The first step
An AI audit of your business
before anybody builds anything
Time with the people who do the work, a map of how work really moves, a short list of what is worth building and a longer list of what to leave exactly as it is.
Most money spent on AI goes wrong at the start, on a tool nobody asked for. An audit comes first. I spend time with the people doing the work and find where the writing, the chasing and the re-typing actually happen.
You are handed three things. A map of how work moves through your business today, including the parts that live only in somebody's head. A list of what is worth building, in the order it should be built. And a list of what to leave exactly as it is, which is usually the longer of the two. Any build is quoted after this, and you can stop here and keep the map.
I sit with the people doing the work
The owner describes the process that is supposed to happen. The person doing it describes the one that does. The gap between those two answers is where the work is.
You keep the map either way
The audit stands on its own. Stop after it and you still have a written map of how your own company runs and a list of what is worth fixing, with or without AI.
A leave-it-alone list
Some work is already fine, and some of it is too human to hand over. Naming those parts early is what stops money going into a system nobody uses.
The quote follows the audit
I cannot price a build honestly before I know what your records look like. The audit is what makes a quote real and what makes two quotes comparable.
It is not a readiness score
You do not get a slide with a maturity rating on it. You get the names of the jobs, the person doing each of them now, and what would do it instead.
What happens during an AI workflow audit
I start with the people who would be affected, not with software. We go through a normal cycle of work: what arrives, who touches it, where it waits, who has to be chased, and what gets typed twice. I ask to see the actual sheet, the actual register and the actual group chat rather than the version in the handbook.
Most of what I find has nothing to do with AI. A form in the wrong order, two people keeping the same list, a report nobody reads. Those get written down as they are, because fixing them costs nothing and no system can save a process that is wrong underneath.
- Time with the owner, and separately with the people doing the work
- A walk through one real cycle of work, start to finish
- A look at the records as they exist today, paper included
- Where information is typed more than once
- Where data currently sits and who can reach it
What you are handed at the end
A written map of how work moves through your business, in plain language, that a new manager could read and understand. A build list, in order, with what each item would connect to. And a leave-it-alone list, which is usually the longest of the three.
Alongside those three you get a note on where your records sit today and who can reach them, which is usually the part an auditor or a client asks about, and the questions to ask anybody who quotes you for this work, including me. What AI costs a small business explains how to compare two quotes that look nothing alike.
Where I will tell you not to build
I do not put AI into work that already runs well, and I say so in writing. If your team is small enough that the owner knows everything anyway, a system adds a step. If the information is not written down anywhere today, that has to be fixed first, and that is a filing job rather than an AI one.
The honest answer is sometimes a cheaper one. A sheet, a shared folder or one changed habit. I will tell you that during the audit, before you have spent anything on a build.
How the audit is priced, and what it does to a build quote
The audit is quoted on its own and agreed before it begins, so you know what you are committing to in advance. It is priced as a piece of work rather than by the hour. What moves the figure is the size of the team, how many branches or sites are involved, and whether I travel to you.
No build is quoted until the audit is done, because a build quoted before anyone has looked at your records is a guess. When the quote comes it names each system, what it connects to, the machine if there is one, and the handover. The schedule comes with it. A private AI server and a system like the one behind this employee management build are priced the same way, after the map exists.
How it runs
- 01
A call first
A short conversation about what your business does and what is annoying you. If an audit is not the right next step, I will say so on that call.
- 02
Time with the team
I spend time with the people who do the work, in your office or over video, and watch how a normal cycle of work actually runs.
- 03
The map
I write down how work moves today, where every record lives, and where the same information is entered more than once.
- 04
The lists, then the quote
You get the build list, the leave-it-alone list and a quote for whatever you choose to build. Stopping here is a normal outcome.
Built, not described
Questions people ask
What does an AI audit cost?
It is a single fee for the audit, agreed before it starts, so there is no open meter. What moves it is the size of your team, how many locations are involved, and whether I travel to you. Nothing about a build is quoted until the audit is finished.
Where can AI actually help my business?
Usually in the writing, the chasing and the re-typing: the end-of-day report, the attendance register, the leave request, the follow-up nobody sent, the file saved in the wrong folder. The audit tells you which of those is worth the money in your specific business.
Do I have to build anything after the audit?
No. The audit is a complete piece of work and stopping there is a normal outcome. You keep the map, the build list and the leave-it-alone list, and you can take them to any other supplier if you want to.
Is this the same as an AI readiness assessment?
It covers the same ground without the scoring. Readiness assessments tend to produce a rating and a framework. This produces the names of the jobs in your business, who does them now, and what would do them instead.
Who in my company do you need to speak to?
The owner or the person who signs off, and then the people who actually do the work, separately. The second group matters more. Managers describe the process as designed, and the people doing it describe the process as it is.
Will you tell me if AI is the wrong answer?
Yes, and it happens often enough to say so here. Sometimes the fix is a changed form, a shared folder or one habit that costs nothing. I write that down in the audit rather than quoting you a build your team would work around.
Can the audit be done remotely?
Much of it can. I am in Mumbai and work with clients across India over video calls, WhatsApp and shared links. I travel for the audit and the handover where a project needs somebody standing in the room, and that is agreed in advance.
Next step