The place where the OPTIMIZATION meets the AUTOMATION
❗More and more businesses are talking about “optimization,” but… in reality, they just want new software.
If your process doesn’t work – automation won’t save it. You’ll just make your mistakes faster.
A fair share of businesses are looking for ways to save money by trying to take advantage of the many grant programs available lately. Nothing wrong with that in principle – as long as they find the right tool for them at the right time.
- For some companies, with small process adjustments, such an adventure could be a great opportunity and deliver excellent results.
- For others, however, it’s more likely to amplify chaos and inefficiency – with losses becoming harder to track.
When they hear “automation” (actually meaning “optimization”), businesses imagine it as a magic wand:
📉 lower costs, 📈 higher efficiency, 💼 fewer people.
SOMEONE JUST NEEDS TO SAY IT OUT LOUD…:
If your process is slow, clunky, or unnecessary, automation won’t fix it. You’ll just start doing the wrong things faster.
🎯 Here’s a story from my practice:
Recently, I was discussing with several business owners and CEOs how they could improve their processes.
When I ask what they mean by “optimization,” I often get answers like:
👉 “We’ll implement new software”
👉 “We’ll bring in AI to make things easier”
Sounds great… until I ask:
🧩 So, what exactly will your business look like after this optimization?
Usually, the expectations are:
- lower costs
- faster task completion
- fewer people to do the work
But when I dig deeper, I often see something else: The chaos just becomes digital. And the losses—harder to track.
I dug into finding definitions for optimization and automation to make sure I wasn’t overdoing it or shifting the focus. Here’s what I found:
What is optimization?
Optimization means performing a task in the best possible way and can be applied in various fields.
What is business process optimization?
Business process optimization is the improvement of a sequence of actions aimed at achieving the company’s goals, by choosing the best option for their execution, resulting in:
- achieving the company’s goals
- eliminating the unnecessary
- saving time and effort
- making the process sustainable and predictable
And the most important question: Are business process automation and optimization the same thing?
No — automation and optimization of business processes are not the same, although they often go hand in hand. Here’s the difference:
🔧 Automation – “We do it faster, with less human involvement”
Goal: Reduce or eliminate manual tasks through technology.
Focus: “How can I execute this process with less effort?”
Tools: software, robots, scripts, ERP systems, workflow tools, etc.
Example: Instead of an accountant manually entering invoices, an OCR system reads them automatically and posts them into the accounting system.
🧠 Optimization – “We do it better, more efficiently, and more profitably”
Goal: Improve the structure and logic of the process itself — making it faster, cheaper, more reliable, and more valuable.
Focus: “Should we even be doing this in this way at all?”
May involve: reviewing steps, eliminating unnecessary actions, reallocating responsibilities, changing the logic.
Example: An expense approval process currently goes through 5 levels every time — optimization would redesign it to go through 2 levels without losing control, possibly complemented by additional procedures.
✅ The link between the two
Optimization should come before automation.
If you automate an inefficient process, you’ll just do the wrong thing faster.
Here’s a practical example from a real business context:
🎯 Case study: The Expense Approval Process (every company has one — the difference is in how it’s done)
Current situation in the company:
- Every employee fills out an Excel form to request an expense.
- They send it to their manager — sometimes even hand it in on paper.
- The manager forwards it to the CFO.
- The CFO sends it to the owner.
- The owner prints it, writes “yes” with a pen, scans it, and sends it back.
- Then accounting enters it into the system.
Total time: 3–5 days.
❌ Automation without optimization:
They decide to automate:
- The form becomes fully digital.
- Software automatically sends it to everyone.
- Everyone gets a notification.
- In the end, the owner still needs to log in, click “Approve,” and download the PDF.
- Result: Now it takes 2–3 days instead of 5. But the logic is exactly the same.
Meanwhile, they’ve invested X amount, and the effect is almost zero. Instead of reducing costs, they’ve actually increased them.
✅ Optimization before automation (first step toward improvement):
- We analyze the process.
- We introduce approval levels with defined responsibility thresholds (e.g., up to €1,000, up to €10,000, etc., depending on the business).
- At the same time, we implement a budgeting process that has already been reviewed and approved for the entire company by department.
- We introduce a procedure for capital project approvals.
- Expenses under €1,000 are approved only by the manager.
- The CFO handles control over larger amounts.
- The owner is not bothered with minor expenses.
- Everything runs through a central dashboard or workflow.
- Result: Approvals take less than 12 hours. Effect: Actual loss reduction (cutting costs from inefficient processes, reducing missed opportunities such as lost deals).
Only then does automation make sense — because the process is already meaningful and efficient.
🚨 Important for your business:
🔹 Don’t automate chaos.
🔹 Don’t invest in software before fixing your processes.
🔹 Optimize first — then automate.
Author: Galina Vankova, Ethical Finance GV LTD
Do you want to learn how to optimize your processes before rushing into automation? Contact us here.