KCO.PARTNERS

COMPARE / ZAPIER AND MAKE

Is Zapier or Make enough,
or do we need someone like KCO?

If you already know the exact workflow and someone on your team will build and maintain it, Zapier or Make is often enough. KCO is for when the harder problem is deciding how work should move across the whole operation, then building it, owning it and keeping it running, with Zapier or Make as one possible part.

These aren’t either/or. Zapier and Make can connect tools and automate workflows, including complex ones. What KCO adds is the diagnosis, process design, ownership and custom implementation around them.

When Zapier or Make
is the right choice.

The workflow is clear
You can name the trigger, the steps and the result, including what should happen when something is missing or late.
Someone in-house owns it
A person on your team has the time to build it, test it and fix it when an app changes or a connection stops working.
The scope is contained
The work sits between a few tools and doesn’t need agreement across sales, operations and accounting before it can run.
You want to start yourself
You’d rather learn the tool and build the first version than bring in outside help.

When KCO
is the right choice.

Nobody has mapped the work
The tools each work, but no one has followed an order or a client from first request to payment and written down where it gets retyped or chased.
The rules aren’t agreed
Automating a step means deciding who owns a delay, which updates are routine and which promises need a person. That’s design work before it’s automation work.
Something is missing
The gap needs software that doesn’t exist yet: a command center, an approval interface or a customer status tool. KCO builds that alongside the connections.
You want it kept running
After launch, KCO stays involved month to month: monitoring, fixing what breaks, improving rules and adding workflows, with a written update each month.

If Zapier or Make fits part of the job, we may build that part on them. The goal is the system that works for your business, not a particular tool.

What to check first.

  1. Can you write the workflow on one page?

    Include the exceptions: the late approval, the missing detail, the changed order. If you can, you may be ready to build it yourself. If you can’t, the design comes first.

  2. Who notices when it breaks?

    Connections fail quietly when a login expires or a field changes. Name the person who will see it and fix it, and check that they have the time.

  3. Where does the work start and end?

    If the path crosses sales, operations and accounting, the hard part is agreeing what each handoff means, not connecting the apps.

  4. What number would tell you it worked?

    Hours of checking and chasing, days to invoice, or jobs that start on the wrong version. Pick one before building anything.

Product scope checked against Zapier and Make. This page describes roles, not limits on what these products can do. See the full comparison of common approaches, or how KCO compares with an operations hire or ERP.

Who does the work.

Omar Anis, founder of KCO Partners, worked in product and operations at JPMorgan and Neuberger Berman before starting KCO. You work directly with Omar. We map how the business runs, build the system with your team, then keep it running.

JPMorgan and Neuberger Berman were Omar’s employers. They are not KCO clients.

Not sure which you need?

Start with the free written plan. We look at your public site and send one page: where work likely gets retyped, what it’s costing you, what we’d build first and the one number that shows it’s working. If the answer is “set this up in Zapier yourself,” that’s what the plan will say.

Get your free written plan

Rather talk first? Book a call.