There’s an uncomfortable truth in many Canary Islands businesses: a large portion of working time is spent on tasks that a machine could do better, faster and without errors. Copying data between systems, sending repetitive emails, generating manual reports, cross-referencing spreadsheets. It’s work someone has to do, but it doesn’t add real value to the business.

Process automation isn’t a new concept, but today’s available tools make it accessible for businesses of any size. In this article, we’ll look at what can be automated, how to do it and what return you can expect.

What is process automation?

In simple terms: using technology to make repetitive tasks run on their own, without human intervention or with minimal supervision.

There are different levels:

Basic automation

Simple rules like “if this happens, do that”. Examples:

If an email arrives from a VIP client, notify the sales rep via Slack.
If an invoice exceeds €5,000, send it for director approval.
If a web form is completed, automatically create a record in the CRM.

Tools like Zapier, Make (formerly Integromat) or n8n let you create these automations without coding.

RPA (Robotic Process Automation)

Software that replicates human actions in applications: clicking, copying, pasting, navigating menus. It’s useful when you need to automate tasks in systems that don’t have APIs (legacy software, government platforms, old ERPs).

Intelligent automation

Combines RPA with artificial intelligence to make decisions. It doesn’t just execute tasks — it interprets data and chooses the right action. For example: reading an email, understanding whether it’s a complaint or a query, and routing it to the correct department.

Concrete examples for Canary Islands businesses

Automatic invoicing

The problem: An administrative team spends 2 hours daily generating invoices manually, emailing them, recording them in accounting and tracking payments.

The solution: An automated workflow that:

Generates the invoice from order or service data.
Emails it to the client with a copy to the finance department.
Automatically records the accounting entry.
Schedules payment reminders at 15, 30 and 45 days.
Alerts if a client exceeds usual payment terms.

Result: From 2 hours daily to 15 minutes of supervision. 90% reduction in invoices with errors.

Reporting and dashboards

The problem: Every Monday, the director requests a sales report for the previous week. Someone spends 3 hours extracting data from 4 different systems, cross-referencing them in Excel and formatting a PowerPoint.

The solution: An automated dashboard that:

Extracts data in real time from all systems.
Calculates KPIs automatically.
Updates itself and sends a summary email every Monday at 8:00.

Result: 3 weekly hours freed up. More accurate and up-to-date reports. The director gets the data when they need it, not when someone has time to prepare it.

Email and communications management

The problem: A services company receives 200 emails daily. 60% are repetitive queries answered with variations of the same text.

The solution:

Automatic email classification by type (query, complaint, quote, support).
Automatic responses for frequent queries.
Intelligent routing to the correct department.
Automatic follow-up if there’s no response within 24 hours.

Result: 50% reduction in email management time. Improved customer response times.

Employee onboarding

The problem: Every time a new employee joins, HR has to create email accounts, grant system access, send documentation, schedule training and follow up.

The solution: A workflow triggered when a new hire is confirmed:

Automatically creates necessary accounts.
Sends the welcome pack with documentation.
Schedules training sessions in the calendar.
Assigns a mentor and notifies the team.
Runs automatic check-ins at 7, 30 and 90 days.

System integrations

The problem: A company uses a CRM, accounting software, a project management tool and an HR system. None of them talk to each other. Data is duplicated manually.

The solution: Automatic API integrations that sync data between systems:

New client in CRM → create record in accounting.
Project closed → automatically generate invoice.
New employee in HR → create user across all systems.

Automation ROI: the numbers speak

The key question is always: is the investment worth it? Let’s look at a real example:

Scenario: Company with 20 employees where each loses an average of 45 minutes daily on automatable tasks.

Time lost: 20 people × 45 min/day × 220 working days = 3,300 hours/year.
Cost of that time (at €20/hour average): €66,000/year.
Automation investment: €15,000-30,000 (development + implementation).
Estimated savings (recovering 60% of that time): €39,600/year.
First-year ROI: The investment pays for itself in 5-9 months.

And this doesn’t count intangible benefits: fewer errors, happier employees, better customer service, decisions based on current data.

How to start: practical steps

1. Audit your processes

Spend a week observing what your team does. Identify tasks that:

Repeat more than 3 times per week.
Involve copying data from one place to another.
Follow clear rules (if X, then Y).
Frequently generate errors because they’re manual.

2. Prioritise by impact

Don’t automate everything at once. Choose the 2-3 processes where time savings are greatest and error risk is highest.

3. Choose the right tool

Low-code (Zapier, Make): for simple automations between SaaS tools.
RPA (UiPath, Automation Anywhere): for automating actions in desktop applications.
Custom development: when you need complex logic, deep integrations or specific data processing.

4. Implement gradually

Start with a pilot. Measure results. Adjust. Then scale.

5. Don’t forget the people

Automation works best when the team understands and participates. Involve users from the start. Their knowledge of processes is essential for designing good automations.

Common mistakes to avoid

Automating a bad process: If the manual process is already inefficient, automating it just makes it inefficient faster. Optimise first, then automate.
Ignoring exceptions: Real processes have special cases. Design the automation to handle or escalate them.
Not measuring before and after: Without metrics, you can’t prove the automation’s value.
Forgetting maintenance: Automations need periodic review. Systems change, APIs update, processes evolve.

Conclusion

Process automation isn’t a technological luxury — it’s a competitive necessity. Every hour your team spends on repetitive tasks is an hour not spent selling, innovating or better serving your customers.

The tools are available, the costs are reasonable and the return is measurable. All you need is to take the first step: identify which processes are stealing your time and explore how to automate them.

Want to know which processes in your business can be automated? Contact us and we’ll do an initial audit — no strings attached.