Five processes that can be automated in almost every SME
Automation sounds like a big project. But often it is a handful of everyday processes that eat up hours every week. We find these five in almost every SME.
Wizza Solutions October 2026, 5-minute read
1. Sorting incoming email
Today: Someone reads every email, decides who is responsible and forwards it.
Automated: AI recognises whether a message is an enquiry, an invoice, a complaint or advertising and puts it in the right place. Urgent items are flagged, and standard questions get a draft reply.
What to watch out for: Start with a few clear categories and have a person check the assignments for the first few weeks.
2. Getting receipts into accounting
Today: Invoices arrive by email and are printed or downloaded, renamed and entered by hand.
Automated: Receipts are fetched from the inbox, read, given a sensible name, filed and passed on to the accounting software. Many Swiss solutions such as bexio already offer interfaces for this.
What to watch out for: A single incoming channel – for example a dedicated address for invoices – makes automation much more reliable.
3. From enquiry to quote
Today: An enquiry comes in, the details are retyped, and an old quote is copied and adapted.
Automated: The enquiry creates a customer record and a draft quote from your templates and prices. You check, adjust and send.
What to watch out for: A good enquiry form on your website that asks for the key details right away saves the most time later on.
4. Scheduling appointments
Today: Three emails back and forth until a time suits everyone. Then it is entered in the calendar by hand.
Automated: Customers choose a free slot online and receive a confirmation and a reminder. Your calendar is updated automatically.
What to watch out for: Set buffer times and only show the time slots you really want to offer.
5. Following up on quotes
Today: Quotes are sent out, and in the daily rush nobody keeps track of who has not replied yet.
Automated: If a quote goes unanswered for a few days, you receive a reminder or the customer receives a friendly, personally worded follow-up.
What to watch out for: A single, well-timed follow-up works. Three automatic reminders come across as pushy.
Where to start?
Choose the process that occurs most often and follows the most fixed rules. That is where you will feel the benefit fastest. A rough rule of thumb: anything that costs several hours every week and always runs in a similar way is almost always worth it.
You can get a rough idea of what this means for you with our savings calculator.
