BUSINESS OPERATING SYSTEMS
Swap the spreadsheets for one system.
For businesses held together by spreadsheets, email chains and workarounds, without the time, budget or technical team for a big ERP. Ash & Ember builds one system around how the business actually works.
Signs the spreadsheets are holding you back
Spreadsheets are a great place to start. The trouble comes when a whole business is spread across them, and the only person who knows how it all fits together is the one who built the file.
- The same details are typed into three different places.
- Someone has to chase the office before they can do their part.
- Nobody’s sure which version of the file is the right one.
- Month-end or invoicing means a day of copying and checking.
- Staff on the road ring the office to find out what they are doing next.
- A big ERP would help, but not at that price or with that much disruption.
What goes into one
Every system is different because every business is. Most are built from the same parts, shaped around the work:
Shared records
Jobs, customers, bookings, stock or whatever the work revolves around, kept in one place with one reference.
People and roles
Each person sees the work and actions that belong to them, and nothing they have to wade through.
Approvals and handovers
When one person finishes, the next one knows. Sign-offs happen in the system, not in an email thread.
Reporting
The numbers come from the work itself, so nobody rebuilds a report by hand at the end of the month.
Office and mobile
A web app for the office and a mobile app for staff on the move, both working on the same records.
AI agents, where they help
Reading documents, drafting records and flagging what a person should check. More on AI agents.
Why bespoke, not a big ERP?
Off-the-shelf ERP systems are built for everyone, so businesses end up changing how they work to fit the software, paying for modules they never open, and waiting months to go live.
Ash & Ember works through the detail of how the business runs and builds for that. You get what you need and nothing you don’t, which is typically faster to deliver and more cost-effective.
It doesn’t have to be all at once either. Most projects start with the one or two processes causing the most pain, then grow from there.
Not sure where to start?
A process review is often the best first step.
Founder Nathan Danson brings hands-on commercial, operational and accounting experience, including leading a 50-person company’s move from spreadsheets to a single operating system. We review how work actually moves through the business, pinpoint the bottlenecks, duplicated effort and hidden costs in clunky spreadsheets and processes, and set out a prioritised plan.
- How jobs, data and approvals really flow
- Where time and money are leaking
- What to fix first, whether or not it ends in new software
How it gets built
- Send us a message. A few lines about what’s slowing you down is enough to start.
- Walk us through the work. We look at the real processes, tools and spreadsheets, and agree what to fix first.
- Build in usable stages. Each stage is tested with the people who will use it before the next one starts.
- Hand over and support it. You know how it works, who to call and what happens next.
Cost and time
- Typical project: £2,000 to £50,000*
- Timescale: 2 weeks to 3 months*
- After launch: support and running costs available
*Estimates only. Costs and timescales aren’t fixed to these ranges: every project is priced on what it actually needs, with a clear quote before any work starts.
Got a process that needs fixing?
Tell us what you’re working with today and what’s slowing you down. A few lines is plenty, and it goes straight to Nathan.
From one job that needs fixing to the system your whole team works in. Working with clients across the UK, Canada and further afield.