Prove the first workflow. Then connect the next.
For mid-market companies whose orders, invoices, finance and support run across an ERP, a CRM and shared inboxes. We take one workflow to production with a written boundary, keep it dependable, and connect the next when the evidence from the first is in.
Who it is for
Companies whose workflows cross several teams and systems, and who want each one owned, tested and kept running.
- COO and Head of Operations
- The workflow owner. Agrees the result, what counts as done and which actions stay with a person.
- CFO
- For finance workflows such as invoice matching and reconciliation: sets the approval rules, and reads cost per accepted task in the monthly report.
- CTO
- The technical sponsor. Agrees the integrations, the access model and the test plan, and owns the decision to give a workflow more autonomy.
Not sure which workflow comes first?
When the question is where AI belongs across operations, not whether one workflow should change, the baseline covers several processes at once. We map each one, put a cost on its failures, check its data and access, and rank them. You leave with a written order of work and the first workflow ready to build.
- A map of each process: steps, handoffs, exceptions and volumes.
- A failure-cost estimate for each, as it runs today and with AI.
- A data and access review across the systems involved: sources, permissions, freshness and provenance.
- A comparison of each with a simpler, conventional fix.
- A ranked plan: which workflow to build first, which next, and which to leave alone.
- For the first workflow, an evaluation plan with acceptance criteria and owners, ready to scope as Offer 02.
Fixed scope and fixed price, stated in the proposal. The duration depends on the number of processes and how quickly access is ready. The baseline does not promise that AI is the right answer for every process; a recommendation not to build is a valid outcome.
Where mid-market companies start
With one workflow, taken all the way to production. The next is connected once the first meets what was agreed.
01Workflow architecture and baseline
Start here. Pick the workflow that costs most when it goes wrong, and find out whether AI is the right answer for it.
2–3 weeks02Assured workflow engineering
Build that workflow, connected to your ERP, CRM or finance system, with approvals where they matter.
6–10 weeks04Reliability operations
Keep it dependable, then connect the next workflow under the same method.
Monthly05Dedicated engineering delivery
When the connected workflows become a programme, a managed team owns the workstream.
3–24 months03Agent release assurance
If you already have an agent in pilot, test it before it is expanded.
4–6 weeksExample workflows across ERP, CRM, finance and support
Each one runs inside the systems your teams already use, with a person approving the step that matters.
| Workflow | Systems involved | Where a person approves |
|---|---|---|
| Email orders into sales orders | Shared inbox, ERP item master and customer records | Any order line that fails a check against the ERP |
| Supplier invoices matched to purchase orders | Accounts-payable inbox, ERP and ledger | The exact entry for any difference: amount, account and expiry |
| Supplier price letters into price updates | Purchasing inbox, item master and ERP pricing | Every reprice, before anything is written back |
| Support requests triaged and drafted | Ticketing system, CRM and knowledge base | Each reply before it is sent, until the evidence supports less review |
Illustrative engagement: a distributor on NetSuite
A reference example of how the work runs, not a customer deployment or a performance claim.
- First conversationThe COO names email order intake as the workflow that costs most when it goes wrong. We agree the owner, the decision and the evidence a deployment would need.Nothing is built before the owner and what counts as done are agreed.
- BaselineWe map how orders arrive (email bodies, PDFs, spreadsheets), the exceptions (unknown items, price mismatches, part shipments) and volumes, and compare AI with a conventional fix such as a customer portal.A recommendation not to build is a valid outcome.
- BuildOrder lines are read from each email and matched to the NetSuite item master and customer pricing. Lines that fail a check wait in a review screen.No sales order is created until a person approves it.
- VerifyNormal, ambiguous, adversarial and failure cases, including a retry after a timeout and an email that tries to change its own instructions.An idempotency key stops a duplicate order. Read-back confirms the sales order exists.
- OperateRegression tests on every change, a monthly report, and the next workflow scoped the same way: supplier invoices matched to purchase orders.Each new workflow gets its own boundary and acceptance criteria.
How the work runs
- A first conversation. We agree the workflow, its owner, the decision it supports and the evidence a deployment would need.
- Baseline the first workflow. Offer 01 maps the process, compares AI with a simpler option, reviews data and access, and writes down what counts as done.
- Build it. Offer 02 connects it to your systems, with approvals bound to exact actions, recovery paths, a runbook and an acceptance report.
- Run it. Offer 04 tests every change, evaluates model changes before release and reports each month.
- Connect the next. The next workflow is scoped the same way, with its own boundary, its own acceptance criteria and its own decision. Tests, connectors and checks already in place are reused where the contract permits.
- Hand over a workstream. When the work becomes a programme, Offer 05 supplies a managed team that owns it.
Live workflows stay dependable.
Models, tools, data and volumes change. Once a workflow is live, each change is tested before release.
- Regression testing on every change, including model-version changes.
- Model-change evaluation before release.
- Incident analysis and root-cause reports.
- Cost monitoring, including cost per accepted task, retries and review time.
- Controlled releases with rollback.
- A monthly report on task success, permission compliance, consistency, recovery, human burden, economics and latency.
Support hours, escalation paths and service objectives are written into the contract. We do not imply round-the-clock coverage unless it is contracted.
A managed team when it becomes a programme
When connected workflows become a programme, dedicated engineering delivery supplies a Chainfore-managed team that owns a defined workstream, in your repositories, environments and review process, under your access controls.
Chainfore owns delivery responsibility for the contracted workstream. You own product strategy, roadmap approvals and everything outside the contracted scope. It is not the placement of individual engineers under your direct management, and it is not sold by the hour.
What stays the same at every size
- Named people. A technical lead, a delivery lead and a named person for escalations, all named in the proposal.
- A written boundary. What the system may read, which tools it may use and which actions need approval, written down before the build.
- What counts as done, agreed in writing before we build. The result is checked in your own systems, not taken from the AI’s report of what it did.
- A person approves the actions that matter. The software enforces this; it is not left to the AI’s judgement. The system does more on its own only when you agree and the evidence supports it.
- Your data stays yours. No training or product improvement on it unless you explicitly authorise it, and deletion when the work ends.
Related work and clients
The use cases closest to mid-market work, and the organisations we are permitted to name.
Order, invoice and price-letter intake
For distributors and manufacturers on NetSuite, Business Central, Acumatica or Prophet 21. A person approves every proposal before anything is written back.
Growing companies · Mid-marketRescue and test an agent stuck in pilot
Test the agent against your systems first, then finish it to a written boundary.
Mid-market · EnterpriseA knowledge analyst inside Microsoft Teams
Answers from the sources you permit, with each source logged. The pattern Chainfore built as Auxee for PreScouter.
Mid-market · EnterpriseRolling out Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot
Usage policies, permissions and training, so a team uses the tools within agreed rules.
Growing companies · Mid-marketClients we can name
Auxee, built for PreScouter, is live in production inside Microsoft Teams. Sony and Saudi Aramco: private-network AI deployments, delivered with PreScouter. Each name is published as agreed with the client or partner, and only with what has been cleared about it.
Questions mid-market buyers ask
Do you work with our ERP and CRM?
The workflow works with your data, identity and operating processes, and dependencies are documented so you can maintain the result. Tell us the systems involved; the first conversation confirms the access the work needs.
What happens when a model or a supplier’s format changes?
Reliability operations runs regression tests on every change, including model-version changes, and evaluates model changes before release. Each incident gets an analysis and a root-cause report.
How do we add the next workflow?
Once the first meets its acceptance criteria and the owner approves, the next is scoped the same way: its own boundary, its own acceptance criteria and its own decision.
Do you publish prices?
No. Pricing is set from the scope of each engagement. Each proposal states its direct cost, its margin and its value measure, so you can test them.
Bring the first workflow.
Tell us the process, the cost of failure and the systems involved. We will respond with a proposed first step.