ShadowGen

ShadowGen (also styled Shadow-Gen) is a United Kingdom-based business process optimisation and automation consultancy. It positions itself not as a traditional advisory firm but as a builder of operational systems: the company maps client processes, removes friction, and then wires AI, automation and ERP/CRM integration into day-to-day operations as working infrastructure. Its public messaging is deliberately anti-consultancy — "Most consultancies sell slides, retainers, or shelfware. We build things that run" — and it emphasises fixed-scope engagements rather than open-ended retainers. The firm offers three core services. The first is process mapping and optimisation, using lean and value-stream methods to identify the 30–60 hours a week that teams lose to manual, duplicated or mis-sequenced work, and to produce a costed, prioritised list of fixes. The second is AI and automation builds: document workflows for invoices, purchase orders and forms, bespoke agents, LLM pipelines, and resilient multi-system flows with proper error handling, logs and retries. The third is ERP and CRM integration, connecting systems such as SyteLine, Infor ION, SAP B1, NetSuite, HubSpot, Airtable, bespoke APIs and legacy platforms so that data stops being retyped across multiple systems. ShadowGen describes a consistent engagement rhythm of Map, Optimise, Automate. A typical engagement runs four to eight weeks with a fixed scope, and the company says the same rhythm applies to small automation scripts and to large integration projects alike. It claims its work is sized to pay for itself within a quarter and to keep returning value afterwards, and it publishes operational metrics such as workflow success rates and processing times on its site. The company's stated background is operational rather than purely software-focused. Its founder, Rafal Fila, is described as a process and automation engineer with experience across biomedical R&D, structural design, manufacturing process engineering, quality assurance, factory IT and lean production. ShadowGen presents this path — from factory floor to automation studio — as the source of its practical approach, and says it works with a small team without account managers or "slide-factory" layers, so clients deal directly with the engineer building the solution. ShadowGen is a private company and, as of its public materials, serves clients primarily in the United Kingdom, stating that it has worked with more than 50 clients. Its positioning sits at the intersection of management consulting, systems integration and applied AI, aimed at small and mid-sized operations that already own software but need it to work together.

ShadowGen presents its history as a deliberate path through operational industries rather than a straight line through software. According to its own account, the company's foundations were laid across five stages, each contributing a distinct discipline that a pure software studio would lack. The first stage, dated 2014, is biomedical R&D, including a computer-vision dissertation and medical imaging pipelines. The second, dated 2017, is structural design — CAD, tolerances and systems where failure is not acceptable. The third, dated 2019, is manufacturing: process engineering, quality assurance and lean production. The fourth, dated 2022, is factory IT, working with SyteLine, Infor ION and ERP integration. The fifth stage, dated 2024, is ShadowGen itself, described as "Automation & AI as infrastructure." The company frames these stages as one through-line, so that every engagement inherits the accumulated experience of all of them. ShadowGen was therefore established as a business around 2024, founded by Rafal Fila, who is described as a process and automation engineer with experience spanning biomedical R&D, structural design, manufacturing process engineering, QA, factory IT and lean production. The company is based in the United Kingdom and describes itself as a UK business process optimisation and automation consultancy. From the outset, ShadowGen positioned itself against conventional consulting models. Its public materials state that most consultancies sell slides, retainers or shelfware, while ShadowGen builds things that run. It adopted a fixed-scope engagement model — typically four to eight weeks — and a three-step delivery rhythm of Map, Optimise and Automate, with the rule that nothing gets built before the process is fixed on paper. The company says the same rhythm applies to small automation scripts and to large integration projects. ShadowGen's service lines developed around three areas: process mapping and optimisation using lean and value-stream methods; AI and automation builds such as document processing, bespoke agents and LLM pipelines; and ERP/CRM integration across platforms including SyteLine, Infor ION, SAP B1, NetSuite, HubSpot, Airtable, bespoke APIs and legacy systems. The company reports having worked with more than 50 clients and publishes operational performance figures for its workflows on its website. Culturally, ShadowGen describes itself as small by design, with no account managers and no "slide-factory," so that clients work directly with the engineer building the solution and the operator making sure it lands. This structure is presented as a reason its projects finish. The company continues to operate as a private UK consultancy.

• 2024

  ShadowGen founded, positioned as "Automation & AI as infrastructure."

• 2022

  Factory IT stage: SyteLine, Infor ION and ERP integration.

• 2019

  Manufacturing stage: process engineering, QA and lean production.

• 2017

  Structural design stage: CAD, tolerances and failure-critical systems.

• 2014

  Biomedical R&D stage: computer-vision dissertation and medical imaging pipelines.

Anti-consultancy automation studio: fixed-scope, process-first engagements that build working infrastructure rather than selling slides or retainers.

• Process mapping & optimisation

  Lean and value-stream mapping to find 30–60 hours a week of lost time, with a costed, prioritised list of fixes.

• AI & automation builds

  Document workflows for invoices, POs and forms, bespoke agents, LLM pipelines, and resilient multi-system flows with error handling, logs and retries.

• ERP · CRM integration

  Connecting SyteLine, Infor ION, SAP B1, NetSuite, HubSpot, Airtable, bespoke APIs and legacy systems so data stops being retyped.

1. 1AI Automation for ERP, CRM & Shop Floor | Shadow-Genshadow-gen.com
2. 2About Shadow-Gen | Automation Engineers, UKshadow-gen.com
3. 3ERP & CRM Automation Services | Shadow-Genshadow-gen.com
4. 4ShadowGen — Wikidatawikidata.org