Automation consultancy for the back office
Back-office work, mapped with your team, then automated step by step.
Derec is a business process automation consultancy for small and mid-sized firms in the UK and the UAE. We map your office processes with the people who run them, then automate the hand-offs, approvals, data entry, and reports. Each build has a fixed price in pounds or dirhams, agreed in writing before work starts.
Business process automation starts with the people who do the work
We automate office work: email, forms, spreadsheets, and business software. Production-line machines and PLCs are industrial automation, a separate trade. Take one process: setting up a new client.
By hand
The usual way
- Sales marks the deal as wonAnd emails operations.
- Operations types the client into the project systemFrom the email, CRM, or contract.
- Finance asks for billing detailsThen types them into accounts.
- Someone sets up folders and a kick-offIf they remember.
- Nobody is sure what has been doneSo a manager asks around.
Automated
Run from one trigger
- The signed contract starts itOr a won deal in your CRM.
- The client's details are entered onceThen copied to project and accounts.
- Missing billing details are requestedIn an email drafted from what is on file.
- Each team gets its tasksIn its own tool, with owner and due date.
- The account manager approves the welcome emailWith a link to book the kick-off.
Workflow automation services for finance, operations, and admin
Each build is one process, automated in tools you already pay for.
Hand-offs between teams
When one team finishes, the next is told, with what it needs in one place.Sales to operations, operations to finance
Approvals
Purchase requests, expenses, discounts, and time off reach the right person with the facts, and the logged answer starts the next step.Email, Microsoft Teams, or Slack
Data entry between systems
Details entered once are copied to your other systems, and documents are read so nobody retypes figures.CRM, accounts, project, and HR systems
CRM automation →Reporting and dashboards
Weekly and month-end figures land in one report or live dashboard. Our own dashboards refresh every 15 minutes.Excel, Google Sheets, Looker Studio, and Power BI
Month-end invoicing
Timesheets are checked against each contract, and draft invoices wait for finance to approve.Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage
Workflows your team can read
Built in n8n, Make, or Zapier, with a plain-English write-up so your staff can change each step.New builds, and rescues of others' workflows
n8n builds →- Someone asks to buy somethingBy Teams form or emailTrigger
- AI reads the request and quoteFills in supplier, amount, and cost codeAI step
- Checked against budget and policySpend to date and approved suppliersYour systems
- Summary sent to the budget holderAnything unusual goes at the topAI step
- The budget holder approvesNo order until a person says yesYou
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How a process automation project runs
You can stop after any step. The first two are the AI readiness assessment.
1Map it with the people who run it
We draw every step, hand-off, and exception, including the ones nobody wrote down.
2Choose what to automate
We mark what software can do, what needs judgement, and where a person approves.
3Build and test
We build in your accounts, test on real cases with your team, then switch it on.
4Run
We watch it and fix it when a connected tool changes.
How pricing works
Each build has a fixed price, agreed in writing, in pounds or dirhams.
The price depends on how many systems the process touches and how much judgement it needs. Linking two tools is a small build. An approval chain that reads documents and routes exceptions is larger.
The AI readiness assessment maps up to three processes, ranks them by time saved and risk, and prices each build. Its fee comes off your first build.
You see monthly running costs first, and every build includes 30 days of free fixes after go-live. See how we work and what we build.
Questions about process automation
What does an automation consultant do?
An automation consultant maps how a process runs today, works out which steps software can do, and builds the automation. We do all three, working with the people who run the process, and a person still approves anything that sends, pays, or publishes.
What is business process automation?
It means software carries out the steps of an office process that people now do by hand, such as moving details between systems, routing approvals, and building reports. Steps that need judgement stay with a person, or get an AI step that a person checks.
Which processes should we automate first?
Ones that follow the same steps each time, happen often, and pass between people or systems. New client set-up, approvals, month-end invoicing, and weekly reports are good candidates. We rank yours by time saved and risk before you spend money on a build.
Do we need to change the software we use?
Usually not. We build on the tools you already pay for, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Xero, or HubSpot, and connect them with n8n, Make, or Zapier. If something new is needed, you see its running cost before you say yes.
Can you automate reporting and dashboards?
Yes. We pull figures from each system into one report or a live dashboard in a tool you already use, such as Excel, Google Sheets, Looker Studio, or Power BI, with a short note on what changed.
What does business process automation cost?
Each build has a fixed price, agreed in writing before we start, in pounds or dirhams. The AI readiness assessment gives you a fixed price for each build before you commit, and its fee comes off your first build.
Do you work with businesses in the UAE?
Yes. We work with firms in the United Kingdom and the UAE on the same terms, and quote in pounds or dirhams.
Tell us which hand-off keeps getting dropped
Within one working day, we tell you in writing if it is worth automating, roughly what it takes, and what to leave alone.