Make a short inventory of repetitive work
Ask the team to record what they repeatedly copy, search for, summarize or send over a few days. For each task, note where the information comes from, where it goes and who uses the result.
“Automate sales” is too broad for a first project. “Prepare an enquiry summary and send it to the responsible colleague” has a beginning, an outcome and a person who can verify it.
Compare frequency, clarity and consequences
Compare three tasks. Which happens often? Which has sufficiently complete data? Where is a mistake easy to spot and correct before it reaches a customer? Start where those conditions overlap.
An infrequent task with many exceptions and serious consequences may be a poor choice even if its demonstration looks impressive. For clear rules, consider automation without AI too: it may be simpler to maintain.
Calculate the time remaining after review
Use a transparent estimate: monthly cases multiplied by minutes saved per case after review. Then subtract maintenance time. Compare the result with subscriptions and implementation effort.
Purely illustrative example: 40 enquiries taking 6 manual minutes each require 240 minutes. If the new workflow requires 2 minutes of review per enquiry, 80 minutes remain. The difference is 160 minutes before maintenance and costs. Replace these numbers with observations from your own business.
Prepare a test that can fail
Collect ordinary, incomplete and unusual examples. Define the expected result for each. Check whether missing details are flagged, correct information is retained and a notification appears when an integration fails.
Initially retain human approval before external messages or important changes. Decide who monitors errors and which manual process the team follows if the automation is stopped.
Expand after understanding the result
Compare time, corrections and cases handed back to people. If checking takes longer than the original task, simplify it or stop the experiment. A useful pilot may show that an automation is not worthwhile yet.
You can start with a business workflow, CRM enquiry handling or an AI review and training session. The first deliverable should be a process your team understands.
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