Automation
Business automation software with simple when-then rules
Set rules like "text me if cash is $20 short at close" across your register, stock, suppliers and reviews.
You set each rule to tell you, prepare the work for your OK, or act inside your limits, one kind of work at a time. See how Esplanda works.
Illustrative example
Ready-made rules
What it runs for you
| When | What Esplanda gets ready | Set to act inside your limits |
|---|---|---|
| Stock falls below the supplier’s lead time | A purchase order to that supplier, with its case pack and minimum | Sent inside your maximum order value, weekly ceiling and approved suppliers; anything outside them waits for you |
| A received invoice raises a cost more than 5% | A new shelf price, with its profit effect | Moved above your margin floor and inside your price rules; a move near a floor, or larger than your maximum move size, waits for you |
| A new review comes in | A reply in your voice, in our review management software | Posted for 3, 4 and 5 star reviews inside your tone rules; 1–2 star reviews come to a person |
| A holiday is coming up | Special hours for your Google profile and listings | Changed, and you’re told afterwards |
| A delivery menu goes offline | A relist, and a flag to the marketplace | Items and availability kept in sync; marketplace prices still wait for your approval |
| A regular stops coming in | A win-back offer inside your discount ceiling | Sent by email or text inside your contact limits |
Review replies run in Reviews & Reputation, holiday hours and win-back offers in Marketing — Do It Yourself, and delivery menus in Marketplace Connectivity, each a separate line. See Esplanda pricing.
Automation rules
Rules you'll still trust in six months
An alert tells you something; an automation does something about it. Small business automation software earns its place by staying quiet until it matters, so every rule is set up the same way.
Start from what you'd do
If nothing changes when you read it, it's a line in the digest, not an alert.
Set its limits in dollars and days
The maximum order value, a weekly ceiling, approved suppliers, a margin floor, the deepest discount and an ad spend cap. Outside them, it asks.
Preview before switching on
See what the rule would have done on your recent weeks before it runs for real.
Review after two weeks
Every action a rule takes is logged with what triggered it and what it was worth. Esplanda shows how often each rule fired and how often you acted, and suggests what to retire.
Worth automating: repetitive, bounded, reversible work, like reordering from a known supplier with our purchase order software or updating holiday hours.
Kept for you: anything large, new or hard to undo stays your decision and comes straight to you.
Illustrative example
What reaches you
What still reaches you, and how fast
| What happens | Default threshold | How you hear |
|---|---|---|
| Drawer opened after hours | Any drawer opened outside trading hours | A text right away, with the time, the terminal and the employee logged in |
| Cash short or over at close | More than $20 on one shift | A text at close, with the shift, the terminal and that employee's history |
| A top seller about to run out | Days of stock fall below the supplier's lead time | A push the same day |
| Supplier cost increase | More than 5% on a received invoice | A push the day it arrives, with the yearly dollar effect |
| A 1–2 star review | Any 1- or 2-star rating | A push within minutes |
| Delivery menu offline | Store shown closed or menu unpublished | A text right away |
| Everything else | Sales dips, slow movers, small changes | The daily digest, grouped, with a suggestion attached |
Few alerts, ranked in dollars
Esplanda ranks alerts by what they could cost you and sends very few. "$20 short at close" is something you can act on; a percentage on a dashboard usually isn't.
One daily digest
Sales dips, slow movers and small changes wait for one morning summary. To dig into any of them, ask the AI business assistant, or give the AI business copilot a goal and approve its plan.
Right person, right channel
A text for what can't wait, a push for same day. Ordering alerts go to the buyer, cash alerts to the owner.
Kept off your phone
- A 3% sales dip
- One slow hour
- A competitor changing one price
Those are patterns. They belong in the weekly and monthly reports, not on your phone at 9pm.
Keep the register you have, or use ours. On our POS system with inventory management, which is free, register alerts fire in seconds. On a register connected through our POS integrations, they arrive on the sync cycle.
The boundary
What never runs on its own
These always wait for your approval, at every autonomy setting. Anything outside your limits becomes a request, not an action.
Approve everything, any time. Switch your store into approve-everything mode and no automated action happens until you say yes. Read why Esplanda is safe to trust.
- Anything outside your limits
- Replies to 1–2 star reviews
- Complaints, refund requests and anything touching alcohol rules or a legal claim
- Any ad spend, including paid social boosts
- Publishing a blog post
- A price move near your floor or larger than your maximum move size
- Marketplace prices
- A shift swap that breaks your rules
One dial, set per kind of work Reordering can run on its own while pricing still waits for you
- Advise It tells you what to do
- Prepare It prepares the work for your OK
- Act inside limits It runs inside your limits and reports what it did
Change the setting for any kind of work at any time. See Esplanda pricing.
Choosing
How to choose business automation software for a store
General business process automation software connects the apps you pick and runs the workflows you build. A store needs automation that already reads the register, knows the supplier and stops at your limits.
| What to check | General-purpose automation tool | Esplanda |
|---|---|---|
| What it reads | The apps you connect and the fields you map | Your register, stock, supplier invoices, reviews, listings and delivery apps, built in |
| Setting up a rule | A workflow you build step by step | A ready-made store rule you switch on and give a threshold |
| Limits in dollars | Steps you add yourself | Maximum order value, weekly ceiling, approved suppliers, margin floor, discount ceiling and ad spend cap, set once |
| Trying a rule | A test run | A preview of what it would have done on your recent weeks |
| Who approves | Runs as built, or with an approval step you add | You decide per kind of work: an alert, a one-tap OK or action inside your limits, with approve-everything mode any time |
| The record | A log of each run | Every action logged with what triggered it and what it was worth |
Always watching
What Esplanda watches for you
What Esplanda watches
- The register, sales, voids, discounts and the cash drawer.
- Stock and suppliers, what's on the shelf, lead times and invoice costs.
- Reviews and listings, on Google and the other sites you connect.
- Delivery apps, whether your store and menu are live.
- Staff hours, overtime building up during the week, from our employee scheduling software.
- Calls, what callers ask our AI receptionist for, so an item people keep asking about reaches your ordering.
How it reaches you
- A text, right away, for a drawer opened after hours, cash off at close or a delivery menu gone offline.
- A push, the same day, for a top seller running low, a supplier cost increase or a 1–2 star review.
- One morning digest for everything else, with a suggestion attached.
- The right person, with ordering alerts to the buyer and cash alerts to the owner.
Questions
Automation and alert questions owners ask
What is business automation software?
Business automation software runs routine work when something happens, using "when this happens, do that" rules. In Esplanda a rule might draft a purchase order when stock runs low or draft a new shelf price when a supplier raises a cost, inside limits the owner sets once.
What is business process automation software?
Business process automation software runs a repeating, multi-step process on rules instead of by hand. For a store, Esplanda automates the processes that come round every week: reordering when stock runs low, repricing after a supplier cost increase, review replies, holiday hours, delivery menus and win-back offers.
Do I need to build workflows or write code?
No. Esplanda comes with ready-made rules for a store: switch one on, set its threshold in dollars or days, and preview what it would have done on your recent weeks before it runs.
What is the difference between an alert and an automation?
An alert tells you something; an automation does something about it. A stockout alert says an item runs out Thursday, and the automation writes the purchase order and sends it inside your limits or holds it for a one-tap OK.
What should my point of sale alert me about?
Only things you would act on: a cash drawer opened outside trading hours, a cash count off by more than a set amount, a top seller about to run out, a supplier cost increase, a 1–2 star review and a delivery menu that has gone offline. Everything else belongs in a daily digest.
Can software reorder stock without asking me?
Yes, if you allow it: the order follows the supplier's lead time, case pack and minimum, and goes out only inside the maximum order value, weekly ceiling and approved suppliers you set. Anything outside those limits comes to you instead. Set reordering to wait for your one-tap OK, or to alert you so you send the drafted order yourself.
Does automation work with my Square or Clover register?
Yes: keep the register you have, or use ours. Esplanda connects to Square, Clover, Lightspeed and KORONA, with register alerts on the sync cycle. On Esplanda POS, which is free, they fire as it happens at the counter.
How much does business automation software cost with Esplanda?
Reordering rules run on purchasing in the free Esplanda POS, with no setup fee and no contract. A rule that replies to reviews, sends a win-back offer, updates listings or relists a delivery menu runs inside the paid line that does that job: Reviews & Reputation, Marketing — Do It Yourself or Marketplace Connectivity. You choose, per kind of work, whether Esplanda tells you, prepares the work or acts inside your limits, and approve-everything mode is there at any time.
Let the routine work run itself
Start free today, or book a demo and we'll set up the first rules and limits for a store like yours.
Esplanda POS and your website are free to start, with no card needed. Add paid tools only when you want them.
