Find the right context.
Meeting notes, CRM record, files and emails: preparing a document often starts with a search across several tools.
io4 Agents · Automation & AI
Less repetitive work.
More time for your clients and projects.
io4 connects your tools and sets up automations and AI assistants tailored to your processes. To prepare a proposal, kick off a mandate or track a project, your team moves forward with the right information and the necessary approvals.
30 minutes, no commitment. You bring an example of recurring work. We show you a process we run at io4.
CRMClients and deals
Microsoft 365Notes and documents
ManagementProjects and finance
Your process with io4Gather · Prepare · Check
Your sources and rules, connected to the work to be done.
A proposal
to review
to review
A mandate
to start
to start
A status
to review
to review
Your team stays in controlDecisions and approvals at the planned steps
Illustrative diagram · The path is tailored to your company.
Microsoft Solutions Partner · MontrealYour tools · Your rules · Your teamCopilot Studio · Claude · OpenAI
The work between your tools
Your applications are in place.
Someone still connects them by hand.
The information exists. Yet your team still has to find it, re-key it and pass it along for the work to move forward.
Move to the next step.
A proposal is signed or a request is approved. What remains is to create the file, pass on the information and check the prerequisites.
Know where to step in.
To know a project's status, you have to cross-reference hours, deadlines, actions and billing.
It's this preparation and coordination work that we help you reduce.
We start from the steps, information and decisions in your process to choose what can be automated or assisted.
Five concrete starting points
Where could your team
win back time?
From the first proposal to mandate tracking, pick the work that recurs at your place. Each example is tailored to your systems, your rules and your access.
01 · SELL
Prepare your service proposals.
The agent reads the meeting transcript, pulls context from your CRM and rate card, then drafts the proposal in the right template: phased scope, estimate by role, exclusions.
The work to reduce
Three hours of grunt work per proposal: finding the context, starting from an old document, re-typing prices and references by hand.
01 · YOUR SOURCES
Transcript + CRM + rate card
Account, contact and comparable proposals already delivered
02 · THE PREPARED WORK
Draft and self-assess
Phased scope, estimate by role, quality check scored before handoff
03 · YOUR TEAM
Decide and sign
The salesperson decides scope and price. Nothing goes out without them.
A complete proposal, consistent with the ones you've already delivered, ready to approve.
Explore the proposal solution →02 · DELIVER
Kick off and track your mandates.
As soon as the proposal is signed, the agent builds the kickoff file, then reconciles CRM, hours and billing to give the real status of each mandate and flag overruns.
The work to reduce
Information gets lost between sales and delivery, and to track a file you then have to open several systems and redo the math by hand.
01 · YOUR SOURCES
Signed proposal + hours + billing
The client file and the real progress
02 · THE PREPARED WORK
Kick off then track
Kickoff file, then overrun hours, missing invoice, client gone quiet
03 · YOUR TEAM
Steer and decide
The lead confirms the kickoff and decides on the gaps
A mandate launched cleanly and tracked continuously: overruns are flagged early, not at the final invoice.
03 · ATTRACT
Qualify and follow up your leads.
Every inbound request is enriched and scored against your criteria, routed to the right salesperson and followed up at the right time: no lead slips through the cracks.
The work to reduce
Requests come in by email, form, phone. Some wait for days, others get lost, and no one knows which ones are worth following up.
01 · YOUR SOURCES
Inbound requests + CRM + your criteria
Forms, emails and calls
02 · THE PREPARED WORK
Enrich, score, route
Profile completed, scored by your rules, follow-ups scheduled
03 · YOUR TEAM
Decide and sell
The salesperson focuses on qualified leads
Qualified, prioritized leads followed up on time: nothing slips through the cracks anymore.
04 · SERVE
Handle your customer requests.
The agent triages inbound requests, drafts a reply from your knowledge base and the client's history, and escalates to the right person the cases that warrant it.
The work to reduce
Requests pile up in a shared inbox. People hunt for context, repeat the same answers, and urgent cases drown in the volume.
01 · YOUR SOURCES
Request + history + knowledge base
The client's full context
02 · THE PREPARED WORK
Triage, contextualize, draft
Priority, drafted reply, cases to escalate identified
03 · YOUR TEAM
Approve and reply
Your team approves or takes over on sensitive cases
Replies ready and prioritized, clients served faster, complex cases escalated at the right time.
05 · PROCESS
Extract your documents into your systems.
Supplier invoices, purchase orders, contracts, forms: the agent reads the document, extracts the data and prepares it for your systems, with a check on doubtful cases.
The work to reduce
Someone re-keys invoices and forms into the system by hand, one line at a time. Slow, repetitive, and a typo always slips in.
01 · YOUR SOURCES
Inbound documents + your systems
Invoices, contracts, forms
02 · THE PREPARED WORK
Read, extract, check
Data extracted, reconciled, discrepancies and duplicates flagged
03 · YOUR TEAM
Check the doubtful cases
Your team only decides on the exceptions
Data entered into your systems without manual re-keying, and exceptions flagged for review.
These use cases illustrate what's possible. Their scope and level of autonomy are defined during scoping.
The right level of automation
Automate a task.
Prepare the work. Support an expert.
A single process can combine these three approaches. We keep the ones that serve your need, with the right controls.
Rules for what's predictable.
Create a file, route an approval or update a system after validation.
Example: a complete request is sent to the designated manager.
AI to read and prepare.
Extract information, classify a request or prepare a document from several sources.
Example: a meeting summary is prepared for review.
An assistant to think and write.
Ask the right questions, build an answer step by step and flag inconsistencies.
Example: a complex proposal progresses section by section with your experts.
Your rules decide
what can move on its own.
Classic automation may be enough. When AI is useful, the sources, controls and validation steps are defined with you. Exceptions are routed to the right people.
A real use case at io4
We prepare our own
proposals with an agent.
Finding the context, preparing the scope, filling the template and flagging the points to check: it's a process we use in our operations.
3 h→30 minof preparation per proposal
30 hfreed up each week
7templates by mandate type
Results reported by io4 for its internal process: 12 proposals a week, prepared by a team of 3 salespeople. These gains apply to this process. Results on your files and other use cases are assessed during the pilot.
Scope and price stay human decisions.
The agent prepares the work. The preparer fills in the missing information, decides on the commitments and reviews the document before sending.
The detailed case shows reconstructions with a fictional client, without exposing any client data.
Explore the io4 offering for proposalsThe same approach, beyond proposals.
We also use automations to prepare mandate kickoffs and connect information across our management tools.
These use cases give the discussion a concrete starting point. Your process keeps its scope, its controls and its success criteria.
Your tools. Your way of working.
We start from what
you already use.
Microsoft 365, your CRM and your management tools remain the systems of record. We assess the possible connections and the actions needed before choosing the solution.
Your Microsoft usage
With Copilot Studio
To build agents connected to your Microsoft sources and processes, with Power Platform connectors and flows.
Usage channels, licenses, access and actions are validated with your IT team.
The approach we use at io4
With Claude
An option to leverage your documents, prepare content and support reasoning and writing tasks.
We use Claude for our own proposal process. The deployment model depends on the intended use.
Already using ChatGPT?
With OpenAI too
We assess your ChatGPT subscription, the available connections and the permitted actions to build a fitting approach.
Pro accounts or a shared environment: we check what your access allows and any additional integration needs.
Microsoft 365SharePointYour CRMProject managementBillingYour internal tools
Subscriptions, integrations and data: what gets checked?
Available features depend on the plan and the permitted connections. An event-triggered automation may require integration and billing separate from the subscription your teams use.
With your IT team we define the sources, permissions, data recipients, retention and the processing terms that apply to the chosen setup.
A first project that's useful and measurable
Start in the right place.
Then test on your cases.
A good candidate recurs regularly, follows explainable steps, has accessible sources and an owner able to validate the result.
Look at your reality.
You bring an example. We look at the steps, the tools, the people involved and the volume of work.
30 minutes · no commitmentDefine the first project.
Sources, rules, access, approvals, deliverables and success criteria are specified before the build.
Scoping workshop · 2 weeksVerify on your files.
A pilot group reviews the results, the exceptions, the time actually spent on the work and the usage costs.
Pilot and adjustmentsHand over to your team.
Training, documentation and handover support the use and operation of the delivered scope.
Production and evolutionDo your information sources need structuring?
Reference versions, templates and access can be part of the first project. This work is included in the scope and priced before it's done.
What the pilot must prove
Measure the full work,
approvals included.
Time: preparation, review, corrections and handling of exceptions.
Quality: missing information, omissions and rework needed.
Operation: delays between steps and usage cost at the expected volume.
The time freed up can be used to respond faster, improve deliverables or absorb more work. It does not automatically represent a cash saving.
Deliverables and budgets
A usable process.
A defined scope and investment.
The mandate specifies what will be delivered, the prerequisites and how the result is verified with your team.
A tailored way of working.
Steps, triggers, responsibilities and approvals to fit your reality.
Connected sources and tools.
Required connections, reference documents and rules for the agreed scope.
Results to verify.
Quality criteria, exception handling and approvals defined with your leads.
A solution handed over.
Pilot, agreed adjustments, training and documentation for use and operation.
To choose and price
Scoping workshop
Two workshops with your leads to move from an intention to a first delivery plan.
- Processes, volumes and systems mapped.
- Three use cases assessed: effort, potential gain and risks.
- Recommended delivery approach.
- 90-day delivery plan.
2 850 $ CA
Fixed fee · 2 weeks
Credited toward the mandate if you proceed.
To put it in place
A first process
Automation, AI assistant or a combination of both: the four deliverables are tailored to the project defined with you.
- An agreed scope and prerequisites.
- Success criteria tested in the pilot.
- A handover to your users and your IT team.
10,000 to 25,000 $ CA
Indicative range · time and materials capped
Scope, budget and schedule specified before signing.
Amounts are before tax, GST and QST extra. Subscriptions, model consumption and operating costs are separate. io4 commits to the means and deliverables defined in the statement of work.
And after delivery?
Prepaid hour banks of 2,500 to 10,000 $ CA let you plan for adjustments, evolving connections and support. Interventions are agreed with you.
A usage budget suited to the process.
The estimate separates licenses, consumption, any hosting and maintenance. It's based on volume, document size, the chosen model and the planned follow-up, then verified in the pilot.
See the costed example for proposalsBefore we talk
The questions
that matter.
Tools, access and the level of autonomy are discussed from your real process.
We already have Copilot or ChatGPT. Is this useful?
Yes, if some steps remain manual or if the work spans several systems. We first look at what your tools already allow and what's left to organize, connect or automate. License and integration needs are assessed separately.
Do we have to replace our applications?
We first aim to work with your existing tools. The possible connections, their limits and any prerequisites are checked during scoping.
Does everything become autonomous?
The level of autonomy is set for each step. Some actions follow rules; others require approval. Sensitive decisions and exceptions are assigned to owners. An assistant can also stay fully interactive and guide the user.
What happens if the AI gets it wrong?
The pilot tests results and exceptions on your cases. Checks and validations are chosen according to the consequences of an error. Uncertain points and missing information must be flaggable and reviewable. Human review remains necessary at the planned steps.
How are our access and data handled?
Your systems remain the systems of record, but the model receives the information needed for processing. With your IT team we document the authorized sources, permissions, recipients, retention and processing terms of the chosen solution.
And if we don't know where to start?
Bring an example of work that recurs every week, even an imperfect one. We help you identify a first lead and the information needed to assess it. The initial conversation is no-commitment; the scoping workshop is a separate mandate.
Your first process
What work would your team
like to stop redoing?
A proposal to prepare. A mandate to start. A request to get approved. A report to rebuild.
In 30 minutes, we review your example, show you a process we run at io4 and identify a first lead.
No commitment · Your process · An io4 demo