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Business Operations agent

Software vendor approval

Someone asks for a new tool, and the request is written up, checked against what you already pay for and sent to everyone who signs off, all together. Anything that will hold customer data waits for IT.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Software vendor approval: four items, three done, and one (Customer data) waiting for the IT lead, who is asked: Slotwise would hold client names and emails. The security summary is attached. Approve it?
How it works

New software gets a yes or no, with every sign-off on file.

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 Software vendor approval, in 5 steps. It starts with “Someone asks for a tool” and ends with “A yes or no, on record”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Software vendor approvalA typical run
Starts withSomeone asks for a toolA designer drops a link to Slotwise in chat and asks whether the team can use it to book client calls.
The agent: Reads the message and the vendor’s pricing page: what it’s for, 8 seats, about $1,440 a year, and what data it would hold.
Automation: Adds the request to the software list and replies in the thread with its number, so the designer can see where it stands.
~14h/mo

Step 1 of 5Write up the request

  • The agent

    Reads the message and the vendor’s pricing page: what it’s for, 8 seats, about $1,440 a year, and what data it would hold.

    The request is one sentence and a link. Seats, cost and the data it holds are spread across the vendor’s site.

  • Automation

    Adds the request to the software list and replies in the thread with its number, so the designer can see where it stands.

    Logging a request and replying with its number needs no judgment.

Reads
  • Team chat
Writes
  • Software list

~14 hours a month back

The agent: Checks every tool on your software list for one that already books client calls. Your calendar tool can’t take client bookings, so this is new.
~8h/mo

Step 2 of 5Check what you own

  • The agent

    Checks every tool on your software list for one that already books client calls. Your calendar tool can’t take client bookings, so this is new.

    Two tools can do the same job under different names, so the match needs to know what each one is for.

Reads
  • Software list
Writes
  • Software list

~8 hours a month back

Where teams differWhere a team keeps a pre-approved list, tools on it can skip the write-up entirely.

Automation: Asks Slotwise for its security report, data terms and standard contract, and files what comes back with the request.
The agent: Notes that Slotwise stores client names and emails, keeps them in the US, and renews yearly with 30 days’ notice.
~16h/mo

Step 3 of 5Gather the paperwork

  • Automation

    Asks Slotwise for its security report, data terms and standard contract, and files what comes back with the request.

    The same three documents are asked for on every request.

  • The agent

    Notes that Slotwise stores client names and emails, keeps them in the US, and renews yearly with 30 days’ notice.

    Every vendor answers in its own format, from a one-page letter to a 60-page report.

Reads
  • Email
Writes
  • Shared drive

~16 hours a month back

Where teams differLegal usually reads the contract only past a value you set. Below it, the vendor’s standard terms stand.

Automation: Sends the write-up to finance, the design lead and the IT lead together, and nudges anyone who hasn’t answered in two days.
IfYour team: Finance and the design lead sign off on cost. The IT lead reads the security summary and approves the client data, or sends Slotwise questions first.
~10h/mo

Step 4 of 5Get approvals

  • Automation

    Sends the write-up to finance, the design lead and the IT lead together, and nudges anyone who hasn’t answered in two days.

    Who signs is set by cost and data, and both are known once the request is written up.

  • Your teamIf it holds customer data

    Finance and the design lead sign off on cost. The IT lead reads the security summary and approves the client data, or sends Slotwise questions first.

    Letting an outside company hold customer data is a risk someone inside the business should own.

Reads
  • Software list
Writes
  • Software list

~10 hours a month back

Automation: Marks it approved on the software list with each sign-off and the contract, and tells the designer how to get a seat.
~4h/mo

Step 5 of 5Close it out

  • Automation

    Marks it approved on the software list with each sign-off and the contract, and tells the designer how to get a seat.

    With every sign-off in, updating the list and telling the requester is record-keeping.

Reads
  • Software list
Writes
  • Software list
  • Team chat

~4 hours a month back

Ends withA yes or no, on recordApproved on your software list with the sign-offs and contract attached, or a clear no with the reason.
Total~52h/mo

What changes

Each request arrives written up, priced and checked against the tools you already pay for, and anything that will hold customer data waits for IT.

  • 4steps automated
  • 3steps 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

~52 hours a month back

$40,600 a year in time

For a 300-person company fielding about 12 software requests a month, at $65 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 buys, signs or grants access on its own

  1. Your systems

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

    For this agentRequests from a form, your inbox or chat, the decision on your software list.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentYour approval policy: who signs at what cost, and what counts as sensitive data.

  3. Your team

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

    For this agentIT for data and access, finance for the budget, legal above a contract size you set.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentReplies in the thread it came from, email or Slack to whoever signs off.

  5. Your output

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

    For this agentAn approved request on your software list, with the contract and every sign-off attached.

It gets a request to a yes or a no. The security review is the Vendor risk reviews agent, setting the vendor up to be paid is Vendor onboarding, and buying the seats 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 IT lead, finance and the department heads.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past software 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 software requests.
The number we agree

Days from a tool being asked for to a yes or a no. 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, your software list and the last few tools you approved, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and your software list and the last few tools you approved.

  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 software 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.

Questions

About this agent.

What if we already have a tool that does this?
It tells the requester which one, who owns it and how to get a seat, and closes the request unless they explain why it won’t do.
Does it do the security review?
It gathers the vendor’s security documents and sums up what the tool would hold. The review itself stays with IT, or runs through the Vendor risk reviews agent if you have it.
What about free tools?
Your policy decides. Plenty of teams still want IT to see any tool that holds company or customer data, even when it costs nothing.
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 tool being asked for to a yes or a no. 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.

Who has to say yes before your team buys a tool?

Tell us how your team handles software 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
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  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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