List repeated work, not a wish list of software
Write down five recurring activities that create copying, chasing or waiting: lead assignment, collecting onboarding documents, preparing a weekly report, routing approvals or moving a completed sale into delivery. For each, note the trigger, owner, system and finish state. A description such as “improve our CRM” is too broad to test; “assign every valid website enquiry to an owner” is a bounded starting point.
Check frequency and actual handling effort
Use a representative sample to count how often the activity occurs and how many minutes people actively spend on it. Separate hands-on work from time waiting for a decision. A process can be slow without consuming many staff hours; another can be quick per item but expensive at high volume. The savings calculator on this site lets you model handling time, residual checks and recurring costs separately.
Check whether the rule is understood
Ask two team members what should happen for the same input. If they give incompatible answers, clarify the policy before building an automatic action. A process with an explicit trigger, required information and predictable destination is a stronger first candidate than one whose meaning changes on every request.
Check the data and access
Confirm that the needed information exists, can be accessed through a supported connection and has an agreed source of truth. Inconsistent customer identities or incomplete records often need attention before the automation. Do not assume that two tools can safely exchange every field simply because both offer an integration.
Check exceptions and consequences
List the unusual cases and what a wrong action could cause. Begin with work that can be inspected and reversed, such as preparing a draft or creating an internal task. Payments, contractual commitments and sensitive decisions need stronger controls. A single blocked exception should have an owner without stopping all unrelated work.
Make the choice explicit
Automate now when the rule, data, outcome and recovery path are clear. Simplify first when unnecessary steps or conflicting ownership cause the delay. Clean the data first when identity or completeness is unreliable. Keep judgement in the loop when the decision depends on context that cannot yet be validated. These are practical decision categories, not an industry-certified score.
Run the existing workflow mapper
Use the four-question mapper below to describe the business area, friction, current tools and desired outcome. It generates a starting brief in your browser; answering does not submit a lead. Use that brief with a sample process and a baseline to agree one pilot. After testing, compare completion, exceptions and handling effort before expanding to an adjacent workflow.