Who this is for
The phrase sounds grander than the work. In practice, digital transformation for SMEs means finding the paper forms, re-keyed spreadsheets and steps that only one person understands, and replacing them with connected systems, one process at a time.
It fits businesses like these:
- A builder whose site diaries, variations and timesheets are written on paper and typed up later in the office.
- A wholesaler taking orders by phone and email, then entering them again into stock and accounting.
- A training provider enrolling students on a printed form that ends up in a filing cabinet.
- A hospitality group running rosters, ordering and stocktakes in separate tools that share nothing.
- A business that depends on an old desktop database or server program which nobody wants to touch and whose original supplier has gone.
The symptoms repeat: the same information typed several times, work waiting in someone's inbox, no easy way to see where a job is up to, and knowledge that leaves when a person does. We deal with them in stages, so the business keeps trading while it changes. Systems we have built for this kind of problem are on our work page.
The problems it solves
- The same customer, job or order typed into several systems by different people
- Paper forms that are lost, hard to read or keyed in long after the work was done
- Approvals that sit in one inbox while a customer waits
- No way to see where a job or order is up to without phoning someone
- A process only one long-serving employee can run, with nothing written down
- An old program that still works but cannot be updated or connected to anything
What is included
Process audit
We map how work really moves through the business: who does what, on which form or screen, where it waits and where it is typed again. We watch the work as well as asking about it, because the written procedure and the real one often differ.
Staged roadmap
Processes ranked by benefit and risk, then arranged into stages. Each stage is small enough to finish and useful on its own.
Connected digital systems
Paper forms become web or mobile forms, private spreadsheets become a shared database, and systems are linked so information is entered once. Where a suitable product already exists we set it up; where none fits, we build.
Legacy system modernisation
For an ageing program you still rely on: cleaning up its code, moving its database to a current platform, or rebuilding it in stages.
Change management and training
Staff help shape the new screens. We pilot with a small group, write guides, run training and keep the old method available for an agreed overlap.
Measuring results
Before a process changes we record how it performs, using measures you choose. We take the same measures afterwards, from your own systems.
What you hold at the end
- Process maps for each process in scope, showing the old way and the new
- The staged roadmap with priorities and dependencies
- A source code repository, owned by you, for anything custom built
- Admin accounts for every system, registered to your business
- Your migrated data, with a reconciliation report showing what was moved and what was left behind
- A record of which old records were migrated, archived or securely destroyed
- System documentation and user guides written for your staff
- Training sessions and reusable training materials
- Test results for each stage
- The baseline and follow-up measurements for each process
Technology we use and why
We choose widely used tools, so a small business never depends on one supplier, ourselves included.
TypeScript, React and Node.js
Widely used tools for the web forms and screens your staff open in a browser, which other developers can maintain.
Flutter and Firebase
Flutter builds one mobile app for both iPhone and Android, suited to staff capturing jobs and photos on site. Firebase provides sign-in and data syncing.
APIs with Xero and MYOB
An API is the official way for systems to exchange data. Linking to your accounting software means an approved job or order becomes an invoice without retyping.
API wrapping for legacy systems
A modern connection layer placed around an old program, so new systems can use its data and rules while it is replaced gradually.
Google Cloud, AWS and Azure
Cloud platforms that host the new systems and migrated databases, with access control, encryption and backups in place.
BigQuery and Power BI
Reporting tools that draw on the new systems, so the before-and-after measures come straight from the data.
How we deliver it in stages
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Discovery call | A free conversation about where paper, retyping and waiting cost you the most, and which systems are already in place. |
| 2. Plan and quote | The process audit is quoted as a fixed scope. From its findings we prepare the staged roadmap, with a written quote for the first stage and outline scopes for the later ones. |
| 3. Build and test | One process per stage. The staff who will use the new system see regular demos, automated tests check that it behaves as agreed, and a pilot group runs real work through it. |
| 4. Launch and train | A secure go-live, with data moved across from spreadsheets, paper records or the old database and checked. Staff are trained, and old and new run side by side for the overlap we agreed. |
| 5. Ongoing support | Monitoring, updates and help for the systems now in use. We review the measures with you and use what they show to plan the next stage. |
Engagement options
| Option | Suits | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed quote | The process audit, or digitising a single well-defined process | Scope, deliverables and price are set out in writing and agreed before work starts. |
| Staged pricing | A program covering several processes or a legacy system | Each stage has its own quote and approval. You decide after each one whether and when to begin the next. |
| Monthly plan | Support for the systems once they are in daily use | Monitoring, updates and help for a monthly fee. |
Security and data handling
Moving from paper and private spreadsheets to shared systems changes where your information lives and who can reach it, so each stage settles these points before go-live.
- Collect less. A new digital form asks only for what the process needs. For businesses the Privacy Act covers, the OAIC's quick reference notes that APP 3 outlines when personal information can be collected and applies higher standards to sensitive information.
- Access by role. Each person sees the jobs, customers and screens their role requires, and a contractor's login ends with the contract.
- Sign-in, encryption and backups. Multi-factor authentication for staff, data encrypted in transit and in storage, and backups with a restore tested before launch, hosted in the cloud region you choose. Multi-factor authentication and regular backups are both among the Australian Signals Directorate's Essential Eight strategies.
- The old copies. Spreadsheets and exports left on laptops are removed once the new system is confirmed correct.
Support after each stage goes live
The period just after go-live is when staff find the cases nobody thought of. We stay close during the agreed overlap, fix faults, adjust screens that slow people down and answer questions as they arise.
After that, support continues on a monthly plan or as needed: monitoring, security updates, backup checks and small changes as the process settles. Email hello@comingwave.com.au or use our contact page, and we reply within one business day.
Industries it suits
Trades and construction
Site diaries, timesheets, variations and safety forms captured on a phone and sent straight to the office and the accounts.
Hospitality
Rosters, supplier ordering and stocktakes connected, so a venue manager stops reconciling separate tools by hand.
Education and training
Enrolment and attendance moved from printed forms to an online process students can complete themselves.
Logistics and transport
Bookings, run sheets and proof of delivery recorded once by the driver, not on paper dockets retyped that night.
Australian guidance on going digital
The Australian Government's business.gov.au explains how to develop your digital strategy. Its steps include creating an action plan that breaks your digital goals down into smaller tasks, training your team where employees do not have all the skills to implement the strategy, and regularly reviewing the strategy against your digital and business goals. Our staged method rests on the same habits.
Its page on digital tools for business lists the kinds of system that commonly replace manual work, among them accounting, customer relationship management, inventory management, job management and rostering software. Its guidance on measuring your digital performance is written for online channels, but its order suits internal processes too: know your goals, choose metrics and targets, then track performance.
Two further points apply to older systems and records. The Australian Signals Directorate's end of support guidance explains that a device, application or system at end of support no longer receives security updates or technical support from the manufacturer, and advises upgrading to supported products. And when paper files become digital records, personal information ends up concentrated in one place. The OAIC's summary of the Australian Privacy Principles says that under APP 11 an organisation covered by the Privacy Act must take reasonable steps to protect the personal information it holds, and has obligations to destroy or de-identify personal information in certain circumstances. Each stage therefore includes a decision about which old records to migrate, archive or securely destroy.
Digital transformation questions
Where should a smaller business start with digital transformation?
With the process that causes the most retyping or waiting and touches the fewest other systems. The process audit is how we find it.
Do we have to replace everything at once?
No, and we advise against it. Work is done one process per stage, with the old and new methods running side by side for an agreed overlap. An API wrapper can keep an old program working while new parts are built around it; see business systems and integrations.
Our staff are used to paper. How do you handle that?
By involving them early. The people who do the work help design the new screens, a pilot group tries them on real jobs, and training and written guides follow.
How much of our staff time will a stage take?
Some, and it is better planned than squeezed in. We need time with the people who do the work during the audit, a few of them for demos and the pilot, and everyone for training before go-live. Each stage's plan lists these commitments so you can roster around them.
What happens to our old data and paper records?
For each type of record we agree whether to migrate, archive or destroy it. Migrated data is reconciled against the source. How long records must be kept varies by record type, so check with your accountant or adviser before anything is destroyed.
How will we know whether the change worked?
We record measures you choose before each stage, such as how long an order takes to become an invoice or how often information is typed twice, and take them again afterwards. We do not promise particular savings, because they depend on your business.
Should we buy existing software or have something built?
Buy where your process is standard, such as accounting, payroll or rostering. Build where the process is what sets your business apart, or where nothing on the market fits; that is custom software, sometimes with a mobile app for staff on site. If you want that question answered before committing to anything, start with IT consulting or send us an enquiry.
