Replacing Excel / Email / Paper Workflows in Operations

Short research conversations with operations leaders to identify the most painful manual workflows — and what “good” looks like when they’re digitized.

Not a sales pitch. 15 minutes. Confidential.

or email:

Text Link

Why I’m doing this

Many organizations still run critical operational workflows through spreadsheets, email chains, shared folders, or paper forms. Over time, these create delays, rework, inconsistent reporting, and “tribal knowledge” bottlenecks.
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I’m running a small research initiative to learn which manual workflows cause the most recurring pain, what they cost in time/delays/errors, and what a practical replacement would need to look like to get adopted.

What the conversation looks like

What workflows still rely on Excel/email/paper?
Which one causes the most friction week-to-week?
What breaks, how often, and what does it cost?
What have you tried before, and why didn’t it stick?

No selling. If there’s no meaningful problem to solve, we end the conversation there.

Who this is for

Downtime or incident logging done in spreadsheets
Shift handover notes via email/text
Quality issues and approvals tracked manually
Maintenance requests routed through email
Readiness checklists / sign-offs on paper
Audit evidence collected in shared folders

About me

I’m Kiril Nagornyj, a software architect at Apiqu. I design and deliver systems that turn messy real-world processes into software that saves time and reduces operational friction.