Companies often arrive at innovation through the shop window: a platform seen at a trade show, an app a competitor uses, an artificial intelligence tool that promises to do everything.
Six months later the tool is paid for, half configured, and the team is still entering the same data twice.
Start with Monday
The exercise we propose is more modest. For two weeks, write down everything done by hand that repeats: the Monday report, the order copied from one system to another, the spreadsheet someone updates by looking at another spreadsheet.
That list, sorted by hours per month, is the roadmap. Whatever sits at the top gets automated first, even if it’s boring.
The best integration is the one nobody notices, because the task simply disappeared.
Integrate before replacing
Often there’s no need to change systems. What’s needed is for the two already in use to talk to each other. A well-built integration costs less than a migration and doesn’t force anyone to relearn anything.
The code stays at home
Everything built should live in the company’s own repository. Innovation shouldn’t create a new dependency: if the provider changes tomorrow, the work still belongs to the company.