Automating routine work: 5 workflows worth automating in any SME

In many SMEs, hours disappear every week into work nobody enjoys: retyping data, sorting emails, copying quotes together. According to the KMU Digital Pulse 2026 study by localsearch and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, 44 percent of Swiss SMEs don't yet see a clear benefit from AI. Often that's because nobody has shown them concretely where it lies. Here are five examples.

1. Capturing and routing requests

Requests arrive via the website, email and phone notes. An automation collects them in one place, sorts them by topic and urgency and notifies the right person. No request gets lost, and response times drop.

2. Creating quotes from templates

Instead of putting every quote together by hand, a draft is created from the request with the right line items and prices from your price list. A person checks and sends it. With many similar requests, this saves a great deal of time.

3. Reading and filing documents

Invoices, delivery notes and contracts are read automatically, the key data captured and transferred to your accounting or filing system. No more retyping, and documents are easy to find.

4. Keeping data in sync between tools

Customer data in the CRM, accounting and newsletter tool, all slightly different. An automation keeps the systems in sync. Double entry and errors disappear.

5. Answering frequent questions

An AI assistant on your website answers recurring customer questions based on your own content, around the clock. For complex matters it hands over to a person. Internally, the same approach helps staff find answers in manuals and templates.

Does it pay off?

A simple calculation: a task that costs one person 30 minutes a day adds up to around 110 hours a year. At an internal rate of CHF 80 an hour, that is almost CHF 9,000. We automate a workflow like this from CHF 2,500. It often pays for itself within a few months.

How to start

With our AI check from CHF 900 we analyse your workflows in half a day. You get a list of possible automations with estimated time savings and a concrete recommendation. The fee is credited if you go ahead. Then we start with the workflow that delivers value fastest. Request your AI check.