Custom business software
Business process automation
Every time someone retypes data, it costs time and creates a discrepancy. We remove those steps by bringing your process into one system, starting with the part that delivers the most.
Automating business processes here means that the steps someone now does by hand are taken over by software: retyping, forwarding, keeping track and looking things up. Darvis builds custom software for this with Laravel and connects it to the packages you already work with, so you do not have to replace them. We start with the step that costs the most time, often deliver it within a few weeks, and then continue building link by link.
Does this sound familiar?
Most businesses run on a patchwork of separate tools that grew over the years. It works, but it quietly costs time every single day.
“We enter everything two or three times”
An order arrives by email, is added to the schedule by hand and then entered into the accounting package once more. Every transfer is a chance for a mistake.
“All our records are in Excel”
Work lists, schedules and prices live in files that everyone maintains separately. Nobody knows any more which version is correct.
“Timesheets arrive on Friday”
Notes and messages are typed up at the end of the week, from memory. What comes out is an estimate, not a record.
“I have to chase people to find out where things stand”
The status of a job sits with the person working on it. If you want to know, you have to phone or walk over.
“Writing a quote takes half a day”
Looking up prices, pasting them into a template, checking and sending. Every quote from scratch, even though the structure is always the same.
“Only one person knows how it works”
The process is in the head of a single colleague. When they are on holiday, the administration stops.
What we automate
The steps that pay for themselves fastest
These are the components we most often start with, because the return is visible straight away.
From order to invoice
The whole chain in one system: enquiry, costing, scheduling, execution, packing slip and invoice. Every step records itself, so the status is always current without anyone having to maintain it.
Time tracking
Hours are booked against the job they belong to, at the moment the work happens and on the engineer's phone. At the end of the week nobody has to reconstruct anything.
Quotes from your own data
A quote that builds itself from your products, tiered prices and costing rules. What used to take half a day becomes a matter of checking and sending.
Integrations instead of retyping
Data that already exists somewhere is taken from there. We connect with packages such as MKG and SnelStart, with Peppol for invoices and with Microsoft 365.
If you want your customers to follow what is in progress, we build a customer portal on top of it. If it is mainly about recording customer contact and quotes, take a look at a custom CRM. The complete picture is under custom business software.
Scope
Automation with or without AI
This page is about fixed, predictable steps: if this happens, then that follows. You set those rules in advance, and the software carries them out the same way every time. That is by far the largest share of what can be automated in a business, and you can always trace afterwards why something happened.
Only when a step requires judgement does AI come into the picture: understanding an incoming email, reading a document, writing a draft. That is a different kind of work with a different kind of risk, and we cover it separately under AI in your business. We rarely start with AI. What can be done with a rule should be done with a rule.
How it works
Step by step, not all at once
You do not have to think everything through first, and your business never has to stop for a changeover.
Walking through the shop floor
We follow your process from start to finish, looking at what really happens rather than what is supposed to happen on paper. That gives us the list of time-wasters.
Starting with the biggest one
Not everything at once. We choose the step that costs the most time or causes the most errors and tackle that first.
Building and putting into use
That component goes live while everything else stays as it was. You work with it and find out whether it is right before we build further.
Expanding step by step
Then we take on the next link in the chain. That way the system grows without your business ever having to stop for a changeover.
Frequently asked questions about process automation
Where do we start if almost everything is done by hand?
With the step that costs the most time or causes the most errors. To find it, we first spend a day alongside your team. Automating everything at once takes a long time and only delivers at the very end; step by step, the return starts straight away.
Can we automate without replacing our ERP?
Yes, and that is usually the wiser choice. We build an extension on top of what you already have, as we did on MKG for Compri Aluminium. Your package remains the source of the data; we make it usable for the people who have to work with it.
What if our process works differently in a year's time?
Then the software changes with it. That is exactly the difference from a package: you do not have to wait until a vendor includes your wish in a release. We adapt whatever has changed.
Will this create more work for our people on the shop floor?
That is the test we apply. Registration has to happen at the moment and on the device where the work takes place, usually a phone or tablet. If a step costs the shop floor time instead of saving it, the design is wrong.
What does process automation deliver?
Usually three things: no more double entry, an up-to-date status without anyone having to ask for it, and work that no longer stops when one colleague is away. What that means in hours differs per business, and we work it out with you in advance.
How do we avoid becoming dependent on Darvis?
The source code and the data are yours and you get access to the repository. We build on Laravel, the most widely used PHP framework, so you can continue with another party at any time.
See which integrations we provide, or read why we build everything on Laravel.
Which step costs you the most time?
Tell us how your process runs today. With no obligation, you will hear what can be automated, with a response within 24 hours.