Ask a business where it wants to use AI and the conversation can quickly become about software. Ask the team what they copy, chase or check every day and a much more useful conversation begins.
Our view is simple: the best starting point is a real operational frustration with a clear path to improvement.
Follow one piece of work
Choose something familiar, such as a customer enquiry. Where does it arrive? Who reads it? Which details get typed into another system? What tells the next person it is ready?
Write down each step, including the awkward ones. A process map that skips the exceptions will miss the work your people actually do.
Look for repetition you can describe
A useful first candidate happens regularly, follows recognisable steps and has an outcome you can check. Moving approved information between two systems may be a better first project than asking AI to manage an entire department.
Anthropic’s engineering guidance recommends starting with the simplest solution that works and adding complexity only when needed. That is a useful principle for business automation too.
Define what better means
Before building, agree on a practical measure: fewer manual entries, a clearer handover or less time spent preparing a document. Record what happens today so you have something to compare against.
You can start with a conversation
You don’t need a technical brief. In our free on-site consultation, we talk to your people, explore the work and prepare a free plan you can keep. It is a starting point for a decision, whenever you are ready to make it.
Further reading: Anthropic: Building effective agents