Service · AI Automation
AI Automation: Less Routine Work in Your Back Office
AI automation takes over recurring back-office tasks: sorting and answering emails, capturing documents via OCR, entering data into ERP and CRM, triggering workflows. We work out how much time that saves you on your actual process. At a fixed price after a free initial call, productive in 3-5 weeks.
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Which processes can be automated with AI?
Processes with clear rules and high volume work best: classifying and routing inbound email, capturing invoices and delivery notes via OCR, maintaining master data in ERP/CRM, preparing quotes and reports. Rule of thumb: anything a person can grind through after a short briefing, an AI agent can take over.
- Email routing and automatic reply drafts
- Document capture (OCR) handed to accounting
- Automatic ERP and CRM entries without media breaks
- Workflow automation between your existing tools
What does AI process automation cost?
At ArkeonTech you receive a fixed-price offer for an automation agent after a free potential analysis: a one-off setup for process analysis, build and integration plus a monthly service for operation and maintenance. Start with the free potential analysis: we identify the process with the fastest return on investment.
| Service | Included |
|---|---|
| Potential analysis (20 min, free) | Prioritising the processes with the fastest ROI |
| Setup (one-off) | Process analysis, build, integration, testing |
| Operation (monthly) | Hosting, monitoring, adjustments |
How do I measure the ROI of automation?
Multiply hours per week by hourly rate: a process consuming 10 hours weekly costs about €23,400 per year at a €45 rate. Whether and when automating it pays off depends on the share of cases it takes over and on setup and running costs. In the free initial call we work through your specific case.
How does an automation project run?
Four steps: (1) free potential analysis with process prioritisation, (2) concept with a measurable target KPI, (3) build and integration into your systems within 3-5 weeks, (4) go-live with monitoring and ongoing optimisation in the service plan.
Which companies is AI automation suitable for?
Companies with 5 to 250 employees where a recurring back-office task permanently ties up staff - typically manufacturing, technical wholesale, financial advice and service providers with high document volumes. What decides it is not headcount but the individual task: the more often it recurs, the longer it takes and the rarer the exceptions, the sooner automation pays for itself. You can gather those three numbers without a consultant, and we work through them with you in the free initial call. Small teams benefit too: if three people each spend five hours a week on routine, that is close to two full working days.
- Company size: 5 to 250 employees
- A task that recurs often and costs time
- Mostly rule-based; exceptions stay with a human
- Typical sectors: financial advice, industry, retail, healthcare
When is AI automation the wrong solution?
When the process itself is unsettled. A workflow two departments disagree about does not become unambiguous through automation, only faster at being wrong - what is needed first is a decision, not a project. Tasks consisting almost entirely of exceptions are equally unsuitable: there you end up maintaining more special cases than you save time. Where a wrong decision would immediately endanger people or money, we automate the preparation but not the approval - the final signature stays with a human. And it takes systems with an interface: software without an API and without an export path can only be connected at a cost that usually eats the benefit.
Which regulations apply to AI automation in the back office?
In the back office, tax and data protection law usually decide. The German GoBD require unaltered original documents, a process documentation and bookings that can be traced back to the document; since 2025 companies must be able to receive e-invoices, whose structured data an agent reads directly. Under Article 22 GDPR, decisions with legal effect on people are as a rule not left to the machine alone. From 20 November 2026, § 37a BDSG also governs which data may be used in scores for contract decisions. The overview shows what usually applies; it does not replace legal advice for your specific case.
| Regulation | What it requires | What it means for your automation |
|---|---|---|
| GoBD | The original document stays unaltered, the process is described in a process documentation, every booking can be traced back to its document | The AI reads and suggests, a person approves; for an e-invoice the XML file is kept |
| § 14 UStG (e-invoicing) | Receiving e-invoices mandatory since 1 January 2025; issuing them from 2027 above 800,000 euros prior-year turnover, from 2028 in principle for everyone else, with exceptions such as small businesses under § 19 UStG | XRechnung and ZUGFeRD are read directly, without text recognition |
| Art. 22 GDPR | The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing with legal or similarly significant effect | Rejections, terminations or candidate selection are decided by a person |
| § 37a BDSG from 20 November 2026 | Scores about a person's future behaviour for decisions about a contract with them only without special categories of data, age, gender, name, data from social networks, bank account transactions and addresses, not for minors and only with data whose significance is demonstrated by a scientifically recognised mathematical-statistical method; the scores may not be used for any other purpose, and whoever generates them must, on request, disclose the data, criteria, weighting, informative value and recipients; against an automated decision based on such a score, the right to contest it, to express one's point of view and to a decision by a human | Applies to in-house models, for example for deciding on purchases on invoice, and to the use of third-party scores; if, exceptionally, the system rejects applications on its own, a route to a human is also required |
| Art. 28 GDPR | A data processing agreement with every provider that processes personal data on your behalf | Agreements for hosting and the language model; if anything runs outside the EU, the transfer needs its own legal basis (Art. 44 et seq. GDPR) |
| § 87 para. 1 no. 6 BetrVG | Works council co-determination where the system can monitor employees' conduct or performance | For example, processing times per employee; involve the works council before launch |
In depth in our articles:
Do you need to see a process on site to automate it?
With back-office processes, almost always. What the process description says and what actually happens rarely match: the spreadsheet running alongside the ERP, the folder of exceptions, the colleague who keeps three special cases in their head. Those deviations decide whether an automation works, and none of them appear in a document. So we start at the desk where the work happens. ArkeonTech is based in Aalen in Baden-Württemberg, and before founding it Michael Kaiser worked in ERP consulting for the region's mid-sized manufacturers, so these processes are familiar from practice rather than from theory.
Who is your point of contact?
Michael Kaiser, owner of ArkeonTech: business informatics (DHBW Heidenheim), B.Sc. Business Analytics (Aalen University), several years as an ERP consultant for mid-sized clients in mechanical engineering, retail and healthcare. He sits at the desk during the process walkthrough, builds the automation and maintains it under the ongoing service. You discuss your exception cases with the person who then models them - there is no sales or account layer in between.
Email: m.kaiser@arkeontech.de
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
No. The automation agent connects your existing systems (email, ERP, CRM, accounting) via APIs and webhooks. You keep your tools - only the manual work in between disappears.
All data flows run on EU servers under data processing agreements and are fully documented. Access follows the minimal principle: the agent only sees the data the process requires.
The agent recognises edge cases and hands them to a human for decision instead of guessing. Every action is logged and traceable - you stay in control.
Especially there: if 3 people each spend 5 hours a week on routine tasks, that is almost two full working days. Small teams feel the relief fastest.
A typical automation agent is productive in 3-5 weeks - including process analysis, integration and a test phase with your real data.
From three numbers you can gather without a consultant: how often the task runs per month, how long it takes, and what share of cases follow the rule without exception. Top of the list is the task that runs often, takes a long time and rarely has exceptions. Working out that table is what the free initial call is for.
Find the process with your fastest ROI
Free potential analysis: in 20 minutes we identify the task whose automation pays off first for you.
- No obligation
- 20 min call
- GDPR compliant