You may already think AI could save your business time and still not know where to start. There are a lot of tools out there and a lot of noise about them.
This is how we'd pick the first job if we were sitting in your office.
Start with the work that comes back every week
Look back over the last two weeks and write down the tasks that came up more than once. The list might include some of these.
- The follow-up email after a visit or a call
- A summary of a long email thread or a meeting
- An intake form somebody retypes into another system
- The reply to a question customers ask every week
- The first draft of a routine report or letter
The best first job is written work that follows a pattern. If you could hand a new hire two old examples and say "do it like these," AI can usually produce a decent first draft.
Pick something where a mistake is easy to catch
AI gets things wrong, and it sounds sure of itself when it does. So your first job shouldn't be one where an error costs you a client.
Start where a person reads the result before it goes anywhere. A reply that AI drafts and someone on your team checks and sends is a good first job. Anything that would go straight to a customer without a look is a bad one.
Use a business account
If your staff are already pasting work into a free chatbot, we'd rather give them a proper tool than ban it. That means a business account whose terms say your data isn't used to train the vendor's models, with controls on who can use it. It also means a written usage policy that says what can go into it and what can't. If your industry has privacy rules, like HIPAA in a medical or dental office, you may also need a signed agreement with the vendor before any client information goes in.
If you already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, check what's included before you buy anything new. Copilot or Gemini may already be part of your plan or a small upgrade away.
Time it before and after
Before you change anything, time the task a few times the way you do it now. It doesn't need to be exact. Then try AI on it for two or three weeks and time it again.
Count the minutes someone spends checking and fixing the draft. If fixing it takes as long as doing the job yourself, it hasn't saved anything.
Start small
It's tempting to set up everything at once. We don't recommend it. Start with one job, or two or three at most. Make sure the people who do that work every day actually like the new way before you pick the next one.
If you'd like help
You can do all of this yourself. If you'd rather not spend your evenings on it, this is the work we do. It starts with a free conversation about how your office runs. If it makes sense, an optional Tech Assessment comes next. We look at how work moves through your office, how your team uses its tools and AI, and where your data's at risk. Then you get a written plan. A pilot sets up two or three of the jobs worth handing over first and measures the time they save.
Free tech assessment for up to five local businesses through December 15.
Book a free strategy call. You can also call or text (203) 865-6002.