AI agents for business workflows
Put AI agents to work in your business - with guardrails
Give a recurring job to software. Keep control of what it can do.
We build custom AI agents that research, draft, summarise, and act across your tools. Start with one workflow, with clear permissions and human approval where it matters.
Discuss your workflowA small senior software team in Sydney, working worldwide. The people you speak with design and build your software.
- Your code, from day one
- Weekly progress reviews
- Consultation through to production
01 / A first workflow
From an enquiry to a reply ready for review
Illustrative workflow. Not a customer case study or a live product.
The repeated work
Your team reads each enquiry, searches internal documents, and drafts a reply. Similar enquiries repeat the same search and writing work.
With an agent
An agent can prepare the reply and attach its sources. Your team checks the evidence and decides what reaches the customer.
- 01
Agent prepares
Read a selected inbox. Search approved documents. Draft a reply with sources.
- 02
You approve
Check the wording, evidence, and recipient. Approval applies to this specific reply.
- 03
Then send
Send only after approval. If the reply or recipient changes, check approval again.
Missing or conflicting information? Stop and ask a person. Silence does not count as approval.
Example toolsSelected inbox · Approved knowledge base · Review queue for your team
02 / Where to start
Four ways to move
the work forward.
Research
Gather information from approved sources and prepare a brief with links your team can check.
A weekly supplier or market brief.
Draft
Turn notes or records into a first draft of a reply, update, or internal report.
An enquiry reply ready for review.
Summarise
Extract decisions, open questions, and follow-up work from documents or meeting notes.
A clear handover after a meeting.
Act
Route work, create a task, or update an agreed field within defined permissions.
A task assigned to the right team.
A good first workflow
Choose repeated work with accessible information and a result your team can check. Someone should understand the exceptions and be available to review progress.
Keep people in charge
Keep sensitive conversations and decisions with serious consequences with an accountable person. An agent can prepare information without making the decision.
We check the integration options during consultation. If the process or expected result is unclear, we resolve that before automating it.
03 / The boundaries
Useful work.
Clear limits.
Guardrails define what the agent can access, what it can change, and when a person takes over. We agree these controls as part of the scope.
What needs your permission?
Agree which actions need approval
We identify actions such as sending, publishing, paying, and deleting. Together, we decide which can run automatically, which need approval, and which stay outside the agent's access.
What can the agent reach?
Limit access to the job
Access is limited to the tools, records, and actions the workflow needs. An agent drafting replies does not need billing access or every inbox.
What happened, and why?
Keep a record you can inspect
Logs show proposed actions, approvals, and results. Sources help reviewers check research. We agree who can see the logs and how long they are kept. A citation helps inspection; it does not make an answer correct by itself.
When does a person take over?
Stop when a check fails
Missing approval, unavailable tools, or insufficient evidence should stop the action or send it for review. A blocked action does not continue by default.
04 / Listen → Design → Weave → Ship
From consultation
to production.
We start with a consultation to understand your workflow and requirements. Together, we agree a focused first production scope and a delivery plan.
See progress every week.
In weekly reviews, you see what has changed, discuss open questions, and give feedback as the product takes shape. You stay involved throughout the build.
Production delivery
Delivery of the agreed first production version typically takes one to three months, depending on the integrations and controls required.
Larger or more complex scopes can take longer than three months. Changes to scope during the project can also affect the delivery date.
- 01
Listen
Map the current job and its exceptions. Define a useful first version and how your team will judge the result.
- 02
Design
Agree the workflow, permissions, approvals, and escalation. Define the checks needed before production release.
- 03
Weave
Build and connect the workflow in manageable steps. Test normal work and failure cases with examples from your team.
- 04
Ship
Deploy the agreed version with configuration, operating documentation, and agreed monitoring. Confirm support responsibilities before handover.
05 / Ownership
Your code. Your accounts. Clear responsibilities.
Owned by you
Your repository
Project code, custom prompts, and integration code live in your repository from day one.
Your service accounts
You own the accounts your product needs and pay the providers directly.
Ribbons Digital
Build and support
Ribbons Digital receives only the access needed for the agreed development, maintenance, and monitoring work.
We document the services, configuration, account owners, permissions, and operating limits. Your team knows who responds to failures and who maintains each part of the product.
Third-party software and services keep their own licences and terms. Ongoing maintenance and monitoring are covered by a separately agreed support arrangement.
06 / Choose the right fit
Assistant, platform,
or custom software?
Start with the workflow and the control you need. During consultation, we assess what fits. Existing automation and custom code can work together.
- An existing assistant
Your team can gather the input, request a draft, and handle the next step.
Check whether the assistant and its available tools already meet the need.
- An automation platform
The workflow fits a platform's integrations and operating controls.
Zapier and n8n also support agents. Compare the review process, access controls, and running costs.
- Custom software
You need a specific review experience, unusual integrations, detailed permissions, or a codebase you own.
The result must justify the development and ongoing maintenance work.
Platform references: Zapier Agents · n8n agents
07 / Questions
Before you start.
Scoping, approvals, failure handling, and support.
What do you need from us to scope the work?
Bring one workflow, the tools involved, and a few examples of the input and expected output. Tell us what takes time, what can go wrong, and who can review progress each week. Known access restrictions and approval requirements help us define a realistic first scope.
Can the agent act without approval?
Yes, where the agreed workflow permits it. We distinguish routine actions that can run automatically from actions that need review or are excluded. Those boundaries depend on the consequences and your operating requirements. Approval shows the specific action, affected recipient or record, and proposed change.
How do you limit harm when something goes wrong?
We test failure cases as well as normal work. For example, if a send request times out, the workflow should check what happened before trying again. We consider repeated runs and partial failures, start with limited permissions, and define when a person must take over. These controls reduce risk; they do not remove it.
How do you decide whether it is ready for production?
We agree release checks during scoping and design. They cover useful output, correct permissions, approval behaviour, and failure handling. Your team reviews the workflow against the agreed requirements before release.
Can you maintain and monitor it after launch?
Yes, through an agreed support arrangement. You retain ownership of the service accounts and pay their running costs. We use only the access needed for the maintenance and monitoring responsibilities you assign to us. The handover documents configurations and who is responsible for each service.
Start with a conversation
Which job would you hand over first?
Tell us what repeats, which tools it touches, and where a person needs to stay in control. We will start with a consultation and define the first production scope together.