Automation Isn’t Optional—You’re Just Scared of Being Replaced

Every time I walk into a mid-sized business and suggest automating core workflows, someone squirms.

Because deep down they know it’s brilliant.

But the real reason they squirm is because of the sudden, cold realisation that they’ve built their role around being the glue. The ‘go-to’ person who “knows where everything is” and “just makes it work.” A person that's usually overworked, under-appreciated, and operating as a human gap filler for all the crap systems no one has had time to fix properly over the years.

But glue dries. It cracks under pressure. And when you build your business around people-as-integrations—rather that robust systems—you create massive risk and single points of failure due to lunch breaks, sick days, unexpected resignations, or full-blown mental health spirals.

You know what doesn’t have emotional breakdowns? Webhooks. Flows. Scenarios.

Whatever name you slap on it, automated systems don’t get distracted, don’t gossip, and don’t push shit into the “I’ll get to it later” pile.

Still think your spreadsheet maestro is irreplaceable? Ask yourself what happens when they get poached. Or burnt out. Or go on leave and suddenly no one knows how the business runs.

Relying on glue isn’t scalable.

You’re not afraid the automation won’t work — you’re afraid it will. Because once it’s running like clockwork, someone might actually question why your department exists at all. Or why they’ve been paying you to babysit spreadsheets for six years.

Harsh? Sure. But let’s be real — we’ve let entire departments become manual middleware. People acting as APIs between inboxes, spreadsheets, CRMs, project management tools, and Slack threads. It’s digital hamster wheel stuff. That’s not innovation. That’s glorified busywork dressed up in job titles like “Operations Coordinator” or “Data Liaison.”

These folks aren’t stupid or lazy. They’re burnt out from it.

They’re trying to keep a broken system alive with their bare hands and sticky notes. They’re tired, demoralised, quietly resentful, and totally aware that most of their job could be handed off to a Make.com scenario or a well-wired integration.

But they keep doing it anyway, because the alternative is facing the existential crisis of obsolescence.

Automation doesn’t replace people—it upgrades them.

If you actually care about your people, stop making them do dumb repetitive tasks. Free them from the sludge. Give them back their brain. Let them analyse, create, challenge, and push the business forward instead of playing glorified whack-a-mole with duplicated data.

Because what automation should kill is:

• Data entry

• Email ping-pong

• Cross-checking databases

• Manually updating five platforms with the same info

• Being a glorified “forward” button

• Chasing someone for a status update

• Digging through 18 versions of a shared doc because no one set up version control

Let machines handle the monotony. Let humans do the messy, brilliant, strategic stuff. That’s where the real value lives, and it's where humans shine.

What if your business is entirely made of the former?
Then yes—it’s time to evolve, or get right the hell out of the way.

The businesses we work with are those who embrace automation early.

They’re not just more efficient. They’re become more resilient. They scale faster, burn less cash, use their time wisely, make fewer mistakes, and create roles that people actually want to stick around for.

And more than that... their teams stop hating Mondays.
Their inboxes shrink. Their mental load hits the floor.

No more 11pm emails that say “Sorry, just catching up.”

Instead, you get:

• Teams who trust the systems and know where to find things

• Staff who own their roles because they’re no longer drowning in grunt work

• Ops leaders who can actually focus on leading, not firefighting

• Founders who can finally sleep without wondering if the spreadsheet broke again

Because when you stop fearing replacement, you start building relevance, and that's what future-proofs your people and your business.

Look—we get it. You might think that Sharon’s special because she remembers how invoices get batched on the third Tuesday after a full moon.

But that’s not knowledge, that’s entropy.
That’s a failure of process, not a badge of honour.

Automation isn’t some abstract concept or Silicon Valley trend. It’s the difference between a business that thrives and one that quietly dies under the weight of its own inefficiencies.

But if the idea of automation makes you feel replaceable? Then it's time to get worried.