful part, not the end of the project. In the first weeks the exception queue shows which edge cases the design didn't anticipate, and the rules get tuned against real work. After that, the system is watched: a failed connection or a spike in exceptions is caught and fixed, not found a month later.
Your process will change. Volumes shift, a system gets replaced, a new document layout shows up. Because rules and routing are written down rather than hidden in code, most changes are edits. What ongoing support covers, and how changes are handled, is set out in your written proposal before you sign.
FAQ
Engagement: common questions
Why don't you publish prices?
Because two workflows that sound identical can differ several times over in effort: one touches a single system with an API, the other touches four systems, two of which only export spreadsheets. Publishing a band would either mislead you or pad the number. What we do instead is put the price in writing after a free assessment, before you commit to anything.
What is the deposit for, and is it really refundable?
Half the setup fee, paid upfront, holds the project. We then design the exact workflow and show it to you before touching any of your systems. If you don't approve the design, the deposit comes back. Only once you sign off do we connect to your tools and build.
Who owns what we build?
The written proposal sets out ownership, access, and support terms for your project before you sign anything. If a specific term matters to you, ask during the assessment and we'll put the answer in the proposal.
What happens after go-live?
The system is watched, not abandoned. Exception rules get tuned as real edge cases show up in the first weeks, and ongoing fixes cover changes in your volume, your process, or your systems. What that ongoing support includes is set out in your written proposal.
Can we stop after the assessment?
Yes. The assessment is free and the written summary is yours to keep. Some businesses use it to do the work themselves or to decide not to do it at all.
Do you sign NDAs or security questionnaires?
Ask during the assessment. We'll tell you plainly what we can commit to and put it in writing in the proposal, rather than promising something on a web page.
Get started
Start with the free assessment.
One workflow, a written review, an honest answer, and, if it makes sense, a price and timeline in writing. No cost, no obligation.
You'll get a written summary of what we find, whether or not you move forward.