How do you choose an automation partner?

Before you sign, ask for five things: a written scope for one process, a named alert contact and response time, a runbook, an acceptance test before the last payment, and accounts in your name. Ask for the answers in writing, so you can compare the work being offered as well as its price.

Start with the scope of one process

Write down where the process starts, which tools and people it passes through, and what counts as a completed result. Include exceptions: what happens when a record is incomplete or a connected tool is unavailable? That gives the provider something concrete to price and your team something concrete to accept.

LeftClick AI describes a scope, timeline and fixed price agreed before work begins. That is one provider’s model, rather than a rule for the whole market. Ask what the quotation includes and how additional work is authorised.

A low price for an undefined process is hard to compare with a price that includes testing, handover and support. Put those items beside each other before choosing. If discovery is a separate paid stage, ask what it produces and when you receive the build quotation.

Name the person who receives an alert

Ask who gets a failure notice, through which channel, and who takes over if that person is absent. Then ask for the response deadline and its working-hours definition. Sending an automatic alert, starting an investigation and completing a repair are different events.

Makeitfuture lists 24 working hours for Bronze and Silver responses and 4 for Gold. These are its plan terms, not ErgoStrat’s commitments or repair deadlines.

Write the agreed arrangement into the scope. Include what happens when a run never starts: an error handler inside a workflow cannot report an execution it never sees. Ask how missed runs are detected rather than assuming every kind of failure creates the same alert.

Ask what the runbook contains

Business Automated describes a summary covering the scenario’s purpose, connections and troubleshooting checks, alongside failure alerts. This is a useful example of what to request at handover.

Ask to see a redacted sample or a proposed outline. A past client’s confidential material need not be shared. What matters is whether your colleague will be able to see how to start and stop the process, recognise a failure and find the responsible contact.

Record when the completed runbook is due and how it will be updated. A promise to document the system eventually gives you less to accept than a named deliverable with an agreed handover point.

Agree the acceptance test and account ownership

Before signing, ask what cases the automation must pass, who signs the result, and whether the last payment depends on that acceptance. Include an unsuccessful or incomplete case as well as the normal route. Agree how a failed test is handled; do not infer a refund or free rebuild from the word “test”.

Ask whose name the platform, hosting and connected-tool accounts will be in. Check that your organisation can retain access and give a replacement contractor the necessary permissions. Ownership, administrator access and responsibility for subscription payments should each be explicit.

Compare hourly and fixed-price offers on the same scope

For hourly work, ask for an estimate, a spending cap and the point at which further approval is required. For a fixed price, ask what is excluded and how a change to scope is priced. Either model still needs an acceptance test and a handover agreement.

A fixed price does not by itself guarantee quality or prevent a dispute about extra work. An hourly rate does not by itself tell you the final cost. Compare the defined result, assumptions and limits alongside the amount.

Questions

Is a missing website price a warning sign?

It is not enough on its own to judge a provider. Ask for a written quotation after the process is defined. Check whether discovery, building, tool subscriptions and ongoing support are separate charges before comparing totals.

Does a platform partner badge prove the work will be good?

Ask what the credential covers and verify it with the platform. It does not replace evidence about your project: scope, test cases, response arrangements, documentation and ownership still need answers.

What if someone else built the existing automation?

Ask for an inventory before takeover. Identify custom code, direct API connections, missing access and documentation. Have the provider state what it can maintain, what needs changes first and which items require a separate quote.

Sources

Ask any provider these five questions, us included.

Write to us about the process you want to automate. Before you pay anything, you will get a written scope, a named person for the alerts, and the planned contents of the runbook. The runbook itself is handed over at acceptance. The last payment follows a signed acceptance test, and every account is in your name.

Book a call about one process

or write to contact@ergostrat.com