Insights

What we've learned, written down.

Practical writing on automation and applied AI, for the people who have to make it work.

Principal Investors and Private Equity

What a Search Fund Buyer Should Automate in Year One, and What to Leave Alone

The seller stays about six months. What leaves with them is the real risk in year one. Here is what a search fund buyer should automate first, and what waits.

September 25, 2026 · 8 min read

Public Sector

The Records Request Process, and Why the Backlog Compounds

September 25, 2026 · 7 min read

Industrial Goods

Why Quality Data Captured on Paper Is Worth Less Than the Time Spent Capturing It

September 25, 2026 · 7 min read

Insurance

The renewal process that quietly determines your loss ratio

September 25, 2026 · 8 min read

Healthcare

Why Eligibility Verification Fails for the Same Payers Every Month

September 25, 2026 · 7 min read

Consumer Products Industry

The Trade Promotion Reconciliation Problem, and Why Finance Always Finds It Late

September 23, 2026 · 8 min read

Energy

Why a Solar Installer's Permitting Delay Is a Document Problem, Not a Jurisdiction Problem

September 23, 2026 · 8 min read

Financial Institutions

Why Exception Handling in Payments Is Where the Fraud Losses Actually Sit

September 23, 2026 · 8 min read

Education

Financial Aid Verification, and the One Step a Model Should Never Take

September 23, 2026 · 8 min read

Auto Industry

The Exception Handling Problem in Supplier Scheduling, and Why Automating the Normal Case Shrinks It

September 23, 2026 · 8 min read

Aerospace and Defense

What Breaks First When a Parts Distributor Grows Past Manual Quote Turnaround

September 21, 2026 · 7 min read

Travel

Why Group Booking Is the Most Manual High-Value Process in Hospitality

September 21, 2026 · 7 min read

Urban Planning

Why Entitlement Timelines Are a Coordination Problem, Not a Complexity Problem

September 21, 2026 · 6 min read

Logistics

Why Detention and Demurrage Disputes Are a Documentation Problem

September 21, 2026 · 6 min read

Aerospace and Defense

The Certification Question Most Defense Subcontractors Answer Too Late

September 21, 2026 · 7 min read

Public Sector

Why Procurement Timelines Are a Document Problem Before They Are a Policy Problem

September 18, 2026 · 6 min read

Insurance

Why an MGA's submission triage is the highest-leverage process it owns

September 18, 2026 · 7 min read

Retail Industry

What Inventory Accuracy Actually Costs When It Sits at 92 Percent

September 18, 2026 · 7 min read

Technology, Media, and Telecommunications

Why an Agency's Time Tracking Is a Pricing Problem Disguised as an Admin Problem

September 18, 2026 · 7 min read

Principal Investors and Private Equity

Why the 100-Day Plan Almost Never Includes the Process That Is Actually Broken

September 18, 2026 · 7 min read

Healthcare

What a Denial Costs Your Practice Once You Count the Rework, Not the Write-Off

September 16, 2026 · 7 min read

Education

Why Student Information System Data Is Wrong in the Same Three Places at Every Institution

September 16, 2026 · 8 min read

Energy

What Field Service Scheduling Costs an Oil and Gas Services Firm in Windshield Time

September 16, 2026 · 7 min read

Industrial Goods

What an Industrial Distributor Loses to Manual Quote Turnaround, Per Rep, Per Week

September 16, 2026 · 7 min read

Financial Institutions

What a $2bn Bank Spends on Regulatory Reporting That a $20bn Bank Does Not

September 16, 2026 · 6 min read

Travel

Should a Tour Operator Automate Booking Changes or Simplify Its Change Policy First?

September 14, 2026 · 8 min read

Consumer Products Industry

Should a Private Label Supplier Automate Spec Management or Consolidate Specs First?

September 14, 2026 · 7 min read

Urban Planning

Should a Planning Department Automate Review Routing or Cut Review Stages First?

September 14, 2026 · 8 min read

Auto Industry

What a Twelve-Location Dealership Group Loses to Inconsistent DMS Usage

September 14, 2026 · 8 min read

Aerospace and Defense

Why AS9100 Documentation Is the Most Automatable Process in Aerospace and the Last One Anyone Touches

September 14, 2026 · 7 min read

Technology, Media, and Telecommunications

Should a Regional ISP Automate Provisioning or Fix Its Address Data First?

September 11, 2026 · 7 min read

Principal Investors and Private Equity

Should a Portfolio Company Automate Before or After the ERP Consolidation?

September 11, 2026 · 7 min read

Retail Industry

Should a Franchise Group Automate Reporting or Standardize the Reports First?

September 11, 2026 · 7 min read

Public Sector

Should a City Automate Permitting Intake, or Reduce the Number of Permit Types First?

September 11, 2026 · 6 min read

Logistics

Should a 3PL Automate Billing or Standardise Its Accessorial Rules First

September 11, 2026 · 7 min read

Energy

Automate Outage Communications Before or After Fixing GIS? Sequence by Message

September 9, 2026 · 8 min read

Healthcare

Should a Multi-Site Physician Group Automate Scheduling or Standardise Its Templates First?

September 9, 2026 · 8 min read

Insurance

What Manual Certificate Issuance Costs an Independent Agency Each Month

September 9, 2026 · 7 min read

Financial Institutions

Should a Credit Union Automate Loan Decisioning or Clean Its Member Data First?

September 9, 2026 · 7 min read

Industrial Goods

Should a Contract Manufacturer Automate Quoting or Standardize Its Routings First?

September 9, 2026 · 7 min read

Urban Planning

What a Planning Consultancy Loses to Manual Document Assembly, Per Project

September 7, 2026 · 7 min read

Aerospace and Defense

Should an MRO Shop Automate Work Order Intake Before or After Fixing Its Parts Master Data?

September 7, 2026 · 8 min read

Education

Should a Community College Automate Advising Triage or Cut the Number of Advising Paths?

September 7, 2026 · 7 min read

Consumer Products Industry

Why Co-Manufacturers Lose Money on Changeovers They Quoted Correctly

September 7, 2026 · 7 min read

Auto Industry

Should an Auto Parts Distributor Automate Order Entry or Fix Its Catalogue Data First?

September 7, 2026 · 8 min read

Public Sector

What a Permit Application Actually Costs a County to Process, End to End

September 4, 2026 · 8 min read

Retail Industry

Siloed Systems and Omnichannel Promises: What a Multi-Location Retailer Owes Its Own Operations Team

September 4, 2026 · 8 min read

Technology, Media, and Telecommunications

What MSP Ticket Triage Really Costs, and Why the Vendor Math Is Wrong

September 4, 2026 · 8 min read

Travel

What a Hotel Management Company Loses to Inconsistent PMS Usage Across Properties

September 4, 2026 · 8 min read

Logistics

What a Freight Broker's Manual Load Matching Costs Per Rep, Per Day

September 4, 2026 · 8 min read

Healthcare

Prior Authorization Is Your Most Automatable Process. It Is Also the One Where Speed Hurts Patients

September 2, 2026 · 6 min read

Principal Investors and Private Equity

What Operational Diligence Finds That a Quality of Earnings Report Cannot

September 2, 2026 · 7 min read

Industrial Goods

Exception Handling Is Manufacturing's Biggest Automation Blind Spot

September 2, 2026 · 7 min read

Financial Institutions

Digital Onboarding Is Getting Faster and Riskier. What a Community Bank Should Automate Last

September 2, 2026 · 6 min read

Insurance

Claims Intake Is the Easiest Thing in Your Agency to Automate. Automate It Second

September 2, 2026 · 7 min read

Education

What a District Actually Spends on Enrollment Paperwork Per Student

August 31, 2026 · 7 min read

Aerospace and Defense

What DFARS Compliance Actually Costs a 200-Person Subcontractor

August 31, 2026 · 7 min read

Auto Industry

Warranty Claims Are Your Most Rules-Driven Process. Here Is Why They Are Still Manual

August 31, 2026 · 7 min read

Energy

Smart Meters, Legacy Back Office: What a Co-op Actually Inherits

August 31, 2026 · 6 min read

Consumer Products Industry

What a DTC Brand Has to Automate Before Its First Big Retail PO

August 31, 2026 · 6 min read

AI

When AI Is the Wrong Answer to an Operations Problem

August 26, 2026 · 6 min read

AI

What "Orchestration" Means Once You Stop Reading the Brochure

August 26, 2026 · 7 min read

AI

Why Most Internal AI Chatbots Go Unused Within 90 Days

August 26, 2026 · 7 min read

AI

The Automation ROI Math Vendors Show You, Recalculated

August 26, 2026 · 7 min read

AI

What an Agentic AI Vendor Is Actually Selling You

August 26, 2026 · 7 min read

AI

What an AI Pilot Actually Costs, Including the Parts Nobody Quotes

August 24, 2026 · 7 min read

AI

How to Evaluate an AI Vendor When You Are Not an Engineer

August 21, 2026 · 7 min read

Have one of these problems right now?

Book a paid consult and we'll work through it directly. No discovery-call theatre.