We are very fond of automations at aFinite. We use the word automations to describe small pieces of custom built software which do something really useful. They typically automate something which was a discrete piece of manual labour, such as a piece of software which reads in a bank statement file from an online banking website and converts it into another format so that the accounts package can understand it and allow the user to carry out a bank account reconciliation. This small piece of software is invaluable to its users. What would typically take 20 minutes minimum, now only takes a couple of minutes to achieve and the results are perfect every time!

Another example is a billing utility which takes a stream of billing data received each month and processes it so that when the following month’s data arrives, this can be easily and automatically summarised to only highlight the differences and advise the user the changes so that they’re aware to notify staff and update other systems as appropriate. This simple tool has allowed the organisation concerned to reduce the processing time from two hours per month to just under a minute!

Automations are really powerful tools for organisations to use. This is because they can bridge the often repeating, monotonous gaps between systems which require manual intervention between two systems, often leading to errors and omissions.

We have built automations for Sage Accounts as well as links between all sorts of off the shelf and bespoke systems as appropriate. Automations help your business get on with what it needs to by freeing your staff to do higher value work rather than re-keying data from one system to another or cross checking it.