“We have always done it this way”
Asked why a step exists, people tell you how it came about rather than what it is for. Often the system that made it necessary was replaced long ago.
Understand first.
Then change.
We record your workflows the way they actually run — including the detours, interim lists and verbal handoffs that appear in no process diagram. What comes out of it is a reliable picture of which steps create value and where software or AI genuinely changes something.
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Recorded where the work happens
Prioritised
Measures sorted by effort and benefit
Open-ended
“No software needed” is a valid result
Starting point
The process grew. Nobody designed it.
Most processes are the result of many small decisions over years: an extra approval step here, a spreadsheet there, an agreement that was never written down. Each one was right at the time. Together they produce a workflow nobody fully oversees any more – and whose detours count as normal because they have been there for years.
Nobody knows the whole path
Each department knows its own section. What happens before and after is guesswork. The most expensive friction sits precisely at those transitions.
Automating an unclear workflow
A process nobody can describe precisely does not improve through automation – it goes wrong faster. Which is why the analysis comes first, not alongside.
Spreadsheets as a shadow system
Between ERP and business application, lists appear that nobody owns but everybody uses.
How we work
How we go about it.
On-site recording
Interviews with the people who run the process daily, observation at the workplace, analysis of system data.
Process map
Every step with its owner, system, medium and cycle time — legible on one sheet.
Assessment
We separate what creates value, what is pure administration and what can be dropped outright.
AI readiness
We check data quality, structures and permissions: where can AI work reliably today — and where not.
Sequence
In what order.
Phase 1
Recording
Conversations, observation, review of systems and data.
Phase 2
Analysis
Assessment of steps, measurement of cycle times and media breaks.
Phase 3
Target picture
Target process, system scope and the question of what gets built first.
After that
Implementation
We build it ourselves — or support your team in doing so.
Outcome
A target picture that names priorities.
You get your current process documented, with data flows, handoffs, exceptions and decision points – and a target picture beside it. Separated by what can change without technology, what needs software and what AI could take on. Each step with effort and expected effect. Whether you pursue implementation with us, yourself or not at all is then an informed decision.
- Process map, current and target
- Weak points with an effort-benefit assessment
- AI readiness assessment per process step
- Overview of the system landscape and interfaces
- Prioritised list of measures
- Implementation plan with an effort range
Frequently asked
What clients ask first.
- How long does a process analysis take?
- A bounded process can usually be mapped and assessed in two to four weeks. The effort sits less in the analysis than in the sessions with the people who actually do the work – they are the real source.
- How is the work billed?
- A process analysis is bounded in scope and result and is quoted at a fixed price. It is not tied to an implementation afterwards: the result is yours even if you continue with someone else or on your own.
- How does this differ from management consulting?
- We implement what we recommend, so we do not write down anything we cannot judge technically. Conversely we know the current state of what is feasible with software and AI – the part a purely business-side consultancy usually does not cover.
- What do we need to provide internally?
- Access to the people who do the work, not only to those accountable for it. The two rarely coincide, and the gap is often part of the finding already. A finished process manual is not required – where one exists, we check it against actual practice.
- What if the answer is that no software is needed?
- Then that is what the result says. Some improvements sit in responsibilities, sequence and steps left out, and cost no development at all. We record those too, even when no project follows for us.