Process automation
RPA for small businesses
Large companies have automated processes with robots for years. In small businesses it happens less, while that is exactly where one person often ties the work of four systems together. This is which work suits it, how to start small, what it costs and how to measure whether it delivers.
Where small businesses stand
According to Statistics Netherlands, in 2025 5 percent of companies with 10 to 20 employees used robotic process automation, against 16 percent of companies with 100 to 250 people. The difference is not in the work. Retyping happens in a small company just as much. The difference is in who has time to figure it out.
Which work suits it
The best candidate work has three traits: it comes back often, it follows rules you can write down, and it moves from one system to another.
- Copying orders from email or the web shop into the administration.
- Checking purchase invoices against what was ordered.
- Compiling the same report every month from exports.
- Creating new customers in accounting, CRM and planning.
How to start small
- Pick one process and measure for a week how much time it takes.
- Describe the steps and, more importantly, the exceptions.
- First check whether the system has an API. Then an integration beats a robot.
- Let the automation run for a month alongside the manual work and compare the outcome.
- Only then let go of the manual work, and pick the next task.
What it costs
We do not put down amounts without context. What determines the price: the number of exceptions, whether there is an API or only a screen, and how stable the applications are. Microsoft ships RPA for the workstation as part of its platform, which keeps the entry low. The work is in describing what should happen when something deviates.
What you measure
At Telefónica O2 payback was twelve months on processes with hundreds of thousands of transactions. In a small company the volumes are smaller and the hours of one person larger. So measure hours, not transactions: how much time it took before, how much after, and what that person now does with the hours freed up.
Frequently asked questions
Is my company not too small for automation?
No. The question is not how big your company is, but how many hours a week are spent retyping. One process that costs four hours a week is enough to start.
Do I need to buy new software?
Usually not. An integration or a robot works with the packages you have. Replacing only comes up when a package has no door at all.
What if the automation makes a mistake?
That is why you first let it run for a month alongside the manual work, and let it stop and report at an exception. An automation that silently continues after an error is the most expensive kind.
Sources
Where every figure on this page comes from.
- CBS: ICT-gebruik bij bedrijven naar bedrijfsgrootte, 2025 · Tabel 86118NED, robotondersteunde procesautomatisering als AI-technologie
- Lacity en Willcocks: Robotic Process Automation at Telefónica O2 · MIS Quarterly Executive, maart 2016
- Microsoft: Introduction to desktop flows · RPA op de werkplek, ook voor oude toepassingen zonder API
Our approach
From advice to management, with one partner
The same rhythm for every project.
Advice
We start with a conversation, not with code. First clarity on what you need and what you do not.
Build
We build and integrate to measure, with technology that fits you. You own your data and your code.
Manage
We stay involved: monitoring, adjusting and growing with your business.
Which task comes back every week at your company?
Tell us in a conversation, and we look at whether it suits and how you measure it.
Call 085 083 5775A 30-minute intake