AI automation for Canadian businesses
INNOVA Consult, an Ottawa software and applied-AI company, builds AI assistants, agents and business process automation. A person approves the steps that matter, and the hours saved are measured against the starting map. Our own systems are built this way: Workflow OS and FINMOZG as prototypes, AICRMIUS in development.
Northstar Professional Services is a fictional 30-person firm. Every number is what the engine computes for it.
What gets automated
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Intake and documents
Applications from every kind of participant taken in through one form and filed into the right record, ready for the person who handles it.
UAFest Live Application intake for every participant type
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Email and request triage
Shared inboxes brought into one record, where each request can be assigned to the person who owns it.
UAFest Live 13 shared mailboxes in one record
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CRM updates
An agent proposes the change to a record, a person approves it, and any change can be undone.
AICRMIUS In development Propose, validate, approve, apply, undo
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Rule-based classification
Bank payments classified and posted by rules; what the rules cannot settle waits for a person.
FINMOZG Prototype Classification and month-end closing
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Reporting
Hours, cost and errors after go-live, compared with the starting map.
Workflow OS Prototype Impact and ROI module
Assistant or agent
Each step gets the simplest thing that works. Plain software takes the fixed-rule work, an assistant drafts for a person, and an agent acts only inside the limits set for it.
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Traditional workflow automation
A signed engagement letter is filed and the client record updated, with no AI involved.
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AI assistant with human execution
AI drafts the reply to a client question; a person edits it and sends it.
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Bounded AI agent
An agent chases missing documents by email, using only the mailbox and the checklist.
A person stays in control
- Named approvers
- Any action that changes a record or affects a person waits for a named approver.
- Listed tools
- Each AI step can use only the tools we list for it, and none of them can approve a payment.
- A log of every step
- Every step is logged, so a manager can see who or what changed a record and reverse it.
Data and hosting
- Your tenant
- By default the automation runs in your own cloud tenant, for example Microsoft 365 and Azure in Canada Central or Canada East. Data leaves Canada only with your written approval.
- Models
- Model plans whose terms exclude training on your data, with pinned versions retested before a change goes live.
- Workflow OS
- Workspaces are saved on INNOVA’s server, which is outside Canada; the optional AI review sends the description you paste to an external model, also outside Canada.
How an automation project runs
One process at a time, so each automation has an owner and a number to beat.
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Pick the process
The one with the most staff hours and clear enough rules, taken from the map or a readiness assessment.
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Design the flow
The current flow, the proposed one, and who approves what, agreed with the people who do the work.
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Build and test
Built inside the tools your staff already use and tested on real sample cases, including the awkward ones.
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Go live and measure
A named person on your side owns the automation; hours, cost and errors are compared with the starting map.
Funding
The Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative supports businesses that adopt and integrate AI, through FedDev Ontario in southern Ontario and CED in Quebec. The agency decides eligibility; the map and the pilot plan give an application its measured baseline.
RAII funding The AI readiness assessment AI consulting and implementation
Who does the work
Maksym Stepanenko leads and does the work; specialist contractors are brought in when a project needs them.
In business since 2012. INNOVA Consult has been a federal corporation since 2023. Based in Ottawa; we work with companies across Ottawa–Gatineau and remotely across Canada.
Questions
What is business process automation?
Software doing the repeatable steps of a process, such as filing a form, updating a record or sending a reminder, so people keep the decisions. AI comes in where a step needs reading documents, sorting free text or drafting; fixed-rule work gets plain software, which is cheaper and predictable.
Which process should we automate first?
The one that scores highest on the map: many staff hours, clear rules, data that exists and low risk. Workflow OS scores each process from 14 factors minus a risk penalty, and in its demo Client Onboarding comes first with a score of 88.
What is the difference between an assistant and an agent?
An assistant drafts and a person acts on the draft. An agent takes steps itself, using only the tools listed for it, and any step that changes a record or affects a person waits for a named approver before it is applied.
Which AI models do you use?
Where possible, the models you already pay for, run under your own licence, before any new vendor is added. We use model plans whose terms exclude training on your data, pin the model version and retest a new version before it goes live. AICRMIUS, for one, uses Gemini agents.
Where does our data go?
By default the automation runs in your own cloud tenant, for example Microsoft 365 and Azure in Canada Central or Canada East, and data leaves Canada only with your written approval. Workflow OS workspaces are saved outside Canada, and its optional AI review uses external models outside Canada.
How do you keep a person in control?
Every action that changes a record or affects a person waits for a named approver. Each AI step can use only the tools we list for it, every step is logged, and any change an agent proposes can be undone.
Can you work with the software we already use?
Yes. The automation is built inside the tools your staff already use, for example Microsoft 365, your CRM and your shared mailboxes, so the plan stays independent of any single vendor, including us.
Can RAII funding cover it?
It may. The Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative supports businesses that adopt and integrate AI. FedDev Ontario accepts applications from 13 October 2026 to 19 January 2027, and CED in Quebec offers SMEs repayable support of up to 50% of authorized costs. The agency decides eligibility, and the business applies in its own name.
Send us the task your staff repeat most.
We reply in writing with whether and how we would automate it.
Maksym Stepanenko, founder, in business since 2012. Products in public use, one of them in the App Store.