‘Connect these two tools’ is only the start.
A request arrives by email. Someone copies it into a spreadsheet, checks availability and sends a reply. Connecting the inbox to the spreadsheet might remove one step. It will not tell you what happens when the same request arrives twice, information is missing or no slot is available.
Follow one ordinary request from beginning to end, then follow a messy one. Ask the people doing the work where they make a judgement and where they are simply moving information.
Agree on the source of truth.
Decide which system owns each piece of information. Name the event that starts the workflow, the result that counts as complete and the person who can resolve an exception. Otherwise an integration can move conflicting information faster than the team can correct it.
- What triggers the workflow?
- What must be checked before it continues?
- How are duplicate requests recognised?
- What happens when an external service is unavailable?
- Who sees a failure, and how can they safely retry?
Start where the benefit is easy to observe.
Pick a repeated, well-understood task. Record how it works today, introduce the automation and review the actual result with the team. Time saved is useful evidence; so are fewer corrections, clearer handovers and less work waiting unnoticed.
Keep human review where judgement matters. A good automation gives a team a more dependable process, not a new system they have to chase.