Work smarter, not harder: business that scales without burnout

Where does your team’s time really go?

Here’s a figure that should make every business leader uncomfortable: according to a Smartsheet study, more than 40% of employees spend at least a quarter of their work week on manual, repetitive tasks. That’s one full day a week spent entering data, updating documents and copying information between systems.

It gets even worse:

• ProcessMaker found that office workers spend more than 50% of their time on repetitive tasks
• Zapier found that 76% of employees spend 1–3 hours a day just moving data around
• Asana revealed that employees spend only 27% of their time on the work they were hired to do

Let’s think about what this means in practice. The skilled members of your team — people you recruited, trained and pay a competitive salary — spend three quarters of their day on tasks that have nothing to do with their expertise. You’re paying an analyst for copy-paste work instead of analysis.

AI hype vs. reality

Before we talk about solutions, let’s address the elephant in the room: artificial intelligence.

When Linus Torvalds — the creator of Linux, who is not known for sugarcoating things — was asked about AI at the Open Source Summit in 2024, he grimaced and said bluntly: “90% marketing and 10% reality.”

Torvalds isn’t claiming that AI is useless. He’s simply pointing out the massive gap between the hype and what can actually be achieved today. And he’s absolutely right to be sceptical.

AI does have truly powerful applications. We’ve seen it transform document analysis, enable advanced pattern recognition and handle complex decision-making that was previously impossible. The technology is real and keeps evolving at a rapid pace.

But here’s what actually happens in most companies: while management discusses AI strategy, teams are still processing quotes manually, copying data between systems and sending the same status updates every week.

Before you dive in at the deep end with AI, get the basics in order. Automate the repetitive, rule-based work that drains your team’s energy and enthusiasm. Then, once you’ve built the foundation, AI becomes a powerful tool on top of it — not a magic solution for skipping the basics.

A concrete example: A week-long quoting process

Imagine a typical B2B sales quoting process:

The manual way: A sales rep receives a request for quote. They open three different systems to check: the customer history (CRM), product availability (ERP) and the pricing rules (that one Excel file “Final_Pricing_2025_v3_DONE.xlsx”). They draft the quote in Word. They email it to the finance department for approval. Finance is in meetings. Two days later, they reply with questions. The rep clarifies. Another day passes. The approval arrives. The rep manually creates the quote and sends it to the customer. The customer asks for one change. The process repeats.

Total time: 3–5 days. The customer has already talked to your competitors.

The automated way: The sales rep enters the customer details and products into the system. The workflow automatically retrieves the customer history, checks inventory, applies the correct pricing rules and routes the quote to the appropriate approver based on the amount. The approver gets a notification on their phone, reviews the context and approves. The system instantly generates the quote for the rep, the rep emails it to the customer, and everything is automatically saved in the CRM.

Total time: 2–4 hours. The quote reaches the customer the same day.

Speed isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about the impression you make on the customer. When you respond in hours instead of days, customers see a company that has its processes in order. Your competitors are still waiting for approvals. You’re already closing deals.

Choosing the right tool

Different challenges require different tools. The key is to find the most cost-effective solution for your own problem:

Traditional automation (RPA): Best suited for high-volume, repetitive tasks with clear rules — data entry, report generation, system updates. Widely used, low cost, fast to deploy.

Low-code/no-code platforms: Best suited for flexible workflows that change often — approvals, onboarding, task routing. Users can build and modify them without the IT department.

AI/machine learning: Best suited for tasks that require recognition or judgement — document classification, demand forecasting, anomaly detection. It handles complex tasks that rule-based systems can’t.

Custom development: Best suited for unique requirements or deep integrations — industry-specific workflows, complex business logic, legacy connections. Full control and scalability.

The companies that get real value from business process automation don’t chase buzzwords. They start from their pain points and work backwards to the simplest solution that actually solves the problem.

What the numbers really say

The business case for automation isn’t theoretical — it’s measurable.

Wasted time: Smartsheet’s research reveals a startling reality: more than 40% of employees spend at least a quarter of their week on manual, repetitive tasks. ProcessMaker, meanwhile, found that office workers spend more than 50% of their time on repetitive tasks. Zapier found that 76% of employees spend 1–3 hours a day just moving data between systems.

The result? According to Asana’s report, employees spend only 27% of their time on the work they were actually hired to do.

The potential return: When Smartsheet asked employees how much time business process automation could save them, nearly 60% estimated six or more hours per week — almost a full working day. What was eye-opening was what they would do with that time:

• 72% would focus on work that is more valuable to their organisation
• 78% would focus on the more interesting and rewarding parts of their job
• 97% believe automation would benefit their organisation

The financial impact: The ROI isn’t small. Forrester found that companies achieve an average ROI of 330% within three years through business process automation. Research by Bain & Company shows that automation leaders reduced process costs by 22%, while the top quartile achieved cost savings of as much as 37% — money that goes straight to the bottom line once it’s freed up through automation.

The real ROI isn’t just faster processes or lower costs. It’s empowering your team to do the work that truly moves the business forward — and making them want to come to work at your company tomorrow too.

Nordo’s philosophy: Built for efficiency from the start

At Nordo, we’re building our company on a simple principle: automate every process that doesn’t create value. Not eventually. Not “once we scale.” But from day one.

Why? Because we believe work should be meaningful. Every person on our team should spend their time on tasks that matter — work that creates value for customers, work that draws on their expertise, work that makes them want to come back tomorrow. Not copying data, chasing approvals or formatting the same report for the fifteenth time.

This approach has several benefits:

Growth: We can scale without growing headcount proportionally. Growth comes from better work and serving customers more efficiently, not from hiring more people to manage the administrative burden.

People: No burnout from repetitive tasks. People stay energised because they do work that uses their real skills — and there’s also time left for learning new things and taking care of their own well-being.

Quality: Automation eliminates human error from repetitive tasks. Our team focuses on judgement calls and complex problems where human intelligence really matters.

This isn’t just an internal philosophy — it’s what we want for our customers too. Whether it’s streamlining sustainability-related processes, taming complex data workflows or automating the repetitive tasks that keep your team from meaningful work, we apply the same principle: respect people’s time by letting automation handle what can be automated.

Ready to see how automation could transform your business processes? Let’s talk about real opportunities — no hype, no buzzwords, just practical solutions to real problems. Contact us to discuss your needs.