Which tasks should you automate first?
Answer a few quick questions about a task in your business and we’ll tell you whether it’s worth automating, how and how much you could save.
It isn’t always about automating all of it. Sometimes AI prepares the work and someone on your team approves it, and sometimes a program with no AI is enough.
Almost every question takes a single tap. You can try several tasks and see which one to start with.
Examples of tasks that can be automated
Ten tasks that come up in a lot of businesses, grouped by department. Each one comes with sample answers and what the tool says with them. “Try this task” loads them above so you can swap in your own.
Finance
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Entering supplier invoices into the accounting software
Several arrive each day as PDFs by email and someone types them in by hand. Between 3 and 10 a month come out with a mistake.
With these answers Could be worth it · Let’s talk A custom automation
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Matching bank transactions with invoices
Several times a week, with a list of rules for pairing each payment in and out with its invoice.
With these answers Easier than it looks This doesn’t need AI
Customer service
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Answering customer questions that arrive by email
Dozens a day. Most of them are alike and the answer is in the company’s software or in earlier emails.
With these answers Could be worth it · Let’s talk A custom automation
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Booking, changing and canceling appointments by message
Dozens of conversations a day, where you have to ask, offer open slots and confirm.
With these answers Could be worth it · Let’s talk An AI assistant that holds conversations and gets things done
Sales
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Preparing quotes from what the customer asks for
One a day, taking almost an hour each. Someone has to read the request, do the math and write the proposal, and a mistake is expensive.
With these answers Worth it · Start here A custom automation
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Logging each customer conversation in the CRM
Several times a day, copying from emails what was agreed with each contact.
With these answers Worth it · Start here A custom automation
Human resources
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Onboarding a new employee
A few times a month, always following the same list of steps in the company’s software.
With these answers Easier than it looks This doesn’t need AI
Reporting
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Putting together the weekly sales report
Every week the figures are pulled from the software, the math is done and it goes to the team.
With these answers Easier than it looks This doesn’t need AI
Email and meetings
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Writing up meeting summaries
Several a week. Someone on the team checks the whole thing before sending it.
With these answers Cheap to solve A business plan of ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini is enough
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Routing emails that land in the shared inbox
Hundreds a day, which have to be read and sent to the right department according to written rules.
With these answers Worth it · Start here A custom automation
Which processes can be automated, and when it pays
What can AI do in a business, and which tasks should you hand over to it?
AI is good at reading and writing. It understands emails, PDFs, messages or voice notes, pulls out the data that’s needed and drafts replies, summaries or first versions. What you shouldn’t leave to it is the math or decisions that can’t be undone: a program or a person does that better.
That’s why handing work over to AI is rarely all or nothing. Some tasks run on their own, because AI only reads or writes and a program does the rest, and in others AI prepares the work and a person approves it before it goes out. And sometimes the answer is that you don’t need AI at all. The tool on this page tells you which of those cases each of your tasks falls into.
Which processes or tasks can be automated in a business?
Almost any task that repeats and that you could explain to a new hire with a list of steps: entering invoices into the accounting software, answering similar customer questions, preparing quotes, logging conversations in the CRM or booking appointments.
What changes from one to another is what you automate it with. If it’s only copying data or following written rules, regular software is enough and you don’t need AI. If it means reading emails, PDFs or messages, or writing replies, that’s where AI comes in. And if you have to go back and forth with the person, asking and confirming, it takes an AI agent.
What still can’t be automated is what only one person knows and isn’t written down anywhere. That has to be written down first.
What do I need to automate a process?
First, the information needed to do it has to be somewhere that can be read: software, a spreadsheet, emails or scanned paperwork. Whatever only someone knows has to be written down first.
Second, some starting numbers: how many times it happens a month, how long it takes each time and what you lose when it goes wrong. Writing it down for one week is enough. With those numbers the automation gets tested on your real cases before any software is connected, which is how our projects start.
How do I know if automating a task will pay off?
Compare what the task costs you today with what it would cost to build and run. The cost isn’t just the hours. What counts most is what you lose when it goes wrong or runs late, like a late fee, a discount or a customer who leaves, plus the hours you pay for separately today.
The hours your team could spend on something else only count as savings if they really go into selling or serving customers. The tool on this page does that math cautiously: it counts half of what you lose today and tells you how many months it takes to pay for itself. If it doesn’t pay for itself within two years, it tells you it isn’t worth it today.