The AI Business Automation Checklist: Before You Automate a Workflow

Checklist Before You Automate

AI automation should make the business clearer, faster, or more consistent. Use this checklist before connecting tools, triggering actions, or letting AI touch customer-facing work.

The Checklist

• Workflow: Is this task repeated often enough to automate?
• Input: What data, form, email, document, or system starts the workflow?
• Output: What should the AI produce: draft, summary, routing decision, report, or action?
• Risk: Does the workflow include customer, employee, vendor, financial, or confidential data?
• Review: Who checks the AI output before it is used?
• Approval: Which actions require human approval before sending, updating, or triggering?
• Measurement: What will improve: speed, accuracy, response time, booked calls, or fewer missed handoffs?
• Owner: Who maintains the workflow when tools, policies, or business needs change?

The Rule

If you cannot name the input, output, review step, and owner, the workflow is not ready for automation.