The first automation project sets the tone for every one after it. Pick something visible, frequent and boring, and the team will ask for more. Pick the most complex process in the business and the project will stall before it ships.
Four questions for each candidate
- How often does it happen? Daily beats monthly; a task done fifty times a week is worth automating even if each instance takes two minutes.
- Is the input already digital? A supplier CSV, a call record or a marketplace order is ready to use. A paper form is a different project.
- What happens when it goes wrong today? If the answer is “a customer notices”, the fix has an obvious business case.
- Can a person still approve the result? Early automations should propose, not decide. Keep a review step until the error rate is known.
A scoring sheet
Score each candidate from one to five on frequency, digital readiness, cost of errors and ease of review, then rank them. The sample below uses typical candidates from an auto-parts business.
| Candidate | Frequency | Digital input | Cost of errors | Easy to review | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publish stock quantities to channels | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 19 |
| Create callbacks from missed calls | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| Categorise expense receipts | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| Forecast demand per SKU | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
Define done before you start
Write down the inputs, the output, who reviews it, what the exceptions look like and how to pause the whole thing. “Quantities publish every 30 minutes; rejected updates appear on a list the counter checks twice a day; the owner can pause a channel with one switch” is a definition of done. “Sync inventory” is not.
Where AI fits, and where it does not
Drafting a listing, summarising a call or reading a receipt are good first uses because a person checks the result in seconds. Changing a price, adjusting stock or sending a customer message are decisions, and they belong to rules that the business has approved. Keep that line clear and the first project will earn the trust the next one needs.
See how the modules of ORCA Business Suite map onto these candidates, or book a demo to score your own list with us.
