Umbra Penance

Services

Business process automation · UK

Business process automation that takes the busywork off your team.

We map the processes your team repeats every day, then automate them across the tools you already use: CRM, inbox, accounting, documents, spreadsheets. Built to run unattended, with alerts when something needs a human.

Tell us what you want to automate
  • 20 minutes with an engineer
  • No obligation
  • Reply within one working day
  • 230+ workflows we built live in production
  • n8n · Make · Zapier · custom code
  • Security-reviewed before go-live
Example: new client onboardingexample
  1. Deal marked wonCRM
  2. Contract sent & signede-sign
  3. Invoice raisedaccounting
  4. Project & folders createdworkspace
  5. Team & client notifiedemail · slack

You’ll speak with Adel or Mehdi, the founders who design, build and test every project. About us

Project

Already running in production.

Client project · Education & training · client name kept confidential

6 lead sources · 1 pipeline

Every enquiry captured, booked and followed up, automatically.

Problem
Leads from ads, chat and forms landed in different places, booking took emails, and no-shows were rarely chased.
What we built
One automated pipeline: capture, de-duplication, team-wide booking, reminders, no-show follow-up and AI call summaries.
The hard part
Six lead sources, the phone system connected, bookings shared evenly across the sales team, and results fed back to the ad platforms so they find better leads.
Result
Every lead reaches the right salesperson in seconds and nobody is forgotten.
Safeguards
Every incoming lead is checked before it is written to the CRM. If an ad platform stops sending leads, the connection is restored automatically. Unsubscribe requests honoured automatically across every sequence.
Read the full project

Signs a process is ready to automate

If a task is repetitive, rule-based and happens more than a few times a week, it is costing you more than you think.

  • People copy the same data between the CRM, inbox, spreadsheets and accounting.
  • New leads wait hours or days for a first reply.
  • Onboarding a client means the same twenty manual steps every time.
  • Month-end reporting is a day of exports and copy-paste.
  • Existing Zaps or scenarios fail silently and nobody notices for a week.
  • AI is used in a chat window, not inside the process where it would save time.
Two people sketching a process flow on a whiteboard

How we start

We map the process before we touch a tool.

Automation disappoints when it copies a broken process. We sit down with the people who do the work, map every step, exception and owner, then decide what to automate, and with what.

What we automate

We start with the bottleneck your team can describe, then connect the systems around it.

  • Lead & sales automation

    Capture every enquiry with its source, enrich and qualify it, assign an owner, send a relevant reply in minutes and alert sales to the ones worth calling.

  • CRM integrations

    Keep HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or Airtable in step with your forms, inbox, calendar and accounting, so the CRM becomes a reliable record instead of a chore.

  • Operations & onboarding

    Contracts, invoices, folders, projects, accounts and welcome messages created from one approved deal. Same process, every time.

  • Finance & back office

    Invoice capture, matching, approvals and posting, with validation at every step and exceptions routed to a person.

  • Documents & reporting

    Extract data from PDFs and emails, file it in the right place and build the weekly report that someone currently assembles by hand.

  • AI-powered workflow steps

    Classify, extract, summarise and draft inside the workflow, with human approval wherever accuracy or risk demands it.

Automation connects your most sensitive systems. We treat it that way.

A workflow with admin access to your CRM, inbox and accounting is a system, and it deserves the same care as one.

  • Each connection gets only the access it needs.
  • Passwords and API keys stored securely, never inside the workflow, and changed regularly.
  • Incoming data checked before any workflow acts on it.

Engagements and pricing

Typical engagements

Every project starts with a 20-minute call and ends with a fixed scope and price before any build.

  • Automation audit

    We review your processes and existing automations and deliver a prioritised list of what to automate first, with effort and expected return.

    Best for: Teams that know they're losing time but not where to start.

  • First workflow

    One focused, production-grade workflow, mapped, built, tested and documented. Often live within one to three weeks.

    Best for: A clear bottleneck, such as lead follow-up or onboarding.

  • Automation programme

    Several connected workflows across sales and operations, phased so the first useful automation ships early, with optional ongoing support.

    Best for: Businesses ready to systemise a whole function.

How pricing works: a free 20-minute call, then a written scope with a fixed price, then you decide. No day-rate surprises.

Workflows we build

Typical examples. Each is mapped from your real process before anything is built.

Lead follow-up8 steps
  1. Lead capturedForm, ad, inbox or LinkedInForms & inbox
  2. EnrichedCompany, size, websiteCompany data lookup
  3. QualifiedScored against your criteriaAI step
  4. CRM recordDe-duplicated, owner assignedCRM
  5. Personal reply sentEmail
  6. Sales alertedHot leads onlySlack / Teams
  7. Call bookedCalendar
  8. Source-to-revenue reportDashboard
Before
Enquiries wait in a shared inbox until someone has time.
After
Every lead gets a fast, relevant reply and sales sees which ones matter.

What our automations look like.

Screens from real builds: the workflow, what your customers receive, what your team sees, and what happens when something breaks.

chat-callback-request → CRM Active
A workflow running in production for a client: a callback request from chat is validated, de-duplicated, written to the CRM, scheduled in a salesperson's calendar, assigned and announced to the team. Node labels translated; client data removed.

No-code, custom code, or both?

The right call when

  • Zapier for straightforward app-to-app workflows your team wants to own.
  • Make for visual, branching workflows with heavier data transformation.
  • n8n for complex logic, higher volumes, self-hosting and data control.
  • Custom code and APIs when a connector doesn't exist or reliability matters more than convenience.

What we won’t recommend

  • Automating a broken process. We fix the steps first.
  • Removing human judgement from decisions that need it.
  • Locking you into one platform you can't leave.

How we work

From repetitive task to production workflow

Anyone can connect two apps. Business-critical automation needs ownership, error handling and a clean handover.

  1. Map the real process

    We talk to the people doing the work and document inputs, decisions, exceptions and owners. Then we pick the first workflow with a clear return.

  2. Choose the right platform

    n8n, Make, Zapier or custom code, chosen on volume, complexity, data sensitivity and who will own it.

  3. Build for failure

    Validation, retries, alerts, logs and a safe manual path. Failed items can be replayed without duplicating work.

  4. Test & secure

    Each connection gets only the access it needs, keys are stored securely, incoming data is checked, and data flows are documented.

  5. Launch & hand over

    Workflow map, operating notes and access ownership. We can support it, or hand it over with no lock-in.

Platforms and integrations

We build on the platform that fits the workflow, and write custom API integrations or n8n nodes when no connector exists.

n8nMakeZapierHubSpotPipedriveSalesforceAirtableMicrosoft 365Google WorkspaceSlackXeroQuickBooksStripeOpenAI / Claude APIsCustom REST APIs

Questions we get asked

How much does an automation project cost?
Every project gets a fixed quote after a free 20-minute scoping call, so you know the price before any build. A single focused workflow is a very different budget from an automation programme; on the call we'll tell you roughly what yours would take.
How quickly can the first workflow go live?
A focused workflow can often be mapped, built and tested within one to three weeks. Projects with several systems, approval paths or sensitive data are phased so the first useful automation ships early.
Do we own the workflows?
Yes. Workflows run in accounts you own wherever possible, and you receive documentation and access. You're free to maintain them yourselves or with us.
Should we use n8n, Make or Zapier?
Zapier is often the quickest fit for straightforward app-to-app workflows. Make gives teams a visual way to manage more branching and data transformation. n8n suits complex logic, custom APIs, higher volumes and businesses that want hosting or data control. We choose after mapping the workflow, not before.
Can you automate tools that don't have a connector?
Usually, yes. If the tool exposes an API, webhook, database or reliable export, we can connect it with custom requests or code. We confirm feasibility before proposing the build.
What happens when an automation fails?
Production workflows include validation, retries, alerts and logs. High-risk actions can be routed to a person for approval, and failed items can be replayed without duplicating completed work.
Can you fix automations we already have?
Yes. We audit existing n8n, Make and Zapier workflows for fragile credentials, missing error handling, duplicated operations, unnecessary cost and undocumented dependencies, then stabilise or migrate them.

Tell us which process eats your team's week.

Describe it on a 20-minute call. We'll tell you whether it's worth automating, which platform we'd use and roughly what it would take.

Describe the process instead
  • Pick a time in the next step
  • Free, no obligation
  • 20 minutes on Google Meet