Cape Town · AI enablement and automation

We build it.We run it.You never think about it.

We build the systems that take the repetitive work off your team, then run them for you so you never have to think about them. No licences to buy, no integrations to manage, no bill from six different providers. One monthly fee, and the whole thing stays working.

No slides. You leave with a scoped audit proposal, not a second call in the diary.

How we work

Three steps, in this order, every time.

The audit comes first, always. Nothing gets built before we have looked at how your business actually runs, and nothing gets promised on a timeline we have not checked.

01 / AUDIT

We find the work

We map what you actually use, where the time goes, and where the work is being done twice. The process gets written down properly along the way, which is usually where a business discovers that two people do the same job differently. You keep the findings whether or not you build anything.

02 / BUILD

We build the system

We build the systems that handle the repetitive work, connect them to the tools you already use, and test them against real work before anything goes live. Your people spend their time on the work that needs judgement.

03 / RUN

We run it

It stays ours to maintain. When something breaks, or your business changes, we fix it. That is what the monthly fee is for.

Services

What we do, and what it costs.

Published, because you should not have to sit through a call to find out whether you can afford us.

Start here

ServicePriceTurnaround
Single-process auditOne process, looked at properly, with a written recommendation and a fixed quote that holds 30 daysR2 5001 day
Department auditOne department, or three to four connected processes, looked at togetherR6 0002 to 3 days
Operations auditWhere the time goes across the whole business, what is worth automating first, and what it will costR12 0005 days

Automation

ServiceSetup fromMonthly
StarterOne process, one channel, built and run for youR4 000R2 500
Standard most chosenThree to five processes, joined up across the tools you already useR15 000R4 500
Full system — your AI departmentEverything below under one roof at one price, priced against what the work costs you in salariesR50 000R25 000
Group or multi-siteSeveral branches, depots or companies running as one system, with reporting across all of themScoped per business

Websites & assistants

ServiceSetup fromMonthly
Landing pageOne page that captures and qualifiesR6 500R650
Business websiteMulti-page, built to bring work inR14 000R950
Website chat assistantAnswers instantly, including on a site we did not buildR7 500R1 500
Trained assistantKnows your services, prices and availability, and booksR14 000R2 800
Lead engine most chosenSite, assistant and follow-up working as one systemR28 000R2 500

Marketing

Unlike everything else here, this is ongoing work rather than a system that runs itself — so we take on only a small number of marketing clients at a time.

ServiceSetup fromMonthly
Content enginePosts and copy produced on a schedule, directed and edited by usR4 500R3 500
AI marketing team most chosenContent, campaigns and follow-up, run for youR12 000R7 500
Growth engineThe above plus paid campaigns and reportingR20 000R11 500
Outsourced marketing departmentYour whole marketing function, run by usfrom R35 000

Dashboards & reporting

ServiceSetup fromMonthly
Scheduled reportLands in your inbox or WhatsApp, on time, every timeR4 500R950
Live dashboardOne data source, open it any timeR9 500R1 500
Business dashboard most chosenSales, stock, leads and cash in a single viewR22 000R2 800

Documents & advisory

A plan gives you the numbers once. Most clients who start here go on to a dashboard that keeps those numbers current without anyone rebuilding the spreadsheet.

ServicePriceTurnaround
Business planFunding-ready, with a financial model that holds upR12 000 – R25 0007 to 14 days
Feasibility studyWhether the thing you are considering is actually worth doingR10 000 – R20 0005 to 10 days
Tender & grant responseWritten to the brief, not from a templateR15 000On brief
Process documentationYour operation written down so it survives people leavingR12 0005 to 10 days
AI training for teamsHands-on, using your real work, not a generic slideshowR12 000Half day

Most clients start with an audit, then a Starter or Standard automation, and add a website, reporting or marketing once the engine is running. A typical first year runs between R20 000 and R60 000 in build work, plus one monthly fee covering everything we run for you. All prices shown are starting prices and no VAT is charged. Larger and multi-site work is scoped individually, and pricing is confirmed in writing before any work begins. Work starts once the deposit is in. Pricing on this page is valid to 31 October 2026. We take on a limited number of clients at a time — if we are full, we will tell you.

Three sizes of automation build.

One setup fee, then one monthly figure that covers the whole system — not a separate retainer stacked on every workflow. The monthly is set by what we run for you, so it is restated if that scope grows, and reviewed once a year.

Starter

One process, done properly

R4 000 setup

then R2 500 a month

  • One process, one channel
  • Built, tested and run for you
  • Written run-book for your team
  • 60 days on us if the build itself needs fixing
Standard · most chosen

The connected operation

R15 000 setup

then R4 500 a month

  • Three to five processes, joined up
  • WhatsApp, email, sheets and the tools you already use
  • Half-day team training included
  • Documentation of how your system works
  • 60 days on us if the build itself needs fixing
Full system

Your AI department

R50 000 setup

then R25 000 a month

  • Everything we build, under one roof at one price
  • Priced against what the work costs you in salaries
  • Multi-team, within one business
  • Ongoing build capacity every month
  • Standing review and reporting
  • Priority response

What the monthly fee actually covers

Hosting and running costs of your systems
Monitoring, so we usually spot a break before you do
Fixes when something upstream changes
Small changes as your process shifts
A named person who already knows your setup
A monthly note on what ran and what it handled

Not included: new builds, new processes, or a second site. Those are quoted separately so you always know what you are paying for. Third-party software and usage above the included allowance is billed at cost, never marked up quietly. Build work is 50% on acceptance and the balance on handover; the monthly starts at go-live. You can stop the monthly on 30 days’ notice, and we give you a complete export of your data and your documentation within 30 days, at no charge.

What we do

Four kinds of work.

If you already know what you need rather than what industry you sit in, start here. Everything we build falls into one of these four.

Documents & advisory

Written work. No system to run afterwards, no dependency on us.

  • Business plans with a financial model
  • Feasibility studies
  • SOPs and process documentation
  • Tender and grant responses
  • Company profiles and capability documents
  • Policies, including AI use policies
  • Board and funder report packs
  • Process mapping and workflow write-ups

Communication systems

Everything that answers, chases, confirms or reminds on your behalf.

  • WhatsApp assistants and enquiry lines
  • Website chat and lead capture
  • Email routing and triage
  • Booking, confirmation and reminder flows
  • After-hours capture with escalation to a person
  • Broadcast and campaign sequences
  • Document chasing and follow-up
  • Status notifications to customers

Systems & automation

The back-office work that happens the same way every time.

  • Process audits
  • Workflow automation across your existing tools
  • Document and invoice data extraction
  • Approval workflows with a human sign-off step
  • Onboarding and intake flows
  • Registers, trackers and compliance calendars
  • Reporting packs and dashboards
  • Integrations between systems that do not talk

Digital & enablement

The front end of the operation, and getting your people confident with it.

  • Websites and client portals
  • Internal tools and staff intranets
  • Hands-on AI training for teams
  • AI use policies and usage rules
  • Tool selection and stack cleanup
  • Run-books and process documentation
  • Ongoing support and monitoring

Industries

Every sector leads with one system.

Underneath it is the same work every time: find the repetitive part, write it down, automate it, and keep it running. What changes is the language and the rules. Every list below is what we build, not a claim about who we have built it for — nothing on this page names a client. Pick your sector.

Public sector & community

Professional & financial

Trade & operations

Government — national, provincial, local

Tender monitoring and response drafting. Daily alerts on published opportunities, then the technical response drafted against the stated evaluation criteria.

  • Citizen enquiry lines on WhatsApp and web
  • Service request intake, reference numbers and routing
  • Supplier compliance document packs
  • Monthly and quarterly performance report builders
  • Annual report drafting support
  • Records digitisation, naming and search indexing
  • Minutes-to-resolution tracking with owners and due dates
  • Statutory compliance calendars and reminders
  • Deviation and expansion registers for audit
  • HR leave, policy and standard letter automation
  • Supplier invoice-to-payment tracking
  • Quotation and procurement audit logs
  • Departmental SOP writing and process mapping
  • PAIA manuals and records indexes
  • Public information sites and staff intranets
  • AI use policy and staff training

Every system here keeps a person in the decision seat — nothing we build decides somebody’s money, rights or benefits on its own.

Worked example

What a build actually changes.

An insurance broker doing claims admin by hand. Illustrative, not a client case study — it is the shape of the work, so you can see how we scope it.

Before

  • Claim comes in by phone or email, written onto a spreadsheet
  • Client phones for an update, someone goes looking
  • Insurer chased manually, when somebody remembers
  • Commission checked against statements line by line
  • Nothing is written down in one place

Around 80 hours a month on claims admin

After

  • Claim logged from WhatsApp or the form, reference issued
  • Client gets status updates automatically as it moves
  • Insurer chased on a schedule, escalated if it stalls
  • Commission reconciled against the statement, exceptions flagged
  • The broker approves every payout decision. The system never does

Around 13 hours a month, on the parts that need judgement

Figures are illustrative and used to show scope, not results from a client engagement. Your own numbers come out of the audit.

What we run

We use what we sell.

The automation we build for clients is the same automation running our own businesses. We did not learn it from a course.

Live

Next Level Athlete

Operational automation running inside Luca’s coaching business.

Live

5th Generation Marketing

Our own marketing arm runs on the systems we built for it.

The 5th Gen Automation lead intake workflow in n8n: enquiry form, field cleanup, storage, founder alert
A lead intake system we run ourselves. Enquiry captured, cleaned, stored and both founders alerted, in under a second.

Who you deal with

Two founders. Both of us, on every project.

Not a salesperson who hands you to somebody else once you have signed. The person on your first call is the person still there at week three when something needs changing.

Luca Carlo Inglese, co-founder of 5th Gen Automation

Luca Inglese

Co-founder

luca@5thgenautomate.com · 073 281 6915

Builds the systems: architecture, integrations, the AI parts, and the training that gets your team using them. Gets straight to the facts. If something will not work, or is not worth automating, you will hear it early rather than after the invoice.

Aidan Snyman, co-founder of 5th Gen Automation

Aidan Snyman

Co-founder

aidan@5thgenautomate.com · 079 679 5966

Business planning, feasibility work and process documentation, and increasingly hands-on with the builds. Came from fuel retail and distribution, so he has run the kind of operation we are usually asked to fix. He is also the one who will actually listen before anyone suggests a solution.

We started this together because we want the same things out of it and we trust each other to do the work. Our first conversations came through Aidan’s network, which is a fair summary of how the two of us operate. He opens the door, and we both walk through it.

What we stand for

Six things we hold to.

Every one of these costs us money in the short term. We think they are the reason a business hands its operations to two people it has just met.

We publish our prices.

Every figure we charge is on this page. Nobody is quoted differently because of what they look like they can afford, and you do not have to sit through a call to find out whether you can afford us.

We will tell you when it is not worth it.

If the audit finds nothing worth automating, we say so, you keep the findings, and we do not sell you a system to justify the visit. It has happened. It is a better outcome than the alternative.

A person stays in the decision seat.

Nothing we build decides somebody’s money, rights or benefits on its own. The system reads, sorts, chases and reports. A human approves. That does not change because it would be faster.

We tell you the deal before you sign.

Your systems run on our infrastructure, so they stop when the agreement ends. Thirty days' notice, and you get a complete export of your data and your documentation at no charge. You hear that up front, never afterwards.

Nothing is offshored, nothing goes to a junior.

You deal with the two people who built your system. There is no account manager between you and the work, and nobody is learning on your business.

We take a limited number of clients.

Running a business’s operations properly does not scale by taking on more than two people can hold. If we are full we will tell you and give you a date, rather than take the money and deliver badly.

Your data

We take your data as seriously as you do.

The moment automation touches customer information, data protection stops being fine print. This matters more, not less, for smaller businesses. You are the one carrying the risk.

Every system we build keeps a person in the decision seat. Nothing we build decides somebody’s money, rights or benefits on its own.

Infrastructure we manage

Your systems run on business infrastructure we manage and monitor, not a consumer tool. We know where your data sits and who can reach it, and we will tell you.

Only the data the job needs

We collect and process the minimum required, and keep it no longer than it should be kept. Less data held is less data at risk.

Your customers, your data

It stays yours. We process it on your behalf and never reuse it for anything else.

POPIA scoped in from the start

Where an engagement touches personal information we put a written operator agreement in place before anything goes live, and design to POPIA’s conditions rather than retrofitting them.

Written operator agreement Human in the decision seat NDA signed on request Full export if you leave

Straight answers

The questions people actually ask.

Asked on nearly every first call, so they may as well be answered here.

We are too small for this.

Smaller operations usually get more out of it, because there is nobody spare to absorb the admin. If your team is three people, one afternoon a week of repetitive work is a real share of your capacity. Start with the R2 500 single-process audit and find out before spending anything else.

What happens when it breaks?

Things upstream change and systems break. Systems also fail quietly, which is the real danger. Everything we build is monitored, so we usually see it before you do, and fixing it is what the monthly fee is for. Not an extra invoice.

Are we locked in?

Thirty days' notice, and we hand you a complete export of your data and your documentation at no charge. The systems themselves run on our side, so they stop. We tell you exactly what that means before you sign, never afterwards.

Will this replace our staff?

It replaces the parts of their day that nobody wants to do, so your people spend their time on the work that needs judgement. If the goal were to cut your headcount, we would be selling something else.

How long before we see anything?

The audit tells us. Every business is different, and a timeline guessed before we have looked at yours is worth nothing. You get a date, in writing, before you commit to any build.

What if there is nothing worth automating?

Then we say so, and you keep the audit findings anyway. It has happened. It is a better outcome than selling you a system you did not need.

What do you need from us?

Access to the tools you already use, an hour or two with the person who actually does the process, and one decision-maker who can sign things off. That is most of it.

Why publish your prices?

Because the alternative is a discovery call whose real purpose is working out what you can pay. Our prices do not move based on what you look like you are worth.

Start with a conversation.

Thirty minutes, free, no slides. We ask what takes your team the most time and what keeps going wrong, and you leave with a scoped audit proposal rather than a second call in the diary. If there is nothing worth automating, we will tell you that too.