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Business Operations agent

Request intake

Every internal request read, checked against your rules, routed to the right person and done. Anything that touches money or access goes to a person.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Request intake: four items, three done, and one (Bank details) waiting for the ops manager, who is asked: New vendor with bank details. Approve the setup?
How it works

Laptops and seats get sorted. New bank details go to a person.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Request intake, in 5 steps. It starts with “Someone asks for something” and ends with “Done, and they know it”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Request intakeA typical run
Starts withSomeone asks for somethingAn email to the shared inbox, a form or a Slack message: a laptop, a software seat, a new vendor.
The agent: Reads the email and the W-9 attached and files it as a new vendor request for Crestline Freight, from the logistics lead.
~30h/mo

Step 1 of 5Read the request

  • The agent

    Reads the email and the W-9 attached and files it as a new vendor request for Crestline Freight, from the logistics lead.

    “Can we get Crestline set up? They’re doing our Denver runs” never uses the word vendor.

Reads
  • Shared inbox
Writes
  • Request log

~30 hours a month back

Automation: Searches the vendor list, the software seats and the asset list for anything already there, so nothing is set up twice.
~12h/mo

Step 2 of 5Check what’s there

  • Automation

    Searches the vendor list, the software seats and the asset list for anything already there, so nothing is set up twice.

    A duplicate is a name or a tax number that’s already on one of your lists.

Reads
  • Vendor list
  • Asset list
Writes
  • Request log

~12 hours a month back

The agent: Checks the W-9 is signed and dated, and if a cost center or start date is missing, asks in the same thread and waits.
~18h/mo

Step 3 of 5Fill the gaps

  • The agent

    Checks the W-9 is signed and dated, and if a cost center or start date is missing, asks in the same thread and waits.

    What a request still needs depends on its kind. A laptop needs a start date, a vendor needs a tax form.

Reads
  • Shared inbox
Writes
  • Request log

~18 hours a month back

Where teams differIn some offices every request comes through a form. In most, it arrives however people think to ask.

Automation: Anything that adds bank details, grants access or brings on a new supplier waits for the ops manager with the thread attached.
IfYour team: Checks the vendor and its bank account, often with a call to a number already on file, then approves or asks for more.
~6h/mo

Step 4 of 5Hold what needs a yes

  • Automation

    Anything that adds bank details, grants access or brings on a new supplier waits for the ops manager with the thread attached.

    Which requests always need a person is written down, so the hold is a rule, not a guess.

  • Your teamIf it adds bank details

    Checks the vendor and its bank account, often with a call to a number already on file, then approves or asks for more.

    New bank details on a vendor are a favorite target for payment fraud. A person should look every time.

Reads
  • Request log
Writes
  • Request log

~6 hours a month back

Where teams differRouting by type is common. Some teams route by cost too, so anything over a set amount needs a manager.

Automation: Does the routine ones itself, passes Crestline to vendor setup once approved, and replies in the thread it came in on.
~20h/mo

Step 5 of 5Finish and tell them

  • Automation

    Does the routine ones itself, passes Crestline to vendor setup once approved, and replies in the thread it came in on.

    Cleared requests follow your team’s own steps: a ticket, a handoff, a reply.

Reads
  • Request log
Writes
  • Request log
  • Team chat

~20 hours a month back

Ends withDone, and they know itThe request finished or handed to the right team, and a note back in the thread it came from.
Total~86h/mo

What changes

A laptop or a software seat gets sorted without anyone forwarding an email. Your ops manager sees only the requests that touch money, access or a new supplier.

  • 3steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~86 hours a month back

$46,400 a year in time

For an operations team fielding around 300 requests a month, at $45 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never adds bank details on its own

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentRequests from your shared inbox, forms or Slack, records into the systems they touch.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentWhich requests it can finish alone, and which always need a person.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe ops manager for money and access, team leads for everything else.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentReplies where the request came in, a weekly list for your team.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA finished request with a note to the requester, or one waiting for approval.

It takes the request and routes it. Setting up a vendor’s tax and bank details is the Vendor onboarding agent, and software approvals are their own agent too. Buying anything stays with your team.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your operations team.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past requests, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real requests.
The number we agree

Days from a request arriving to it being done. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, three months of requests from your shared inbox, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and three months of requests from your shared inbox.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past requests.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Work like this reclaimed 25 hours a week of email triage for a cargo surveying firm.

Questions

About this agent.

What kinds of requests can it handle?
The ones your team already has a way of doing: new vendors, software seats, equipment, access. You decide which it finishes alone.
What if a request is unclear?
It asks the requester for what is missing, in the same thread, and waits.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the days from a request arriving to it being done. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want requests done without the email chase?

Tell us how your team handles requests today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Business Operations
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent