AI readiness audit: what to automate, what to skip, what it will cost
A two-week review that ends with a ranked plan, not a slide deck
Most AI projects go wrong before anyone writes code, by picking the wrong thing to build. Two weeks of proper investigation costs less than one abandoned pilot, and it produces a document you can hand to any developer, including one who is not us.
Two weeks to a plan you can act on
We interview the people who do the work, sit with a few of them while they do it, and map the repetitive tasks across sales, support, operations and marketing. Each one gets an estimate: hours a month, what it would cost to build, what it would cost to run, and how long before it pays for itself.
Then we check whether you are actually ready. Where the data lives, how clean it is, whether the systems have usable APIs, and who would own the thing afterwards. Plenty of good automation ideas die on the second of those, and it is better to find out in week one than in month four.
What we tell you not to build
The report has a section for work that should stay manual, with reasons. Tasks that vary too much. Decisions where an error costs more than the whole saving. Processes that are about to change anyway. On a typical audit this covers about a third of what the business originally hoped to automate, and it is the part clients quote back to us a year later.
What you get
A written report: mapped processes, ranked opportunities with costs and payback, the skip list, and a sequenced roadmap. Then a working session with your leadership to argue with it. The document is vendor-neutral and yours. If you do continue with us, on automation or an assistant, the fee comes off the first build.
What the audit covers
Process mapping
Interviews across teams plus watching a few tasks being done, because the documented process and the real one rarely match.
Data & tools review
Where the data actually lives, how clean it is, and whether your systems expose the APIs an automation would need.
Opportunity ranking
Hours saved, build cost, running cost, risk and payback period for each candidate, on one page you can take to a board.
Risk & compliance
Data handling, what a customer-facing mistake would cost, and which steps need a human approval before anything ships.
Roadmap & costs
A sequence rather than a wish list, with the first project chosen for a quick, provable result.
Readout
A working session with your leadership where the plan can be challenged and changed, not a presentation to sit through.
The two weeks, day by day
Kickoff & accessday 1
Half a day agreeing scope, who we speak to, and read-only access to the systems worth looking at.
Interviewsdays 2–5
Six to ten conversations with the people doing the work, about 30 minutes each, plus watching two or three tasks happen live.
Data & systems checkdays 5–7
What the CRM, inbox, spreadsheets and file stores actually contain, and what the integrations will and will not allow.
Costing & rankingdays 8–10
Each candidate estimated for build and run cost, then ranked on payback with the skip list written alongside it.
Readoutday 10
The report goes over 48 hours ahead of the session, so the meeting is a debate about priorities rather than a reading exercise.
From $1,500/project
Fixed $1,500; credited against the first build.
AI audit, answered
Who is the AI readiness audit for?
Businesses of roughly 10 to 500 people who suspect AI could save time but cannot see where to start, and teams who have already tried something, watched it stall, and want an outside read on why.
What do we actually receive?
A written report with the mapped processes, ranked opportunities carrying costs and payback periods, an explicit list of what to leave alone, and a sequenced roadmap. Plus a working session where you can disagree with all of it.
Do we have to build it with you?
No. The report is written to be vendor-neutral and specific enough for any competent team to quote from. Some clients take it in-house, and a couple have used it to brief a different agency. That is a fair outcome.
How much of our time does it take?
Around four hours in total across your team, split into short interviews with the people who actually do the work. We would rather talk to a support agent for half an hour than to a manager for two.
What does the audit cost?
A fixed $1,500, with no scope creep and no hourly extension. If you go ahead with a build, the fee comes off the price of the first one.
What if there is nothing worth automating?
Then the report says that, with the arithmetic that led to it. It has happened. Spending $1,500 to avoid a $20,000 project that was never going to pay back is a good use of the money.
Find out what is worth building.
Two weeks, a fixed price, and a written plan you own. Then decide, with us or without us.