What the automation check costs, how it works and what you get at the end

Free consultations have a reputation. Most of them are a sales pitch with a friendlier name. Our automation check costs nothing for a different reason: it is the first piece of the actual work. Everything we learn in it, we would need to know anyway before we could quote a fixed price. So we don't charge for it.

How the automation check works

The first part is online and takes under two minutes. You describe one process in your own words, pick the kind of solution you'd prefer, list the systems you use today and, if you like, what the process costs per month. An AI system reads the description. Once you confirm through the link in your email, you see the initial assessment: how much of the process can be automated as a percentage, a possible monthly saving in euros, and the approach that fits your process best, with reasons. That recommendation is allowed to disagree with the option you picked. Your name, email address and phone number never go to the AI system, only the description of the process.

The second part is a conversation. After the assessment we get in touch and work out with you which process makes sense as a starting point and which access we will need. Only then can a quote be calculated.

What a useful description looks like

The assessment can only be as specific as what you type. "We want to automate accounting" gets you a generic answer. A description with volumes, times and systems gets you one you can do sums with.

Here is an example of what that might look like. Say a freight forwarder writes:

"We receive around 50 transport orders a day by email, usually as a PDF or in the body of the message. Two people in dispatch type them into our TMS, about five minutes per order. If a loading point or a weight is missing, they call the customer. Systems: Outlook, our TMS, DATEV."

Four sentences, and the assessment has what it needs: volume, time per case, the systems involved and the most common exception. In this example, typing alone comes to more than four hours a day. Describe the process, not the people. Customer or employee names don't belong in the form.

What we settle in the conversation

The conversation covers the questions a quote depends on. Which exceptions occur, and how often? For the forwarder that might be orders without a weight, changes to orders already in the system, or customers who book through a portal instead of by email. Who in your company decides how an exception is handled? Which access do we need, for instance to the mailbox and to a test environment of the TMS? And is there anything to clear beforehand, say with your data protection officer or works council?

On data protection we come prepared. We bring the data processing agreement, and the models run on European infrastructure or, if you prefer, locally on your own hardware.

Open points get settled here, not after you've signed. We don't sell process discovery as a separate paid project. It is part of this selection step.

What you have at the end

After the check you know which process to start with and what needs to be ready on your side. Then comes the quote: a fixed price with a cost-benefit analysis and no subscription. Depending on the process, we cut process costs by 20 to 80 percent, and the numbers in the quote show where yours sits in that range.

The fixed price includes a maintenance agent that watches operations and notices changes at every interface. The only running cost is usage of the AI models, billed directly to you with no flat fee on top.

If you go ahead, the pilot starts. An agent takes one to two days to build, and testing with real cases happens the same week.

Our recommendation

Bring one process, not three. If you're unsure which, take the one your team complains about most, and describe it with volume, time, systems and the most common exception. Sophera Consulting analyses the process, builds the agent and hands it over at a fixed price. The way in is the free automation check.