Straight answers about business automation
The questions we get asked before anyone signs anything — answered properly, with real numbers, and with the cases where the answer is different. No gated PDFs and no discovery call required.
Cost and timing
What it costs, how long it takes, and how to work out whether it pays back.
How much does business process automation cost for a small business?
$12,000 to $25,000 in year one for two or three processes. The full breakdown, the five variables that move it, and how to check whether it pays for itself.
How long does an automation project take?
Four to eight weeks end to end for a first automation. What each stage involves, and the three things that actually cause overruns.
Deciding what to do
Scope, sequencing, and knowing when the answer is "don't."
What can a 20-person company actually automate?
The six automations that consistently pay back at this size, a four-question test for any process, and what to leave alone.
What should not be automated?
Processes that should be deleted instead, work that needs judgement, and the high-stakes tasks that produce no signal when they go wrong.
Should I hire an ops person or automate?
The honest arithmetic including the rows vendors leave out, when each is right, and why the answer is usually both — in a specific order.
Technology choices
Platforms, AI, and what happens after it is running.
Do I need an AI agent or just a workflow?
The one-question test, what actually differs between them, and the six guardrails that separate a production agent from a demo.
Is n8n or Make better for a small business?
The pricing models are the whole story. How to estimate your operation count in ten minutes and find your own crossover point.
What happens when an automation breaks?
The five ways they actually fail, why silent failure is the dangerous one, and five questions to audit what you already have running.
Most of this should not be a secret
The standard practice in this market is to keep pricing, timelines and trade-offs behind a discovery call, on the theory that a conversation converts better than a web page.
It might. It also wastes the time of everyone who was never going to be a fit, and it leaves buyers unable to compare anything. We would rather you arrived already knowing the numbers and disagreeing with something specific.
- Every answer is complete on its own — no "book a call to find out"
- Real figures, including the ones that make us look expensive
- The cases where our answer is "don't hire us for this"
- Updated when the underlying facts change, with the date shown
Question not answered here?
Ask it directly. If it is a good one we will answer it here too, and you get a straight reply either way.