Workflow automation starts with understanding how people work. I have helped move a service process from paper to a mobile solution and make order information flow between webshop, finance system and suppliers. Only then could we choose the app, integrations and responsibilities.
The projects had different users and systems but the same underlying challenge: information had to follow the work instead of being moved manually between separate steps. Read the service case and the order flow case.
Map the actual process, not just the intended one
The person who commissions the solution does not necessarily know every detail of everyday work. I therefore want both decision-makers and users involved in the clarification. Which fields does the service technician need in the field? What happens to an order that does not fit the standard? When does data need to be updated in the finance system? Questions like these turn an abstract idea into a task developers can solve.
In the service project, I owned the customer dialogue and the responsibility for clarifying needs, and I led our development work. The customer's managers made the decisions for their own organisation. That division mattered: we were to deliver technology that fitted their work, while they owned the changes to their daily process. Successful automation requires both sides to know what they are responsible for.
Choose the simplest solution that can be kept running
I have worked with APIs and integrations to ERP, finance and webshop systems, among others. Sometimes a targeted integration is right. At other times, a standard feature or a change to the existing process is better than new custom development. I look at the total cost of building, using, changing and running the solution. That is especially important when an automated flow becomes part of everyday business. Read about ERP, APIs and integrations.
I do not promise a specific number of saved hours for the earlier projects, because I do not have documented measurements of that. They show something else that is valuable: I can connect people with technical choices, get several systems to support the same process and take responsibility for making sure the solution fits the work it is meant for.
Measure after the rollout
Once a new workflow is in operation, I want to see whether it actually makes everyday work easier. Where do employees still have to correct data? Which exceptions need help? Have we moved a problem from one team to another? That follow-up should be part of the task from the start. Otherwise a process can look automated on paper while it has simply gained new manual detours.
I can help an organisation go from a vague wish for automation to a specific, prioritised task where users, the business and developers understand their part of the solution.
Contact: kontakt@tomc.dk · +45 299 297 67