The hire you are about to make
Before adding a coordinator or an assistant, it is worth knowing which of their tasks a system could do. Sometimes the hire is right. Sometimes it is a smaller one.
Business automation consultant · London
A business automation consultant for founder-led firms in London.
I find the work that eats your week without needing your expertise, and I build the systems that take it off your hands.
Anne PeireFounder of 10PM, London
At a glance
- Who
- Anne Peire, founder of 10PM
- Where
- London, working with clients across the UK and beyond
- What
- Business process automation for founder-led firms and professional services
- Where it starts
- A free conversation, then a £350 Process Review or a broader Review from £650
Based in London
I know the London version of this problem from the inside
Before 10PM, I founded and ran an after-school nanny agency in London, employing the nannies. Hours were counted automatically in Deputy, connected through to Xero, with direct debits collected from families and payments made out to the nannies. I built that chain because I was the one who would otherwise have spent every Sunday on it.
My framework for the hire-or-automate decision ran as a full-page article in London Business Matters, the magazine of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in the July and August 2026 issue. It is the question every growing London firm reaches sooner or later: add a person, or remove the work.
I work with London firms over video call and inside the systems you already use, and the same way with clients elsewhere in the UK and beyond.
Where I would start
Three places I would look first in a London firm
Not a menu. These are the patterns I would check before anything else. The Business Process Review tells us which of them matter in your business, and by how much.
Invoicing and payment chasing
Invoice drafts prepared from recorded activity, with payment tasks and exceptions visible. At Premium Paye in France, the combined invoicing, direct debit and onboarding routine fell from around twelve hours in a busy month with onboarding to under one hour, as reported by the client.
Client onboarding
The forms, documents and set-up that repeat with every new client, turned into one flow that starts itself when the client says yes.
More detail by audience: founders & small teams professional services firms architects consultants agency founders
Also working remotely with founders in: Manchester Birmingham Leeds Bristol
The work
What a business automation consultant actually does
The title covers a lot of ground, so here is the specific version.
I look at how your business really runs, not how the process document says it runs. I find the tasks that happen often and need no judgement, put a number on what they cost you over a year, and then build the systems that remove or shrink them.
I do not sell strategy decks or tool recommendations. What I hand over is a working system, tested against your real cases, documented, and operated by your team without me.
The founders I meet are not short of ambition. They are short of the hours that ambition needs.
Every daythe founder reads the activity instead of assembling it
Recruitment agency, London
Activity lived across spreadsheets, email and notes. It was all recorded and none of it could be used to decide anything. Reporting built backwards from the founder’s own questions changed that.
Read the case studyA straight answer
Where AI fits, and where it does not
AI is a tool in the box, not the box.
It earns its place where the work involves reading, drafting or classifying language: pulling structured information out of a document someone emailed you, preparing a first draft for a human to approve, sorting incoming requests so the right person sees them first.
It is the wrong tool where the rules are already clear. Creating an invoice from recorded activity, raising an approved direct debit, preparing a reminder for review when a payment is late, moving a record to the next stage: none of that needs a model. It needs a reliable connection between two systems, with checks for missing data, lost access and failed connections.
So the honest answer is that most of what I build is not AI. It is plumbing, well laid. Where AI helps, I use it, and I tell you which part of the process depends on it and what happens when it gets something wrong.
Tools are selected for the process and checked for suitable access. My delivered implementation experience includes a relationship CRM and reporting, the Premium Paye admin processes, and Deputy, Xero and GoCardless in my own business. A product listed here is not a claim that I have implemented every feature of it.
MakeZapiern8nHubSpot NotionAirtableXeroGoCardless Digital signature toolsAI-assisted document handlingThe right tool is the one that solves your problem inside the systems you already pay for. The diagnosis comes first, the tool second.
Evidence
What this has changed
for real businesses
≈12 → <1hours of admin a month, at a payroll firm serving around 200 client companies
Premium Paye
At Premium Paye in France, invoice preparation, direct debits and online onboarding were connected. The founder reports around twelve hours of admin in a busy month with new clients before the change, and under one hour now across those processes.
Read the case studyBackground
Why I see this pattern quickly
I spent more than fifteen years in B2B technology, including leadership roles at Fountain and Soldo, and time at Verizon after it acquired the company I was with. I know what operational friction looks like from inside a fast-growing business, and from inside a small one I ran myself.
How it works
From your first question
to a working solution.
We agree the right depth of discovery first. Each paid stage has its own deliverables and fixed fee; you decide whether to continue after it.
First, a free 15-minute conversation to understand the challenge and agree the appropriate next step.
Understand your business
We explore the process, what you want to achieve and how your team prefers to work. I challenge the proposed solution if the underlying problem is different.
You receiveA clear process map, written recommendations and an agreed priority.
Check the tools and feasibility
During separately scoped Process Design, I check the connections, permissions, costs and exceptions that could affect the solution.
You receiveA documented workflow, feasibility findings and the requirements for a reliable build.
Agree the scope and price
Before implementation, we agree what will be built, the timeline, responsibilities and how we will check that it works.
You receiveA written proposal with a fixed build price, acceptance checks and any ongoing costs.
Build and test
I build the agreed solution and test normal cases, exceptions and approvals. Your team reviews it against the checks we agreed.
You receiveA working solution, a demonstration and the agreed checks completed before handover.
Document, train and hand over
I show your team how to use the solution, what to monitor and how to handle exceptions. We clarify ownership and support.
You receivePractical instructions, a walkthrough and clear support terms so your team can run it.
One recurring processFocused Process Review · £350Several connected prioritiesBusiness Process Review · from £650
Discovery, Process Design and implementation each have an agreed scope and fee. You choose the appropriate discovery service; buying both is not required. Testing, documentation and team handover are included in the agreed implementation scope.
Due diligence
How to choose a business
automation consultant
- Do they understand your kind of business, or only automation? Onboarding a recruitment agency is not onboarding an e-commerce brand.
- Do they map your process before naming a tool? Anyone who opens with a product demo is selling that product.
- Do they work with the systems you already pay for, rather than proposing a migration?
- Will your team be able to run it without them? If it breaks the day they leave, you rented a fix.
- Is the fee fixed and agreed before the work starts?
Ask these of anyone you consider, including me.
Before we talk
Questions founders ask
before hiring anyone.
Something else on your mind?
Email me directly.
Do I need to know what to automate before we talk?
No. Bring a problem, a frustration or a part of the business that takes too much of your attention. Working out which change is worth making is part of my job. Sometimes the answer is to simplify a process before automating anything.
Do you work with businesses outside London?
Yes. I am based in London and most of my clients are here, but the work is done remotely as much as in person. Location matters less than whether the pattern fits.
Should I hire an operations person instead?
Possibly. The fair comparison is between the tasks that need a person’s judgement and the ones that follow fixed rules. I explain how I make that call in the hire or automate article, and the Business Process Review applies it to your business with your numbers.
Will you replace the tools we already use?
I start with what you have. Where your current tools can do the job well, I build on them. If a limitation makes a change worthwhile, I explain the options and any additional cost before we agree the work.
How much of my time does the diagnostic need?
The Business Process Review is designed to need under two hours of your time. I carry out the mapping, the analysis and the report. We agree at the start which conversations and information are needed.
What if automation is not the right answer?
Then I say so. The diagnostic exists to help you decide which changes are worth making. Its recommendations may well be to simplify a process, clarify who owns what, or make better use of a tool you already pay for.
What does the fixed price cover?
Each paid phase has its own agreed scope and fee. The implementation proposal follows Process Design and sets out the build, the testing, the documentation, the timeline and the handover. Software subscriptions and any ongoing support are identified separately. If the scope changes, we agree the extra work and its price before it starts.
Your business
Where is your week going?
Fifteen minutes, no charge, no pitch. Bring one process that annoys you and we will look at it together.
15 minutes · No charge
Prefer to write? [email protected]