Problem and requirements
What needs to improve, who is affected, and what the business needs the work to support.
Where we start
Business Friction Audit
We document how the work operates today, where it gets stuck, what the business needs, and what should happen next.
This audit is for you if
- You suspect something is inefficient but can’t quite name it
- Your team is spending real hours on repetitive, manual work
- You’re considering an AI tool or platform and want an honest read first
- You’ve outgrown your current systems but don’t want to overbuild
- You want a second opinion before a big technology purchase
It’s probably not for you if
- You’ve already fully scoped the exact system you want built. You’re ready for an implementation quote, not a diagnosis
- You want a quick recommendation without walking us through the real workflow
- You need us to promise a specific return before we’ve looked at the work
Before we start
What happens before the audit
- Step 1
You complete a short discovery questionnaire about your business and the work in question
- Step 2
We confirm who the right stakeholders are and schedule time with them
- Step 3
We agree on what’s in scope: one workflow, one department, or the whole operation
What we review
- · Any existing process documentation (even if outdated or incomplete)
- · The tools and systems currently in use
- · Volume and frequency of the work in question
- · Prior attempts to fix or automate the process, if any
Stakeholder conversations & workflow observation
We talk to the people doing the work, not the person managing it, and watch the workflow as it really happens. Documentation tells us how a process is supposed to work. Observation tells us how it really works.
How we score opportunities
- Time impact
- How many hours, and how often
- Cost impact
- Direct cost, plus the cost of errors and delays
- Feasibility
- How hard the fix is
- Risk
- What happens if this stays broken
What you receive
Every audit produces the same complete deliverable set
- Discovery questionnaire
- Stakeholder conversation
- Current workflow review
- Friction and bottleneck map
- Conservative time-loss estimate
- Conservative cost-impact estimate
- Opportunity identification
- Prioritized recommendations
- A build, buy, improve, integrate, automate, or do-nothing recommendation
- Recommended future-state workflow
- Implementation roadmap
- Rough implementation investment range
- Expected maintenance considerations
- Clear next steps
- Documented requirements, constraints, and success criteria
What it looks like
One page of the report
Made up to show the shape of it, not a real client’s report. The structure, scoring, and tone are what you’d receive.
Business Friction Audit: sample report
Manual invoice reconciliation
- Time cost
- 6.5 hrs / week
- Annual cost
- ~$11,000 at current wages
- Setup effort
- 1–2 weeks
- Observed
- Two staff members re-key vendor invoices from email into the accounting system by hand, then cross-check totals against a separate spreadsheet. The annual figure above counts the hours only. It is before error-driven rework.
- Recommendation
Improvechosen from build · buy · improve · integrate · automate · do nothing
The accounting platform already in use supports invoice capture. It just isn’t turned on. No new software purchase required, and no custom build.
A clear starting point
Understand the work before deciding what to change
We document what is happening now and what the business needs before deciding what should change.
Current process
How the work moves today, including systems, handoffs, workarounds, and exceptions.
Improvement opportunities
Where a process change, integration, automation, or custom system could create value.
The audit does not assume that implementation is needed. It gives you a clear basis for deciding whether to change the process, use existing tools better, or build something new.
After the audit
What happens next is up to you
- 1
You receive the written report and walk through it with us
- 2
You decide what, if anything, to act on. There’s no pressure to hire us for implementation
- 3
If you want us to build it, we scope and quote that as a separate engagement
- 4
If you’d rather hand it to your own team or another vendor, the report is written to make that possible
Implementation is optional, and never a fixed package
We don’t sell tiers. If you decide to build what the audit recommends, pricing depends on real factors, not a rate card designed to upsell you.
- · Complexity of the workflow being changed
- · Number and type of integrations required
- · Security and compliance requirements
- · Number of users and roles involved
- · Design work required
- · Data migration needs
- · Ongoing support expectations
- · Hosting needs
- · Your existing technical environment
We’re just as comfortable recommending a small, low-cost fix (or nothing at all) as we are proposing a full build. The audit report includes a rough investment range either way.
Questions
Frequently asked
Grouped by what people usually want to know first.
The audit itself
The starting point
Recommendations & AI
Who it’s for
Implementation, ownership & handoff
Find where the work can run better.
Have questions first? Email hello@snaglabs.ai. We read every message ourselves.