Another similar question?
Explore a reply draft using approved service information.
Practical guide · 4 min read
Where should your business
start with AI?
Start with a task you can describe, a problem you can observe and a result you can check. That gives your first project a useful purpose.
The useful idea
A focused workflow is easier to understand, evaluate and adopt than a broad promise to “bring AI into the business”.
01 · Spot the task
Look for work that keeps coming back.
Think about the last working week. Where did someone repeatedly gather information, rewrite similar material or move details between tools?
Notes waiting to be typed up?
Explore a summary and action list for someone to check.
A blank page every month?
Explore a draft assembled from supplied topics and links.
Searching through documents?
Explore answers drawn from approved information, with sources to review.
Possible starting points, not promises about a specific deployment.
Describe the task before choosing a tool. Include what starts it, the information it needs and who uses the result.
02 · Choose a starting point
Pick something useful and manageable.
- It repeats: improving it would help beyond a single occasion.
- The inputs are available: the information is accessible and suitable for the proposed tools.
- The result can be checked: someone can recognise a useful output and spot mistakes.
- A person owns it: someone can review the work and explain what needs improving.
A routing rule or reminder may only need ordinary automation. Tasks involving summaries or draft wording may benefit from AI. Work out which part needs which capability.
03 · Define the pilot
Make the first version specific.
For an enquiry workflow, a starting brief could be:
“Use the enquiry details and our approved service information to prepare a reply draft for a person to review. Keep sending manual.”
Before building, agree:
- The inputs and tools the workflow may access.
- What it should produce, and what it should leave to a person.
- Who reviews it and what happens when information is missing.
- The setup work, ongoing costs and handover requirements.
04 · Check the value
Compare the workflow with the way you work today.
Record a starting point, then assess the pilot against the same task. Look beyond how quickly a draft appears.
- Time spent preparing and reviewing the work.
- Corrections needed before the output is usable.
- Manual handoffs or repeated data entry.
- Whether the team understands and uses the workflow.
- Ongoing operating cost compared with the value it provides.
If review takes longer than doing the task manually, the workflow needs adjustment. Start small enough that you can learn and improve it.
Try this first
Finish this sentence: “Every week, we spend time doing ___, using ___, so that ___.” That is a useful starting point for a conversation.
Next step
Have a task in mind?
Share what you need, who it is for and what you want it to achieve.
You’ll speak directly with Anshu, the person doing the work.
Discuss this service