The Process

Working with helm8.

From first conversation to a running automation system. Here is exactly what happens, when, and what it costs.

Four phases

Simple by design.

No long discovery sprints. No 40-page proposals. The goal is to get something running in your business within four weeks.

01
Week 1 · Free

The Conversation

A 60-minute session — in person, over a call, or on WhatsApp. We map your operation together: what takes the most time, what gets missed, what numbers you wish you had. No preparation needed on your side.

Bring nothing specific — just be ready to describe a typical week
We ask structured questions across finance, HR compliance, and operations
By the end, we both have a clear picture of where the biggest pain is
You leave with a written summary of what we discussed
02
Week 1–2 · Free

The Proposal

A written document with a specific scope, a clear timeline, and a fixed price. Not a vague estimate — a precise description of exactly what gets built, what it will do, and what it will not do.

Typically 1–3 automations proposed in order of ROI
Tools listed explicitly — usually Google Sheets, Gmail API, WhatsApp
No lock-in: if you say no, you keep the summary and the ideas
Pricing is fixed — no billable hours, no surprises
03
Week 2–4 · Paid

The Build

We build using tools your business already has. No new subscriptions, no onboarding sessions, no IT involvement needed. The system is built around your existing data and existing workflows.

Automations run silently in the background — invisible to the team, no new apps to open
Data stays in your Google Drive or existing system
All alerts go to WhatsApp — no new app to install
You review and approve before anything goes live
04
Ongoing · Optional

The Retainer

Once the first automation is running, most clients move to a monthly retainer. Each month: new automations added, existing ones maintained, and a 60-minute business review where we look at what the data is actually showing.

Minimum 3 automations typically running within 90 days
Monthly 60-minute review — focused on your actual numbers
All data hosted on UAE infrastructure for PDPL compliance
Cancel any time with 30 days notice
The Investment

The retainer costs less than
what you are already losing.

Most businesses that complete our free audit discover they are losing AED 8,000–20,000 per month to manual work, compliance risk, and delayed decisions. The audit calculates your exact number — before any conversation about what working together costs.

How it starts
A single fixed-price project.

No retainer required to start. We scope one or two automations, give you a written fixed quote, build them, and hand everything over. You own it completely. Most clients see results before the project closes.

How it continues
A monthly retainer when you are ready.

New automations built each month. Existing systems maintained. A monthly review of what the data is showing. Cancel any time — no contracts. Clients move to the retainer when they have seen enough to want more.

How it deepens
An embedded intelligence layer.

For operations that want more than automation — document intelligence, live dashboards, monthly business analysis in plain language. The data your business generates starts working for you, not sitting in spreadsheets nobody reads.

Find out your number first.

The free audit calculates exactly what manual work is costing your operation each month — before you make any decision.

Take the free audit →
Common Questions

Things worth knowing before you call.

No. Everything we build works with what you already have — Google Sheets, Gmail, WhatsApp, QuickBooks, Zoho. We do not introduce new tools without a specific reason, and if we do, we explain exactly why and get approval first.
All automation processing runs on UAE-based infrastructure (Microsoft Azure UAE North — Dubai data centre). This satisfies the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) requirement that personal data remain on UAE-sovereign servers. Your data does not leave the country.
Between two and four weeks from the date the proposal is approved. The first week is usually setting up access to your systems and confirming the data structure. The second and third weeks are the build. The final few days are testing with your real data before it goes live.
The businesses that get the most value from this are typically 20–80 staff: large enough that manual processes are genuinely costing time and money, but not so large that they have dedicated IT departments to handle it internally. If your team is smaller and the pain is real, the answer is still yes.
On a retainer, fixing any issue is included. On a project, we include 30 days of support after go-live. After that, an hourly rate applies — or it becomes the starting point of a conversation about the retainer. We do not build things and disappear.
Yes, and that is often the right call. Starting with a single high-visibility automation — typically the document expiry tracker or the weekly business snapshot — lets you see results before committing to more. The fixed-price first project exists specifically for this. Scope agreed, quote provided, work begins. No retainer required until you decide you want one.

The first conversation
costs nothing.

60 minutes. We map your operation, identify what to automate first, and send you a written summary — whether you work with us or not.

Book the conversation →

Free · No obligation · Based in the UAE