Is Your Business Ready for AI? A 10-Point Checklist

We turn down projects every month — not because the businesses are bad, but because they're not ready, and an AI project built on an unready foundation fails expensively. Run this checklist before talking to any AI vendor. Score yourself honestly.

Process readiness

• 1. You can describe the workflow you want to automate step-by-step. If it lives entirely in one employee's head, document it first.
• 2. The workflow is repetitive and rule-based at its core. Judgement-heavy, every-case-is-different work automates poorly.
• 3. The task happens often enough to matter — daily or many times a week, not quarterly.

Data readiness

• 4. Your business information exists somewhere digital — even messy Excel counts. Paper registers don't.
• 5. You have real examples: past conversations, invoices, bookings — AI learns from what your business has actually done.
• 6. Someone can answer questions about your data during the build. AI projects stall when nobody owns the answers.

People readiness

• 7. The team affected knows and isn't threatened — the pitch is 'this removes your boring work', and it has to be true.
• 8. One person on your side owns the project. Not full-time — but decisions can't wait three weeks for a committee.
• 9. You'll actually review the AI's work in the first month. Feedback in weeks 1–4 is what turns a demo into a system.

Expectation readiness

• 10. You expect 60–80% automation with human handoff — not a zero-employee company. Realistic expectations are the single biggest predictor of a successful project.

Scoring

8–10 yes: you're ready — the question is only which workflow first (pick the one that scores highest on points 1–3).

5–7: ready with prep — usually 2–3 weeks of documenting workflows and gathering examples. We often do this as the first phase of an engagement.

Under 5: don't buy AI yet. Fix the foundations — it's cheaper, and any vendor who says otherwise is selling to you, not advising you.

Want a second opinion on your score? Bring it to a free clarity call — if you're not ready, we'll tell you what to fix first and send you off with a plan, no charge.