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Automating information systems and data.

ERP, CRM, POS, WMS, payroll, e-commerce, BI tools, shared files: the IT department holds together applications that were never designed to talk to each other. Every new tool adds an interface, every manual interface adds re-keying, and the business fills the gaps with its own files. Automation connects these tools through documented flows, makes the data that moves between them reliable and frames the use of AI, without replacing what works.

The department

Who does what in the department.

One team, distinct roles. Those with their own page are linked.

Information systems departmentreporting to general management or to finance

The relays : The business application leads — a sales administrator for the ERP, a management controller for BI, an e-commerce manager for the platform — and the managed-services and application-maintenance providers. Requests come through them, and so, often, do the files that end up becoming critical.

The ecosystem

What the department receives, and what it passes on.

Dotted flows are those where information is most often re-keyed by hand.

It receives

  • Business requestschanges, new tools, extracts
  • Incidents and support requeststicketing tool, e-mails, calls
  • Starters, leavers and movesHR, managers
  • Application dataERP, CRM, POS, WMS, payroll, e-commerce
  • Security and monitoring alertsmonitoring tools, vendors, providers
Information systems and dataERP · middleware · data warehouse

It passes on

  • Accounts and access rightsto employees and applications
  • Master datato the ERP, CRM, e-commerce and partners
  • Dashboards and datasetsto leadership, finance and the business
  • Changes and releasesto users
  • IT budget and coststo management control

flow that worksflow often re-keyed

Across the department

What gets automated.

Not an isolated task, but the circuits that run through the department every month.

  • Interfaces between applications

    Orders, items, customers, invoices, stock: flows pass through a documented, monitored integration layer that flags a failed exchange instead of letting failures pile up.

  • Master data

    Items, customers, suppliers: data created once, checked, then distributed to the applications that need it.

  • Data quality checks

    Duplicates, empty mandatory fields, codes that differ from one tool to another: detected on entry and assigned to an owner.

  • Reporting

    A data warehouse and a shared semantic model: dashboards refresh on their own and show the same figures in every department.

  • First-line support

    An AI agent qualifies tickets, answers routine requests from the knowledge base and passes the rest to the right team.

  • Access and security

    Account creation and removal, access reviews, backup checks: carried out according to written rules, with a trail for audit.

What stays human

  • The IT roadmap, the choice of tools and the trade-off between packaged software and bespoke development.
  • The security policy, the access rights granted and accountability for the processing of personal data.
  • Choosing what to automate, and in which order.
Use cases

How to automate, case by case.

Each case starts from a question leadership teams ask. The starting point, what gets automated, the tools involved, and what stays in the teams’ hands.

  1. How do you automate exchanges between the ERP and the company’s other software?

    Today
    The ERP exchanges data with the CRM, POS, e-commerce, WMS and accounting through scheduled exports, scripts written over the years and some re-keying. Nobody holds the full list of flows, and a broken interface is discovered when a department reports a missing order or invoice.
    What gets automated
    Flows pass through an integration layer (middleware) that calls each application’s APIs or reads its files, transforms the data according to written rules and automatically replays a failed exchange. Each flow is described: source, target, frequency, owner. A monitoring board shows late or failed exchanges and alerts the owner of the flow concerned.
    What stays human
    IT decides which application is the reference for each piece of data and agrees the transformation rules with the business.
    • ERP
    • middleware and APIs
    • CRM
    • POS and e-commerce
    • monitoring tool

  2. How do you build and maintain an up-to-date application map of the IT landscape?

    Today
    The application map was drawn during a project and has not changed since. Tools added later, interfaces created by providers and subscriptions taken out by the business are missing, so it serves neither an audit nor a project.
    What gets automated
    The map is fed by the sources that know what is really there: the directory and single sign-on for applications in use, the integration layer for flows, contracts and invoices for subscriptions. Each application has a record: business owner, data processed, interfaces, hosting, criticality. An AI agent proposes the changes it detects, which IT approves.
    What stays human
    IT approves the map and sets the criticality of each application with the business.
    • directory and access management
    • middleware and APIs
    • application mapping tool
    • ERP

  3. How do you make the customer and supplier master shared by the ERP, CRM and accounting reliable?

    Today
    The same customer exists under several codes in the ERP, the CRM and the invoicing tool, with addresses and terms that differ. Suppliers are created in accounting and in purchasing without a shared check, and duplicates distort outstanding balances, reminders and statistics.
    What gets automated
    A single master data repository (MDM) becomes the point where customers and suppliers are created: company registration and intra-EU VAT number checks, duplicate detection, an approval workflow by type of party. The approved record is automatically distributed to subscribing applications. An AI agent matches existing duplicates and proposes merges.
    What stays human
    The data owners, in finance and sales, approve merges and creation rules.
    • master data management (MDM)
    • ERP
    • CRM
    • accounting software
    • middleware and APIs

  4. How do you replace a critical Excel file with a reliable tool?

    Today
    A spreadsheet runs a key process: pricing, the production plan, job tracking or a reporting consolidation. It is rich, fitted to the business and known to one or two people; it is also fed by copy and paste, with no control over versions or access, and a day without it stops the process.
    What gets automated
    The analysis starts from the file: inputs, calculation rules, outputs, users. The rules are rebuilt in a bespoke business tool, fed directly by the ERP and the source applications, with role-based rights, a history and checks on entry. The spreadsheet remains available for free analysis, based on data that is no longer copied by hand.
    What stays human
    The business confirms the tool faithfully reproduces its rules before the file is retired, and IT maintains it.
    • spreadsheet
    • bespoke business tool
    • ERP
    • middleware and APIs

  5. How do you detect shadow IT and undeclared SaaS subscriptions?

    Today
    Teams have signed up to online tools with a payment card or an expense claim: file sharing, e-signature, project management, content generators. IT discovers them during an incident or when someone leaves, without knowing what data is stored in them.
    What gets automated
    A tool cross-checks the available sources: spending and expense claims, single sign-on logins, domains contacted from the network. It lists the applications in use, with their users and their cost. Each discovered application gets an owner and a simple assessment: data processed, GDPR compliance, an alternative already available in the IT landscape.
    What stays human
    IT decides, with each team, whether to regularise, replace or stop the tool.
    • spend management tool
    • directory and access management
    • application mapping tool
    • reporting tool (BI)

  6. How do you roll out generative AI in the company while keeping control?

    Today
    Employees use consumer AI assistants to write, summarise or analyse, sometimes with internal documents. Leadership hesitates between banning and letting it happen, and IT has neither an inventory of uses nor a rule on what data may be entered.
    What gets automated
    An approved AI assistant is made available, connected to internal sources with each user’s access rights, on hosting chosen by IT. A usage policy sets out the permitted data, logged usage shows what is actually useful, and the most requested use cases become dedicated agents, tested before release.
    What stays human
    Leadership and IT set the policy, the data opened to AI and the permitted use cases.
    • enterprise AI assistant
    • directory and access management
    • document management
    • logging tool

  7. How do you automate the handling of business requests sent to IT?

    Today
    Requests arrive by e-mail, in passing during a meeting or straight to a developer: an extract, a field to add, a new tool, an interface. Nothing is prioritised by a common rule, and the business does not know where its request stands.
    What gets automated
    A single portal collects every request with a form suited to its type. An AI agent qualifies it: support request, change, project, or a need already covered by an existing tool. It fills in missing information with the requester, then routes it to the right queue. The requester follows progress, and IT sees the workload by team and by application.
    What stays human
    IT and business leadership set the priorities and decide what becomes a project.
    • ticketing tool (ITSM)
    • request portal
    • messaging
    • reporting tool (BI)

  8. How do you automate the periodic review of access rights to applications?

    Today
    Rights pile up through moves and replacements: an employee who changed department keeps their old access, a departed contractor keeps their account. The review required by audit is done once a year, application by application, from extracts sent to managers.
    What gets automated
    A tool matches each application’s accounts against the directory and the HRIS, and flags orphan accounts, rights inconsistent with the role and privileged access. Each manager receives their team’s list to confirm or revoke, with reminders. Approved removals are applied and the campaign is kept as evidence for audit.
    What stays human
    Managers confirm their teams’ rights, and IT settles segregation-of-duties cases.
    • directory and access management
    • HRIS
    • ERP
    • ticketing tool (ITSM)

  9. How do you automate backup checks and disaster recovery restore tests?

    Today
    Backups run every night and their reports arrive by e-mail, read when someone remembers. The disaster recovery plan exists on paper, but restores are rarely tested and nobody knows how long it would take to bring the ERP back into service.
    What gets automated
    Backup reports are collected and checked automatically: failure, incomplete backup, system missing from scope. Restore tests are scheduled at set intervals, application by application, and their result is measured and recorded. The recovery plan is updated with the durations actually observed and the gaps to fix.
    What stays human
    Leadership and IT set the acceptable recovery time for each application and decide on the resources involved.
    • backup tool
    • monitoring tool
    • ticketing tool (ITSM)
    • document management

  10. How do you automate tracking of software contracts, licences and renewals?

    Today
    Vendor and provider contracts sit in folders, licences are counted in a spreadsheet and notice dates are noted in a calendar. Tacit renewals slip through, and the number of licences paid no longer matches the number of active users.
    What gets automated
    An AI agent reads contracts and extracts due dates, notice periods, price-revision terms and reversibility clauses. The number of licences is matched against the accounts actually used in each application. Renewal alerts go out before the notice period, with observed usage and cost, to prepare the decision.
    What stays human
    IT and purchasing decide whether to renew, renegotiate or terminate.
    • document management
    • directory and access management
    • contract management tool
    • reporting tool (BI)

  11. How do you automate vulnerability management and security patching?

    Today
    Vendors’ security bulletins arrive continuously, workstations and servers are updated unevenly, and some business applications cannot take an update without testing. The team cannot quickly say whether an announced flaw affects it.
    What gets automated
    A tool matches published vulnerabilities against the actual inventory of workstations, servers and software, and ranks patches by exposure and by the criticality of the systems affected. Standard patches are rolled out in waves, with a pilot group; those affecting a critical application open a change request with prior testing. An AI agent summarises bulletins and names the systems concerned.
    What stays human
    IT decides on urgent patches that require a service interruption, with the business teams concerned.
    • vulnerability management tool
    • IT asset management tool
    • ticketing tool (ITSM)
    • monitoring tool

  12. How do you automate first-line IT support?

    Today
    Support receives the same requests every day: forgotten password, access to a shared folder, printer, software installation, a question about the ERP. Tickets arrive poorly described, are requalified by hand and wait for a technician to become free.
    What gets automated
    An AI agent takes the request in messaging or the portal, qualifies it and answers from the knowledge base and approved procedures. Simple actions — reset, standard access, installation of approved software — run automatically with the planned checks. The rest goes to the right group with a complete ticket, and the knowledge base grows from resolutions.
    What stays human
    The support team handles complex incidents, approves knowledge-base answers and remains reachable at any point in the request.
    • ticketing tool (ITSM)
    • AI agent
    • knowledge base
    • directory and access management
Depending on your sector

The same principles, different rules.

  • Fashion and luxury

    Own boutiques, wholesale, e-commerce and workshops on separate tools, subsidiaries abroad, sensitive customer data to protect: a product and customer master shared across countries and channels.

  • Retail

    Tills in many stores, e-commerce, marketplaces, WMS and ERP to keep in sync continuously: prices, stock and sales must move without delay or re-keying.

  • Cosmetics and beauty

    Formulas, components and regulatory data shared between R&D, the plant and marketing, product data sheets sent to retailers and platforms: demanding master data and many exchanges with partners.

  • B2B distribution and wholesale

    EDI with customers and suppliers, prices and terms per customer, WMS and transport: an IT landscape held together by its interfaces, where a failed flow blocks a delivery.

  • Construction and property

    Sites, branches, quotes, job tracking and accounting on tools that communicate poorly, field teams on mobile: site data must reach head office without re-keying.

  • Industry

    ERP, production tracking, maintenance and quality side by side, connected machines: business IT and industrial IT to connect without weakening production.

  • Pharma and healthcare

    Validated systems, batch traceability, data integrity required by good practice: every change follows a validation and change-control procedure.

Your system

The applications in place stay in place.

The ERP, CRM, payroll, POS and business tools keep their role and their data. Automation plugs in between them: an integration layer through APIs or files, shared master data, a data warehouse and governed AI agents. It reduces the number of makeshift interfaces rather than adding one more tool. No forced change of tool.

  • ERP
  • Middleware and APIs
  • CRM
  • POS and e-commerce
  • Data warehouse and BI
  • Ticketing tool (ITSM)
  • Directory and access management
Frequent questions

What leadership teams ask.

How do you automate an IT department?
By starting from the recurring tasks: interfaces watched by hand, accounts created case by case, extracts requested every month, repetitive tickets. Start with the one that costs the most re-keying or incidents, measure it, then move to the next.
How do you get the ERP to communicate with other software?
Through an integration layer rather than direct links between every pair of tools: each flow is described, transformed, replayed on error and monitored there. The ERP remains the reference for its data, and the other applications subscribe to it.
Do you need to change ERP to automate?
Rarely. Most automations plug into the existing ERP through its APIs, its exports or its database. The assessment shows whether a limit of the tool justifies replacing it, and when.
How do you reduce dependence on software vendors?
By keeping control of three things: the data, which the company must be able to extract in full; the interfaces, documented and carried by a layer the IT department controls; the business rules, written down outside the tool. Changing vendor then becomes a project, not a break.
What should be done about shadow IT?
Map it before banning it. A file or tool adopted by a team often meets a real need the IT landscape covers poorly. Separate what is critical, what exposes data and what can stay as it is, then move the critical cases into a maintained tool.
How do you frame employees’ use of generative AI?
With approved tools, connected to company data under the same access rights as the applications, a simple usage policy and a log of usage. Banning without offering an alternative pushes employees towards uncontrolled tools.
Does a bespoke tool add technical debt?
Not if it is documented, tested, hosted according to IT rules and handed over with its code. Debt comes mainly from developments with no owner and no documentation, whether in-house, at a provider or inside a spreadsheet.
Does the data stay under IT control?
Yes. Hosting, access rights and flows are chosen with the IT department, personal data is processed in line with the GDPR, and AI models only use the data they are given access to.
Related departments
02 — Getting started

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