An AI readiness checklist tells you whether your business has work worth automating, and which piece to start with. You don't need software or a consultant to run one. You need an afternoon, a notepad, and an honest look at how the week goes.
Work through the ten checks below in order. Each one takes a few minutes, and together they produce a short list of candidates you can act on yourself or bring to someone who builds automations.
How to use this checklist
Pick one ordinary week and use it as your reference. Write down what really happens rather than what the process document says. Where a check asks for a number, a rough estimate is fine.
1. List the work that repeats every week
Write down every task someone on your team does at least once a week. Include the small ones: copying details from an email into a spreadsheet, sending the same follow-up, building the Monday report. The best automation candidates are usually dull tasks that nobody thinks of as a "process."
2. Put a time on each one
Estimate how long one round of each task takes and how often it happens. Multiply them. A task that takes 20 minutes and happens 15 times a week costs 5 hours a week, which is about 250 hours over a working year. That number is what an automation has to beat.
3. Note where the information lives
For each task, write down where the information starts and where it ends up. Email, a spreadsheet, paper forms, your accounting software, a CRM, a phone call. Tasks that move information between two systems you already use are usually the easiest to automate.
4. Check whether the steps happen in the same order
Ask the person who does the task to walk you through it. If the steps are the same every time, a machine can follow them. If every case needs judgment about what to do next, the task probably needs a person, or a narrower slice of it can be automated first.
5. Count the handoffs
Write down how many people touch each task before it's done. Every handoff is a place where work waits in someone's inbox. A quote that passes through three people can sit for days even when the work itself takes an hour.
6. Put a price on the mistakes
For each task, note what happens when it goes wrong. A typo in an invoice, a missed follow-up, an order entered twice. Some mistakes cost a few minutes to fix. Others cost a customer. The expensive ones move a task up the list even if it doesn't take many hours.
7. Time your response to a new lead
Send an inquiry through your own website or call your own number after hours, and see how long it takes to get an answer. If the answer is "the next morning," that delay is a candidate. Customers who reach out to several businesses often book with the first one that replies.
8. List the tools you already pay for
Write down every piece of software the business pays for each month. Then check whether each one has automation features you haven't switched on, such as scheduled reports, email templates, or connections to other tools. The cheapest first automation is often one you already own.
9. Decide who would own it
An automation needs one person who notices when it breaks and knows who to call. For each candidate, write down who that would be. If nobody on the team has the time or interest, note that too. It changes which option makes sense.
10. Mark what not to automate yet
Cross off tasks that happen rarely, depend on a relationship, or change every time. Also cross off anything where the current process is still being worked out. Automating a process that isn't settled yet locks the problems in.
Reading your results
Look for tasks that score well on several checks at once. The strongest candidates have a lot of hours, the same steps every time, information already in software, and a clear owner. A task with expensive mistakes or a slow lead response can jump the queue even with fewer hours behind it.
Tasks that take many hours but need judgment at every step belong on a later list. They're worth doing, but they take more planning than a first project should.
When to bring in help
This checklist gets most owners to a short list. The harder part is choosing between candidates, picking the tools, and estimating what each one returns.
That's what our $297 AI Readiness Audit does with you. Our AI readiness assessment framework post walks through how it scores each candidate. You fill in a 10-minute questionnaire and we talk for 45 minutes over Zoom. Within 48 hours you get a written report. It ranks every opportunity on an impact vs. effort matrix and names the tools that fit what you already use. It also gives a 7-day plan for the quickest win. There's no retainer and no commitment after it.
Common questions
How long does an AI readiness checklist take?
Most owners can work through these ten checks in an afternoon. The slowest part is timing the repeat tasks, so pick a normal week and estimate rather than measuring every minute.
What should a small business automate first?
Start with a task that repeats every week and follows the same steps each time. Ideally it already lives in software you use. If a task causes expensive mistakes or slows your response to new leads, it can go first even with fewer hours behind it.
Do I need new software to automate?
Often not. Many tools you already pay for include scheduled reports, templates, or connections to other apps that aren't switched on. Check those before buying anything new.
