For COOs

An operations OS built for the COO job, not the PM job

A COO of a multi-entity organisation is asked four questions on repeat: what does this cost, where do we act first, did it get fixed, and what do I tell the board. Most tools answer one of those. Espresso is built to answer all four from the same data.

Last updated: August 2026

The short answer

Espresso maps every operational process across every entity, attaches a real cost to each one, diagnoses where it breaks, and tracks the fix through delivery — then turns the same data into a report for whoever needs one. A COO gets a cost figure, a prioritised action, and a paper trail from diagnosis to done, without switching tools between them.

The four questions a COO actually has to answer

None of these are project-management questions. A task board can tell you whether work is on schedule; it can't tell you what running the operation costs, or what to fix first.

"What does this actually cost us?"

Not a status update — a number. Every process is costed from hours against a loaded rate, plus estimated leakage, rolled up per business unit, per entity, and across the group.

"Where should we act first?"

Crema reads a process's pain points and target architecture and proposes a re-engineering path, so the answer to "what next" comes with a recommendation attached, not just a list of problems.

"Did it actually get fixed?"

A diagnosis pushes straight into a delivery workspace — tasks, owners, timelines — tracked against the process it came from, so a fix stays connected to the number it was meant to move.

"What do I tell the board?"

A report can be generated for a chosen lookback period, pulling narrative, cost of operations and strategic initiatives sections, and edited before it goes out. Different presets exist for a board audience versus an internal team.

When the operation spans more than one entity

Most COOs asking these questions aren't running one business — they're overseeing several, at different levels of maturity, sometimes on different systems. Espresso models that structure directly: holding, subsidiary, business unit, revenue stream, with every level optional. Cost and process coverage roll up automatically from where the work happens to a single group-level view, so a subsidiary's numbers and the group's numbers are always the same underlying data, not two separate exercises.

See how the roll-up works across a holding company and its subsidiaries.

Who this fits

A COO or Operations Director accountable for how a multi-entity group runs, not just for one function inside it.
Someone who currently pulls together a cost or operations picture by hand before a board meeting.
A leader who needs a credible first answer this quarter, not after a six-month process-mining engagement.

When you don't need this

If the job is tracking a fixed list of tasks to a deadline and nothing more, a plain task board is simpler and does that job well. This is for the layer above that — the cost, the diagnosis and the reporting a COO is accountable for, that a task board was never built to answer.

Common questions

What does a COO need from an operations OS that a PM tool doesn't give them?

A cost figure, not just a status. Task boards show what is in progress; they don't say what any of it costs to run or where the money is leaking. An operations OS ties process, cost and delivery together so a COO can answer "what does this cost us" as directly as "is this on track."

How fast can a COO get a first view of operational cost?

A working session, not a data project. Espresso costs each process from hours per week against a loaded rate, captured from the people who do the work — no system integration required before a first number exists.

Can this produce something to bring to the board?

Yes. A board report can be generated directly from the operations data for a chosen lookback period, then edited before it goes out. It is one of several audience presets — Board, CTO team, PM — each pulling a different mix of sections from the same underlying numbers.

Does this work across more than one business unit or entity?

Yes — that is the primary use case. Cost and process coverage roll up from individual processes to business units to subsidiaries to the whole group, so a COO overseeing multiple entities sees one consistent set of numbers rather than one per entity.

For holding companies — the same data, from the structure it rolls up through.
Cost of operations — the method behind the £/yr figure.
Process mining alternative — why this doesn't need event logs or an integration project first.

Get your first cost picture this week

Map your processes, attach real hours and rates, and get a cost per process, per entity, and rolled up across the group — with a board report you can generate straight from the same data.

See how Espresso works

Handling sensitive operational data? Read how we secure it.