The Big Picture

Our goal is to halve our internal workload through automation, so we can have more clients with the existing team, growing the business and profitability. 

This also means we can simplify pricing - moving away from hourly service plans toward fixed-fee models.

Our NZ-based VAs will evolve into automation project managers (coming up with ideas for the automations for our clients and understanding how the automation runs), and our Global Team will evolve into automation builders and support engineers.

Why?

• Protect our relevance: shift from manual VA work to automation-led delivery.

• Upskill the team: NZ team leads discovery and solution design; Global team configures, tests, and supports automations.

• Deliver client results faster: reduce repetitive work; reallocate human effort to client relationships, problem-solving, and higher-value projects.

• Enable fixed-fee client models by eliminating manual, hourly tasks.

• Double client-base without increasing capacity required.

Roles

NZ Team (Head VAs)

• Identify automation capabilities of tools client’s already use. 

• Identify automation opportunities of manual tasks within each client’s handbook.

• Define rules, triggers, and success criteria. (E.g. “When we get an email with ‘Inv’ in the subject line I want it to XYZ’).

• Collaborate with Global Team to build and test.

• Update on automation progress during Tuesday team meetings and/or in the Automation Channel.

Global Team 

• Learn Make.

• Identify automation capabilities of tools client’s already use and learn.

• Build automations in Make following NZ Team’s instruction.

• Test, troubleshoot, and refine based on NZ input.

• Document automation that has been implemented to our automation library.

• Monitor automations daily and report errors or issues. (This should be an email we get with alerts anyway).

• Continuously upskill in Make and related automation tools.

Leadership / Tech Lead

• Approve automations before go-live (mainly in the beginning stages).

• Support with training options and guidance.

• Track metrics, progress, and time saved.

• Drive new messaging to leads.

FAQs:

What timer do I use?

Automating the processes of our current clients will be at our cost, because it will be to our benefit long-term to reduce the time spent completing their tasks.

While:

Researching, discovering, training, and seeing what’s possible: use the Internal>Automation timer.

When you’re starting to build the automations for clients: use the client's Automation timer. (This will still be at our cost and the client won't get charged. If there isn't one already, ask the Office Administrator set up an Automation timer for X client. And then refer to the ‘What do I do when I'm ready to start building?’ section of the FAQs below.

If you’re at the point you’re starting to real-life build automations for any clients, leadership MUST be made aware of this.

What do I do when I'm ready to start building?

YAY!

To start with, we want to pick what we’re calling ‘friendly’ clients that are more likely to be open to us playing around with automation. This will help us learn some things before we get to the others. 

When you’re ready to start testing, playing around or building + when it’s likely a client will see what you’re doing, we need to have this as a trigger for the Client Success Manager to give the client a heads up. Even if that’s before you know exactly how the automation is going to work, that’s okay, you just need to know the types of automations you'd like to be setting up for the client so the Client Success Manager can give them a rough heads up.

Please:

1.  Let the Client Success Manager know you need her to have the convo with X client about automation (and what types of things you're keen to try)

2. Let the Office Manager know you need an automation sub-timer for that client (this time does not get charged to the client or show up on their timesheet)

3. Let the Tech Lead know if you need any support

4. Create a free Make account if you have already https://www.make.com/en/register (and give details to the Office Manager to add to LastPass)

5. Let the Tech Lead, Marketing Manager or GM know what client you need access to in Make and they will invite your account to the Strictly Savvy Organisation. 

Before any automations are set live, leadership MUST know. Please see further instructions under "I'm ready to turn an automation on/set an automation live, what now?"

What if the client won't know that I've set the automations up?

If the client won't see the automations/know they're there, then we are safe to start setting those types of automations up for the clients without them knowing first.

You will still need to let the Office Manager know you need an automation sub-timer for that client (this time does not get charged to the client or show up on their timesheet).

You will also still need to let the Tech Lead and/or your Team Leader know. 

Before any automations are set live, leadership MUST know. Please see further instructions under "I'm ready to turn an automation on/set an automation live, what now?"

Do I need a separate client page/Team in Make for each client? 

Yes! We make a new one for each client, and then we can grant access to only people that need it (like we do with LastPass, Xero etc.)

How do I get access to a client/Team in Make?

The Tech Lead, Marketing Manager and GM can create a new one for you or give you access to an existing one. 

I'm ready to turn an automation on/set an automation live, what now?

1. Make sure you've tested your automation and that it's running as planned. If you're unsure please let the Tech Lead know.

2. Please advise the Tech Lead and your Team Leader.

3. Fill out this Airtable form: https://airtable.com/appOuVy5objXFw8mT/shrfLBw1ueoLfWiJn
   If it's a task that is only triggered once something else happens/it isn't repeating at set times then we need you to make your best guesstimate for time saved on average for a month, so we can put time back onto timers across the month.
   
   We need to track how much time is saved by an automation because we will be manually entering that time back into that client's Harvest to give the appearance that the task is still being done manually (UNTIL we can transition them onto a fixed fee) + so the time saved with automation still counts towards your bonus/targets.
   (You can see the info about other automations that are live here if it helps: https://airtable.com/appOuVy5objXFw8mT/tblQpgQ3l9NzKWgmh/viwsLGSJ1LTw6CODc?blocks=hide) 

4. Once you have done these steps you can turn your automation on. (And please share what you've done in the Automation channel if you haven't already!)

5. Refer to the "What happens to the Teamwork tasks for the tasks that are automated?" section below and action those steps.

Why do we need to track/leadership need to know what’s being automated?

Automating the tasks we’re doing for clients will mean that the time spent on their work will reduce (which is what we want!), so as that transition happens we need to know, so that:

1. We don’t just randomly see delegated hours drop and wonder why

2. We don’t just randomly see a drop in client hours and wonder why

3. Leadership can manually enter that time back into Harvest on the client timer to give the appearance the task is still manually being done, so they don't use less hours and want to drop their plan + we can move those clients onto a fixed fee ASAP 

4. With us entering the time back into Harvest, it will still count towards your delegated hours

What we want to avoid is for example; if we aren’t aware, and a client who is usually a 40hr SP, suddenly drops to only 20hrs of their plan being used because the rest has been automated without us knowing, the assumption would be that their Service Plan needs to decrease, which results in us losing money.

We will get you to make a note either in the Airtable form once you are ready to set an automation live of how long that task usually would take if it was being done manually.

What happens to delegated hours and bonuses?

This transition won’t be perfect, and we need everyone to understand this is a major switch we HAVE to make, and we’ll do our best to recognise the hard work being done in the transition.

This is why we need to be tracking what time and tasks are moving from the global team > to being automated (as per the 'why do we need to track' section above).

The new bonus structure will likely based on amount of time saved via automations/profitabililty.

Where do I put my ideas and information about the automations I'm building?

When you're in the brainstorming/investigation phase, you can braindump your ideas or anything to do with the automations you're planning in our Automation OneNote.  

Once you actually build an automation and it's turned on/live, that's when you'll fill out this Airtable form: https://airtable.com/appOuVy5objXFw8mT/shrfLBw1ueoLfWiJn (refer to "I'm ready to turn an automation on/set an automation live, what now?" above for more deets)

We don't want to put any of the information of the automations in the handbooks, as that is our IP, not the client's. Your handbooks will remain as the manual task instructions. (More details below)

What happens to handbooks?

They stay the same. 

We still need a plain documentation of tasks in case automations break and we need to rebuild them, and the client will still receive a copy of the handbook if they leave Savvy. 

For tasks within the handbook that have been automated, these can be highlighted a colour that you'll remember, if you'd like to flag them somehow.

We will use the Airtable base for you to track for each client what has been automated, what the triggers are etc. The automations will be Savvy’s IP, and if a client leaves they will not get all the automations and information. The client will only get that info and access to the automations if they are paying for a set-up which will be at higher consulting rates and built within their own platforms. 

What happens to the Teamwork tasks for the tasks that are automated?

Please create a new Task List in TW for the client that you are automating tasks for, and as that task gets automated:

1. Move it into that task list

2. Remove the date/recurring tasks (ifyou’re required to check the automation we would suggest setting up a new task for this)

3. Assign the task to our Automation bot (Rochelle will set up a new “person” in teamwork and we’ll let you know their name).

We’re still keen to have that list in case we need it.

What learning for Make do we start with? Do we have a paid account?

• Everyone will create a free Make account and can begin training under your own login at any time https://academy.make.com

• There is also their YouTube for training https://www.youtube.com/@itsmake  

• The other way is to just get in there and start trying to build an automation! You can do this on your free account if it's just a dummy automation, otherwise we have a paid master Make account that you will be invited to as a user just like LastPass/Xero - please let us know when you are ready to start making real builds and we will add you. You can make test automations in your own account of course.

Why are we using Make instead of Zapier? What if my client wants to use Zapier?

The main reasons we're using Make are that it's cheaper for us as we scale the number of automations we're creating, and it has the ability for us to build more complex automations than Zapier does. 

If a client wants us to set up using Zapier instead of Make, things will work differently; They will have to pay for the Zapier account and we will build the automations and workflows in their account, BUT this will be at a higher, consulting rate, as this is a benefit to the client, not us. If a client requests this, please let the Client Success Manager know. 

What if my clients have a tool that has automation capabilities but the plan they’re on doesn’t have the right subscription?

This will be case-by-case depending on the task and potentially the client. Make a quick note of what’s possible in our shared OneNote here (make a section for yourself if there isn’t already one, and add a page for each client as we want this to be our IP not the client’s) and talk to leadership. We’ll help make the decision on what’s best before we decide on a blanket best practice.

It will either be that:

1. We build the automation in Make instead (likely the preference)

2. We suggest to the client that they upgrade their account

What if I can build the automation in a client's existing tool without upgrading? Do I do that instead of Make?

For now, yes - try set it up in the client's tool. There will be a few that will make more sense to be within the tool itself rather than in Make - and yes this will mean the automation becomes the client's, so we just want to be aware when we're doing this that we're essentially gifting the automation to the client. If you find that most of the automations for a client would need to be set up within their tools, please flag this to leadership & the Client Success Manager.

What/how do we tell clients? 

As a first step while creating the first automations, Brenna will give the chosen first few clients a heads up. This will be a conversation of this being for their benefit, at our cost but we need them to be aware. If you have a good relationship with the client you are welcome to have this convo instead but please let leadership know first.

Once this is underway, Brenna will have a conversation with each client to advise them about moving from Service Plan to Fixed Fee and what that change means (no timesheets with invoice, what’s included in the fixed fee).

I need help figuring out what can be automated

There are a few things you can do. 

First, please try out the custom GPT the Marketing Manager built to identify opportunities for each client. To do this:

1. Open the client's handbook. 

2. Save each page with tasks you want to try automate as a PDF. This needs to be done page by page so you might start with 1 or go through them all. To do this - view the handbook, hit ctrl+P like you’re going to print the handbook, and then click save as PDF instead. 

3. Open the Custom Automation Audit GPT here. This GPT will ask you to upload the PDF and then will summarise what can be automated using Make (not based on in-built capabilities of apps already used, so if you want to identify opportunities within the existing tools, you will need to explicitly tell the GPT that - and mention which tools are used).

4. The GPT at this point will give you a higher level summary to begin with, from here you can ask it to go into further detail about how to automate each task, and if you're ready to start building one you can ask it for step-by-step instructions. Please also refer to the 'What do I do when I'm ready to start building?' section.

You could also have a chat with the Tech Lead if you're really stuck, or if you have an idea of what you want but aren't sure about.