In an SME, administrative tasks eat up precious time without creating direct value. The good news: they are often the easiest to automate, with a fast return on investment. Here are five priority projects.
1. Processing supplier invoices
Receiving, extracting data, matching against orders, scheduling payment: the supplier invoice cycle is repetitive and time-consuming. Automation (with OCR and business rules) cuts delays, reduces errors and makes your accounting more reliable.
2. Chasing unpaid customer invoices
Chasing unpaid invoices is essential for cash flow… and often neglected. An automatic workflow sends reminders at the right time, with the right tone, and tracks every reminder. The result: faster collections with no manual effort.
3. Expense reports
Entry, receipts, approval, reimbursement: expense reports generate endless back-and-forth. By automating receipt collection and the approval flow, you save time for employees and for accounting.
4. Onboarding new employees
A new hire triggers a cascade of tasks: creating accounts, tool access, sending documents, scheduling. An automated onboarding process ensures nothing is forgotten and makes a much better first impression.
5. Reporting and data consolidation
Manually compiling figures from several tools into a spreadsheet every week is a classic waste of time. Automating collection and consolidation frees up your teams and provides always-up-to-date data for decision-making.
How to prioritize?
The right criterion: frequency × time spent × error risk. A process done every day, long and error-prone, is an ideal candidate. Start small, measure the gain, then expand.
Our approach at D1 Consulting
We identify the highest-potential processes with you, then automate them with the right tools (Power Automate, n8n, Make, AI). The goal: give time back to your teams for what really matters.
👉 Discover our Process Automation & Optimization offer or request a free assessment.
