In many SMEs the same thing happens: you have one program for invoicing, another for email, a spreadsheet for orders, and maybe an online store. Each works fine on its own, but they do not talk to each other. The result is that someone on your team spends the day copying data from one place to another. There is a remedy for that: connecting those applications so the information travels on its own. That is what we call workflow automation.
What an automated workflow is
A workflow is simply a sequence of steps that triggers on its own when something happens. For example: “when a new order comes into the store, create the invoice, send an email to the customer, and notify the warehouse”. Each of those steps is done by a person today; an automated workflow chains them together without anyone having to step in.
The idea is that your programs stop being islands and become connected to one another, so that a piece of data coming in on one side appears, already processed, where it needs to be.
Why avoid proprietary software
There are paid platforms that promise to connect your applications in a few clicks. They are convenient, but they have fine print worth knowing:
- You pay per operation: the more data you move, the more it costs you each month.
- Your data passes through their servers: your business information travels through a system you do not control.
- Total dependency: if they raise the price or shut down, your automations break and you are left with no way out.
“Proprietary software” is, in essence, a closed box whose key belongs to someone else. It works as long as they let it, and on their terms.
Connecting your applications should not mean handing the keys to your business over to a third party.
The alternative with open-source tools
Today there are workflow automation tools based on open-source software that do exactly the same thing, but that you can install on your own server. With them you define your workflows visually, dragging and connecting boxes, with no need to program and without writing custom code.
The advantages for an SME are clear:
- No cost per operation: move whatever data you like, you do not pay extra.
- Your data does not leave home: everything happens on your server, under your control.
- No lock-in: if one day you want to change something, the workflows are yours and no one can take them away.
- It grows with you: you start with a simple workflow and add more as you need them.
A realistic example
Picture an SME that receives orders by email and web forms. Today, a person reads each message, copies the data into the orders sheet, generates the invoice in the management program, and replies to the customer. That is several minutes per order and the occasional error.
With a well-built automated workflow, as soon as the order arrives it is registered on its own, the invoice is created, the confirmation is sent to the customer, and an internal notice goes out. The person goes from bridging to simply supervising that everything is running smoothly. And copy-and-paste errors all but disappear.
Where to start
As always, what works is not trying to connect everything at once. The sensible thing is to pick the data transfer that takes up the most of your time (usually that point where someone copies information by hand every day), automate only that one, and check the real savings before going further.
From that first connection that works, adding more workflows is much easier, because you already have the foundation in place on your own server.
If you do not know which of your processes would be the first candidate to connect, that is exactly what we review in Bravo IA’s free audit: we identify where the flow of information breaks down today and propose how to join it up with open-source tools, without lock-in and with your data always at home.