Date: 02.10.2025 (2025-10-02)
Stefano Sorrentino (02.10.2025) • https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefano-sorrentino-bst/ • System Administrator - IT Service Manager (remote) • https://www.digistore24.com/ -> seems similar to Shopify (600 ppl)
Intro: • Working on an automation platform - similar to Zapier, n8n, UIPath, make.com • Disclaimer: early, discovery phase -> some questions, please be honest
Context: • Team size and which roles? • • Which tools are they using? •
His Experience & Current Practices • Day-to-day reality: What are the most admin-heavy processes in his finance role (invoices, reconciliations, reporting, payroll, compliance, audits)? • • Is he automating today? If yes, which tools (Excel macros, Zapier, RPA, ERP features)? • If yes: who does it? Which tools? What works? What does not work? • If no, why not (cost, complexity, lack of time, no clear ROI)? • More processes to automate: • • Other automation: • • Legacy systems: does he deal with them (accounting tools, banking interfaces, HRIS, ERP)? How painful are integrations? • • Successes & frustrations: if he had a “magic wand,” what would he automate first? • Ask if he can introduce you to 3 peers in similar roles (finance leads in other startups).
Notes: • Background: • Lived in ITA, CH • Digistore: they manage payments • Main responsibilities: • two to three people in his teams • IT admin • Security and automation • Data privacy can be a concern • He activated his 3rd automation yesterday • Scope: • Daily task: filter data, take it, search and analyse it • Atlassian, Okta, Jira • He automated it • He used make.com • They use the SaaS version -> DPA in place • Challenges: • Not the same quality of LLMs like ChatGPT and OpenAI API (probably he does not have experience with prompt engineering etc.) • Other processes • GDrive, sending emails, HTML within make.com to visualise table (Jira not good at tables) • His automations: • Everyone automates their own processes • No company strategy yet • He wants to become an expert in automations; he is a starter • Tools: • They use a lot of tools -> more than 150 tools • He does not know if one of the tools does not have an API • Next process: • When they have to deactivate a user -> handover to human process -> 1 click instead of ca. 30min per person • Error handling of Okta -> when e.g. a key is outdated -> then they have to go to tool manually and do it • Marketing does a lot of automations -> less complex • He is new -> does not want to ask • Intro: he has to think -> FUP