• 6 min read
Start with the workflow that repeats daily
Automation pays back fastest where a person repeats the same steps every day: copying enquiries into a spreadsheet, sending the same follow-up email, or reconciling orders between two systems. Log one week of these tasks and note how long each takes. The list you end up with is your automation backlog, ranked by hours.
The three workflows to automate first
Lead intake, follow-up sequencing, and reporting. Lead intake means every form, chat, and inbox message lands in one place with the source attached. Follow-up means an automatic first reply within minutes, then a scheduled nudge if nobody responds. Reporting means a weekly summary assembled without anyone opening a spreadsheet.
Where AI adds value beyond simple rules
Rule-based automation handles routing and reminders. AI is useful where the input is messy: summarising a long enquiry, classifying an email by intent, drafting a first-pass reply, or extracting fields from an invoice. Keep a human approval step on anything that reaches a customer until the accuracy is proven over a few hundred runs.
Measure the hours you get back
Before you automate, record the baseline: tasks per week multiplied by minutes per task. After launch, measure the same number. If a workflow does not save at least a few hours a month or remove a recurring error, retire it rather than maintaining it.