What Automation Actually Looks Like in a Small Company

Enterprise automation case studies are useless for small teams. You don't have 6 months and €200k for an implementation.

Here's what automation actually looks like when you have 5-30 people:

Example 1: Lead to CRM to Task (30 minutes → instant)

Before:

• Lead fills out website form
• Someone checks email, copies info to CRM
• Creates task in project management tool
• Sends acknowledgment email
• 30 minutes elapsed, often delayed hours

After:

• Form submission triggers automation
• Contact created in CRM with all fields mapped
• Task created with due date and assignment
• Personalized response sent immediately
• Slack notification to sales team
• Total time: 0 human minutes, 2 seconds elapsed

Example 2: Invoice processing (2 hours/day → 5 minutes)

Before:

• Receive invoice via email
• Download, rename, file in folder
• Enter line items into accounting
• Update budget tracker spreadsheet
• Send confirmation to vendor

After:

• Email received triggers workflow
• AI extracts invoice data (vendor, amount, line items)
• Accounting entry created automatically
• Budget tracker updated
• Confirmation sent
• Human reviews only flagged exceptions

Example 3: Weekly reporting (Friday afternoon → automatic)

Before:

• Pull data from 4 different tools
• Copy into spreadsheet
• Format and calculate metrics
• Create charts
• Email to stakeholders
• 3-4 hours every Friday

After:

• Scheduled automation runs Friday 8am
• Pulls data from all sources via APIs
• Generates formatted report with charts
• Emails PDF to stakeholders
• Archives in shared drive
• Human time: 0 (unless someone has questions)

The pattern:

Notice what these have in common:

• Multiple tools that don't talk to each other
• Repetitive steps done the same way each time
• No judgment required-just execution
• Triggers are predictable (new email, form, time)

What this costs:

Each of these automations: €1,500-€3,500 to build

Monthly tools: €50-150

Ongoing maintenance: 1-2 hours/month

The tools involved:

• Make or n8n for orchestration
• Existing tools you already pay for (CRM, PM, Accounting)
• Sometimes a simple AI layer for extraction/categorization

No new software to learn. No change management. Your team just... stops doing the boring parts.