Orchestration

Handoffs are where execution goes to die

Orchestration is the layer that turns your organization’s processes into automated and reliable flows. It’s not just automation. It’s the intelligent orchestration of whos, whens, and hows that make work flow between people, teams, and systems without getting lost along the way.

80% of operational problems don’t happen inside a department. They happen in the handoffs between departments. Sales closes a deal and operations doesn’t find out until three days later. Operations completes a job and billing doesn’t have the data to issue the invoice. Billing invoices but nobody follows up on collection. Each handoff is an opportunity for something to get lost, delayed, or corrupted.

What Orchestration does

Orchestration designs and executes the workflows that connect work across functions. Each workflow has defined steps, clear conditions, maximum time limits, and escalation actions.

Workflow engine: Critical processes are modeled as workflows with states, transitions, and conditions. Each step knows what it needs to start, who executes it (person or system), how long it can take, and what happens if the time is exceeded. The workflow advances automatically when conditions are met and escalates when they’re not.

Business rules: The business rules that determine how work flows are codified and versioned. When an order exceeds a value threshold, it requires additional approval. When a client belongs to a specific segment, the flow adapts. The rules aren’t in someone’s head. They’re in the system, visible, and can be changed without reprogramming.

Exception management: Real-world workflows have exceptions. A supplier doesn’t confirm. A document is missing. An approval is delayed. Orchestration doesn’t just execute the happy path. It manages exceptions with alternative routes, automatic escalations, and defined workarounds. The exception doesn’t paralyze the process. It diverts it down a prepared path.

Status visibility: Every in-progress process has a visible status in real time. Who is handling it, what step it’s on, how long it’s been going, and whether it’s on track or at risk. You don’t need to ask by email how something is going. You check the dashboard and know in seconds.

Why it matters

Without Orchestration, execution depends on people. And people forget, get sick, go on vacation, change roles. When the process lives in someone’s head and that someone isn’t available, the process stops.

Orchestration doesn’t replace people. It frees them from the mechanical work of following predictable steps so they can focus on work that truly requires human judgment: resolving exceptions, making complex decisions, dealing with clients.

The impact on capacity is dramatic. The same teams can handle significantly higher volumes because the system takes care of routing, follow-up, reminders, and escalation. Humans only intervene where they add value.

Typical implementation

Orchestration is implemented workflow by workflow, starting with the highest-impact processes identified in the Blueprint. The first workflow is usually operational within 2-3 weeks. Workflows are added progressively, and each new workflow benefits from the integrations and data already in the Engine.

Implementation follows a consistent pattern: map the current process with the team that executes it, identify the automatable steps and those requiring human intervention, design the workflow with business rules and exceptions, implement, test with real cases, and deploy progressively.