---
title: "Business process automation"
description: "Business process automation from AGMM, a UK AI consultancy: we find the manual step costing you time and margin, then build the system that removes it."
canonical: https://agmm.co.uk/services/business-process-automation/
updated: 2026-10-13
updated_basis: the date the page itself states
publisher: AGMM (https://agmm.co.uk/about/agmm.json)
lang: en-GB
---

[All services](https://agmm.co.uk/services/)

The core of what we do

# Business process automation that removes the work, not just the software.

Business process automation removes the manual steps between your systems: the retyping, chasing and checking that fill a good person’s week. AGMM, an AI consultancy, finds the step costing you most in a fixed £2,000, 14-day audit, then builds the system that removes it, priced by proposal.

[Book the free 30-minute fit call](https://agmm.co.uk/ai-constraint-audit/#book) [See every department](https://agmm.co.uk/services/#departments)

Or call [0161 543 7189](tel:+441615437189)

By [Sam Wall](https://agmm.co.uk/about/sam-wall/) and [Adam Gillett](https://agmm.co.uk/about/adam-gillett/) Checked on 13 October 2026

Two of the papers this work handles. Demonstration with sample documents. In the Audit we draw your real lines.

Supplier invoice INV-20871

**Supplier**: Harlow Packaging Ltd

**Date**: 9 Oct 2026

**Order**: PO-4417

**Terms**: 30 days

| Item | Qty | Price | Total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cartons | 400 | £2.85 | £1,140.00 |
| Pallet wrap | 24 | £6.50 | £156.00 |
| Delivery | 1 | £45.00 | £45.00 |
| Total with VAT | £1,609.20 |  |  |

The problem

## Work that should happen once happens three times, in three places, and nobody owns the gap between them.

Most businesses do not have a technology problem. They have a process that grew one workaround at a time, and now good people spend their week keeping it upright. We find the step that is costing the most and build the system that removes it.

It is rarely one big failure. It is fifteen minutes here, a re-keyed order there, a job that sat for two days because the person who had to approve it was on site. None of it appears as a line in your accounts, which is exactly why it survives for years: everybody can feel the drag and nobody can cost it. So the first job is to put a number on it. A number is the only thing that settles an argument about what to fix first, and it is also the only thing that tells you when to stop, which matters more than it sounds. Most automation programmes overrun because nobody ever defined the point at which the work was finished.

Now picture yours

## The same work, three ways.

Pick a line of work, press a stage, then step through the papers it handles. Each step shows the real document, and where a person stays in charge.

Finance Typed once, matched, paid on time

Email Fri 9 Oct, 09:02

**From**: Harlow Packaging Ltd

**Subject**: **Invoice INV-20871, October delivery**

Hi, invoice attached for the cartons delivered on 7 October.

Payment terms are 30 days. Thanks.

- INV-20871.pdf

1. Caught wherever it lands: the shared inbox, the portal or a photograph.
2. Supplier, lines and totals read once. Every tool that needs them reads the same record.
3. The repeatable path runs on its own. Anything that does not match goes to whoever should decide, with the context attached.
4. Whoever holds the budget approves, or sends it back with a note.
5. What ran, when, and what it did. A record you can check.

1. **As it runs now**

   The same detail typed into three systems, a spreadsheet built to work around the software, and work that stalls whenever one person is out.
2. **Organised**

   One record and one route through the work. Each step happens once, in one place, and anyone can see where a job is up to.
3. **Agentified**

   The repeatable path runs on its own. Anything unusual goes to a named person with the context attached, and every run leaves a record you can check.

*A person decides Runs on its own Back with notes Demonstration. Sample documents, no client data. Timings compressed.*

Signs you have it

You will recognise some of these.

- The same customer detail is typed into more than one system.
- Someone spends part of every day chasing information rather than using it.
- Work stalls whenever one particular person is unavailable.
- You cannot answer "where is that job up to" without asking somebody.
- Your team has built spreadsheets to work around the software you already pay for.

What we build

## What do our business process automation services include?

1. ### A map of the work as it runs

   Not the version in the process document. We follow the handoffs, the information and the decisions around the bottleneck before proposing anything.
2. ### The automation itself

   Built, tested and integrated with the tools you already use, in stages, so each piece is in use before the next one starts.
3. ### Exceptions routed to a person

   Automation handles the repeatable path. Anything unusual goes to whoever should decide, rather than failing without a sound.
4. ### A record you can check

   What ran, when, and what it did. If a system cannot be audited, it cannot be trusted with real work.

What it costs

## What does it cost? The audit is £2,000; the build is proposed after it

**1The AI Constraint Audit**: **£2,000** 14 days, fixed

**2The build**: **By proposal** Priced against what the audit found

**3Ongoing support**: **By proposal** Only if you want it

One price is published on this page and it is the diagnostic: the AI Constraint Audit, £2,000, fourteen days, three sixty-minute working sessions. The build is proposed after it, in its own document, priced against what the audit found. Nobody can cost an automation from a description of it, and a supplier who does is pricing their assumptions rather than your work. The audit fee is not credited against a build, which is deliberate: crediting it would give us a financial reason to recommend a build whatever we found.

## What does the £2,000 cover before anything is built?

Four documents you own outright and can take to any other supplier: a business-wide constraint map, an AI opportunity map, an economic case for each option worth considering, and a ranked order for spending. On an automation that is the difference between a guess and a number. The step costing the most is measured rather than nominated, the volume behind it is counted, and the case for removing it is built from figures you already collect. Three things move the build price afterwards: how many decisions the system has to make, how many other tools it has to stay in step with, and the state of the data it inherits.

The whole ladder, including what a build costs and what we do not bill for, is on [what it costs](https://agmm.co.uk/what-it-costs/) .

How long

## How long does it take?

Fourteen days from the first working session to the written recommendation. A build runs longer and in stages, and the staging is the point: the first piece is in real use before the next one starts, so you find out whether the shape is right while changing it is still cheap. Nothing arrives as a single delivery at the end, and nothing waits on one sign-off that covers everything at once.

1. **Day 1** First working session
2. **Day 14** Written recommendation, yours to keep
3. **Then** First stage of the build, in real use
4. **Then** Next stage, only once the first is working

Not in the price

## What this does not include

- ### Off-the-shelf licences, resold

   We do not resell anybody’s software or take a margin on it. Where a tool you can buy already does the job, we name it and you buy it directly, on your own account.
- ### Ongoing support, inside the build price

   Hosting, monitoring and the changes a system needs after go-live are quoted separately and stated as a running cost. A price that hides year two inside the build is not cheaper, it is harder to compare.
- ### Data migration beyond what the audit scoped

   Moving and cleaning historic records is routinely the largest line in this kind of work. It is measured during the audit and priced in the build proposal, never assumed in.
- ### A guarantee of savings

   No percentage, no payback period, no figure we cannot source. You agree what you are measuring before anything is built, usually the time the step takes now and how often it goes wrong, and you measure it yourself afterwards.

What you can check

## What can you check before you believe any of this?

The nearest thing you can inspect today is how we run our own business. One of our knowledge bases holds 4,535 notes and 5.9 million words, and every automation that reads it leaves a record of what ran, when and why. The systems are drawn department by department on Inside AGMM. That shows the standard we build to. It is not a case study about your industry and we will not stretch it into one. What we cannot show you yet is a named automation client with a measured before and after, so we do not imply one.

[See the systems that run our own business](https://agmm.co.uk/evidence/)

People and machines

## Where does a person stay in the loop?

Automation should take the repeatable path and nothing else. Anything unusual is routed to a named person with the context attached, rather than failing without a sound into a log nobody reads. The decisions that stay human are the ones where being wrong is expensive or hard to reverse: a price, a credit, a refusal, anything a customer will remember. That is a design choice made before the build rather than a fallback bolted on after something breaks, and it is written down so a new starter can see which decisions the software is allowed to make and which it is not. A system nobody can explain to a new starter is a system that will be worked around within a year.

- **Approved** *Supplier invoices* Whoever holds the budget approves, or sends it back with a note.
- **Manager check** *A new starter* The manager confirms the plan fits the person. The judgement stays theirs.
- **Exceptions flagged** *Month-end* Anything unusual is flagged to the person who owns it.

Proof it worked

## How do we know it worked?

You agree what you are measuring before anything is built, usually the time the step takes now, how often it has to be redone, and how long work waits between hands. Those come from your own tools rather than from a sector benchmark we would have to invent. After go-live the same three measures are read again, on the same definition, which is the part most suppliers leave out because it is the part that can embarrass them. If the numbers have not moved, that is a finding rather than a failure. It usually means the constraint sat further up the process than the step we were asked to fix, and knowing that is worth more than a dashboard saying the automation ran successfully nine hundred times.

*A worksheet we fill in with you, from your own records*

1. Time the step takes now
2. How often it has to be redone
3. How long work waits between hands

Same definition both times. If the number has not moved, that is a finding, not a failure.

Known risks

## What tends to go wrong on this kind of build?

Three things, and we would rather name them now. The first is automating a process that is still being argued about, which sets concrete around a decision nobody has finished making. The second is the exception rate: a process that looks standard often turns out to be sixty per cent standard, and the remaining forty per cent is where the cost goes. The third is the handover. A system that only its builder understands is a dependency rather than an asset, which is why documentation and a walkthrough with your own people are part of the work rather than an optional extra at the end.

Fit, stated plainly

## What do we need from you?

- Access to the people who run the process, not only the people who own it.
- Whatever numbers already exist: volumes, timings, error rates, the spreadsheet somebody keeps privately.
- A decision maker who can say yes or no to a change in how the work is done.
- Read access to the systems involved, arranged through your own IT or accounts.

## Who this is not for

- A business that wants the cheapest possible build rather than the right one.
- A brief already written and costed, needing hands rather than a diagnosis.
- A process nobody is willing to change, where software is expected to absorb the mess.
- A team with no capacity to be interviewed for three hours across a fortnight.

Questions

## What do people ask before they start?

**Do we have to replace the software we already use?**: Usually not. Most of the value comes from connecting what you already have so information moves between systems without anybody retyping it. Replacing a tool is a decision we would only recommend if keeping it costs more than changing it.

**How long does a first piece of work take?**: It depends on the process, which is why the first conversation is about the constraint rather than a quote. We build in stages so something is working and in use early, rather than everything arriving at the end.

**What if AI is not the right answer?**: Then we say so. AI is useful where it removes repeatable work. Plenty of problems are better solved by changing the process, connecting two systems, or building something conventional. We would rather tell you that than sell you a model.

**Who owns what you build?**: You do. It runs on your accounts and your data, and it is documented so it is not dependent on us being available.

**What does business process automation cost?**: Nobody can answer that from a description, and a supplier who does is pricing their assumptions rather than your work. What moves the number is how many decisions the system has to make, how many other tools it has to talk to, and what state your existing data is in. Our guide on what custom software costs sets out all six factors. The fit call tests whether an audit is sensible; the audit establishes which factors apply before any build is priced.

**How do we know it worked?**: You agree what you are measuring before anything is built, usually the time the step takes now and how often it goes wrong. If we cannot say what better looks like in numbers you already collect, that is a sign the process needs defining before it needs automating.

**Do you only work with businesses near Manchester?**: No. We are based in Greater Manchester and we work with clients wherever they are. The work runs remotely, with calls and shared access to the systems involved, so location rarely changes how a build runs.

**Do you work in Zapier, Make, n8n or custom code?**: All of them, and it is a cost decision rather than a loyalty one. A connector platform is quicker and cheaper until the rules get awkward, at which point per-run pricing and the limits of the platform start costing more than code would have. We hold no reseller relationship with any of them, so nothing we recommend earns us a margin.

**What happens if the automation breaks at two in the morning?**: It should fail loudly to a named person rather than silently to nobody, and that is a design decision taken before anything is built. Anything unusual is routed to whoever should decide rather than dropped. Monitoring, and who answers the alert, belong to the support arrangement and are quoted separately rather than assumed.

**Is this a business process automation consultant or software?**: Both, in that order. We are an AI consultancy first: the £2,000, 14-day audit finds which step is worth automating, and says so if the answer is a simple fix or no build at all. Where a build is justified we write the software ourselves, so one team takes it from the diagnosis to the system your people run. Month-end close, supplier invoices and onboarding a new starter are typical first candidates.

Free to read first

## Would you rather work it out yourself?

Everything below is free, with no account and no paywall. If it solves the problem without us, that is a good outcome.

- [What business process automation costs in the UK](https://agmm.co.uk/learn/what-business-process-automation-costs-uk/)
- [How to find the first business process to automate](https://agmm.co.uk/learn/where-to-start-with-ai/)
- [How to calculate the ROI of process automation](https://agmm.co.uk/learn/roi-of-automating-a-task/)
- [Five automations to set up first](https://agmm.co.uk/learn/5-automations-to-set-up-first/)
- [What custom software costs, and what moves the number](https://agmm.co.uk/learn/what-custom-software-costs/)
- [Free course: automate your operations](https://agmm.co.uk/learn/courses/automate-your-operations/)
- [Free tool: score how ready the business is to build](https://agmm.co.uk/ai-readiness-assessment/)

## What else is usually needed alongside this?

- [**Custom process systems** Custom systems: the awkward process no off-the-shelf product fits.](https://agmm.co.uk/services/custom-process-systems/)
- [**Custom CRM development** Sales and Leadership: enquiries, the pipeline and reports the team can trust.](https://agmm.co.uk/services/custom-crm-development/)

[Everything we do](https://agmm.co.uk/services/)

## Tell us where the business is getting stuck.

A short call to map the constraint and give you a clear next step. That might be software, automation, training or no build at all.

[Book the free fit call](https://agmm.co.uk/ai-constraint-audit/#book)

1. Before day 1**Fit call** Free, 30 minutes
2. Day 01**Map the business** Constraints and weak points
3. Day 07**Price the opportunities** What could save or earn
4. Day 14**Rank the investment** Four outputs you keep

**Then the proposal.** The fuller audit is always part of it.

*Three 60-minute working sessions with the founders who would scope any build. Between them, we map, measure and price.*

---

Source: https://agmm.co.uk/services/business-process-automation/ · AGMM, a UK AI consultancy · company facts: https://agmm.co.uk/about/agmm.json · every page: https://agmm.co.uk/llms.txt