Services
Consulting when you need answers. Implementation when you need it built.
Bring us a problem that needs investigating or a solution that needs building. Bottleneck Theory works across six service areas, from process redesign to custom applications, automation, and AI, and recommends the approach that fits the work.
01
Process Improvement & Consulting
Find what's slowing your organization down, and eliminate it.
Analyze existing operations, identify bottlenecks, simplify workflows, and redesign processes to reduce unnecessary work and improve efficiency.
Problems it solves
- Requests sit in queues waiting on one person or one approval
- The same work is done twice by different people or teams
- Nobody can say how long something takes or where it is right now
- Exceptions are handled from memory instead of by a clear rule
What we build & deliver
- Operational assessments
- Business process redesign
- Workflow mapping
- Bottleneck and root-cause analysis
- Efficiency and performance improvement
Typical engagement
- Interviews and observation of the work as it actually happens
- Current- and future-state process maps
- Findings with a prioritized improvement roadmap
- Optional support carrying changes into practice
Know what you need, or still working it out? Either is a fine place to start.
See it in practice: BoothIQ, Room Booking & Event Coordination, Honey & Bliss Boards, SPEDEx, SMAART Reporter, GarnishMate, Main Event Co
02
Custom Software & Applications
Software built around the way your organization actually works.
Design and develop custom business applications that replace fragmented processes, solve specialized operational problems, and give teams the tools they need.
Problems it solves
- Critical work runs on a fragile spreadsheet or a shared inbox
- Commercial tools force awkward workarounds for a distinctive process
- Intake, tracking, or case handling has outgrown email
- You have a product or internal tool in mind that doesn't exist yet
What we build & deliver
- Internal business applications
- Intake and case management systems
- Client and employee portals
- Custom dashboards and management platforms
- Web applications and SaaS products
- Specialized administrative tools
Typical engagement
- Requirements and workflow design with the people who will use it
- A focused first release, then iteration
- Access control and data handling designed in from the start
- Testing with real users, documentation, and handoff or ongoing support
Know what you need, or still working it out? Either is a fine place to start.
See it in practice: BoothIQ, Room Booking & Event Coordination, Honey & Bliss Boards, SPEDEx, SMAART Reporter, GarnishMate, Main Event Co
03
Workflow Automation & Systems Integration
Eliminate repetitive work. Connect the systems that should already work together.
Automate manual tasks, synchronize information between platforms, streamline approvals, and reduce the administrative effort required to keep operations running.
Problems it solves
- Data is typed from one system into another
- Status updates and reminders are sent by hand
- Approvals travel by forwarded email
- Recurring reports are built by copy and paste
What we build & deliver
- Automated workflows and approvals
- API integrations
- Data synchronization
- Email and notification automation
- Document-processing workflows
- Scheduled tasks and reporting
Typical engagement
- Map how information moves and where it gets re-entered
- Design each automation with an owner and a failure path
- Build, test against real scenarios, and monitor
- Runbooks so your team can support what was built
Know what you need, or still working it out? Either is a fine place to start.
See it in practice: BoothIQ, Room Booking & Event Coordination, Honey & Bliss Boards, SPEDEx, Main Event Co
04
AI Implementation & Intelligent Workflows
Put AI to work solving real operational problems.
Evaluate, design, and implement practical AI-assisted solutions that reduce repetitive work, improve access to information, and support employees in completing complex tasks.
Problems it solves
- Staff spend hours reading, sorting, or summarizing documents
- Answers exist somewhere in your files, but nobody can find them quickly
- Incoming requests need triage before anyone can act on them
- You see promise in AI but have no defined use case or plan
What we build & deliver
- AI-powered internal knowledge assistants
- Document classification and information extraction
- AI-assisted intake and request processing
- Intelligent workflow routing
- AI integration with existing applications
- Business-specific AI tools and assistants
Typical engagement
- Identify use cases where AI measurably helps, and where it shouldn't be used
- Prototype against your real documents and workflows
- Access controls, human review, and validation for sensitive work
- Data handling that fits your confidentiality and policy requirements
Know what you need, or still working it out? Either is a fine place to start.
See it in practice: BoothIQ
05
Systems Optimization & Technology Consulting
Get more from the technology you already have.
Evaluate existing platforms, identify underutilized functionality, eliminate unnecessary workarounds, and develop strategies to improve system performance and operational effectiveness.
Problems it solves
- Software was bought to fix a problem, yet the workarounds remain
- Spreadsheets live alongside the system of record
- A new platform is under consideration and requirements are unclear
- Aging systems are holding back how the organization works
What we build & deliver
- Systems assessments
- Platform optimization
- Technology planning
- Integration planning
- Software evaluation and selection
- System modernization
Typical engagement
- Capability review of current platforms against real workflow needs
- Requirements gathered from the people who do the work
- Vendor-neutral options with trade-offs made explicit
- Configuration, selection, or migration plan
Know what you need, or still working it out? Either is a fine place to start.
See it in practice: BoothIQ, Room Booking & Event Coordination, Honey & Bliss Boards, SPEDEx, SMAART Reporter, GarnishMate
06
Data, Reporting & Business Intelligence
Turn scattered information into useful operational insight.
Consolidate data, improve reporting, and develop dashboards that give organizations clearer visibility into performance, workloads, and opportunities for improvement.
Problems it solves
- Reports take days to assemble and are out of date when finished
- Different teams report different numbers for the same thing
- Leadership can't see workloads, backlogs, or turnaround times
- Decisions rely on anecdote because the data is hard to reach
What we build & deliver
- Operational dashboards
- Automated reporting
- Data consolidation
- Performance tracking
- Reporting system development
- Data-driven decision support
Typical engagement
- Agree on the questions the reporting must answer
- Trace and consolidate the data sources behind them
- Build dashboards and scheduled reports
- Define the measures, owners, and refresh cadence
Know what you need, or still working it out? Either is a fine place to start.
See it in practice: SPEDEx, SMAART Reporter, GarnishMate, Main Event Co
Deliverables
Working solutions and tangible work products.
Examples of what an engagement can produce. Which ones you receive depends on the scope you choose.
- 01
Process maps
How work moves today, and how it should move after the change.
- 02
Bottleneck analysis
Where the flow is constrained, by how much, and why.
- 03
Requirements & scope
What a solution must do, traced to the workflow need behind it.
- 04
Working applications
Internal tools, portals, and platforms, tested with the people who use them.
- 05
Integrations & automations
Connected systems and automated steps, each with an owner and a failure path.
- 06
AI-assisted workflows
Practical AI tools with access controls, human review, and validation built in.
- 07
Dashboards & reports
Clear, current views of performance, workloads, and backlog.
- 08
Documentation & training
Runbooks, guides, and training so the change holds after handoff.
Engagement formats
Ways to work together.
You don’t need to start with an assessment. Scope and pricing are set per engagement after an initial conversation. Responses to formal solicitations follow the issuer’s required format.
- 1
Assessment
For a problem that needs investigation. Ends with findings and a prioritized roadmap you can act on with us or on your own.
- 2
Defined project
For a solution you've already identified: an application, integration, automation, AI tool, or dashboard designed and built to agreed requirements.
- 3
Design + Implement
From diagnosis through delivery: redesign, build, test, train, and hand off.
- 4
Ongoing support
Recurring improvement, enhancements, and support for what's been built, within a defined scope.
A problem to solve, or a project to build? Let’s talk.
Describe what’s getting in the way, or what you need built. You don’t need a finished spec to start.