1. Workflow audit
We map the current process, surface bottlenecks, and identify the repetitive work that is costing time, accuracy, or visibility.
Small business automation consulting
Put repetitive work on autopilot.
Fourth Vector Consulting helps small businesses in Metro Detroit, Mid-Michigan, and beyond improve reporting, build useful internal tools, and apply automation or AI where it creates real operational leverage.
2. Automation plan
We recommend practical automation, reporting, integration, or AI opportunities with a rollout order your team can actually execute.
3. Build and launch
We build the first high-leverage solution, whether that is a dashboard, data pipeline, internal workflow, alerting system, website, or custom integration.
What we help automate
- Spreadsheet-heavy reporting and manual status updates.
- Data collection, scraping, and ingestion from external sources.
- Operational dashboards and exception alerts for internal teams.
- Repetitive copy and paste work across tools or systems.
- AI use cases that need a practical business workflow, not hype.
Best fit clients
- Small businesses with 5-100 employees.
- Data-rich teams dealing with manual reporting, repetitive admin work, or disconnected systems.
- Owners and operators who want practical gains instead of long research engagements.
- Teams that need custom websites, dashboards, alerts, or workflow automation built around real operations.
Who you'll work with
Fourth Vector is a two-person shop, built to bring big-company tooling to the small businesses around us.
Donnie McKay builds everything we ship. A University of Michigan computer science graduate and practicing data scientist at one of the country's largest mortgage lenders, his day job is the same work he does for clients: the data pipelines, automated reporting, dashboards, and machine-learning models a large company runs on.
Connor Starke leads client strategy. He's your point of contact from the first conversation through delivery — understanding how your business actually works, translating that into what gets built, and making sure it lands.
Small by design: no sales team, no handoff chain. The people you talk to are the people doing the work.
Frequently asked questions
What does a workflow automation consultant do?
A workflow automation consultant reviews how your team actually works, finds repetitive or fragile steps, and builds simpler systems for reporting, alerts, integrations, and recurring operational tasks.
Do you only work with Michigan businesses?
Fourth Vector Consulting is based in Oxford, Michigan and works with businesses in Metro Detroit and Mid-Michigan, but remote consulting is available for clients in other locations as well.
Can you help if we are not ready for full AI implementation?
Yes. Many projects start with reporting automation, dashboards, internal tools, data pipelines, or process fixes before AI is added at all.