AI Readiness Assessment
Before you buy a single tool, find out where AI actually pays off in your business — and, just as usefully, where it does not.
The problem with starting from the tool
Most AI projects in small businesses start backwards. Someone sees a demo, buys a subscription, and then goes looking for a problem it solves. Six months later there is a tool nobody opens and a line item nobody can justify.
The assessment inverts that. We start with your calendar and your payroll: where do the hours go, which of those hours are repetitive, and which of the repetitive ones follow rules consistent enough for software to handle.
What we actually do
Stakeholder interviews
We talk to the owner, the operations lead, and — critically — two or three people doing the frontline work. Owners describe the process as designed. Staff describe the process as performed. The gap between those two is usually where the money is.
Workflow observation
We watch real work happen. Screen shares, ride-alongs, sitting at the front desk. This is the step remote-only consultants skip, and it is the reason their recommendations feel generic.
Systems and data audit
What software do you pay for, what does each one actually hold, and can the pieces talk to each other? A surprising number of “AI problems” are integration problems wearing a costume.
Opportunity scoring
Every candidate workflow gets scored on estimated hours saved per month, implementation cost, technical risk, compliance exposure, and how disruptive the change is to your staff.
Roadmap delivery
A working session where we walk you through the findings, plus a written document you keep. It includes the projects we recommend against, and why.
What you get
- A ranked list of automation opportunities with hour and dollar estimates
- A recommended 6–12 month sequence, with dependencies mapped
- Tool recommendations with real pricing, including free and low-cost options
- A data-handling and compliance review for each recommended workflow
- A written list of what not to automate, and why
- A 90-minute walkthrough session with your leadership team
The roadmap is yours. No exclusivity clause, no requirement to hire us for the build. If you want to take it to your internal team or another firm, that is a legitimate outcome and we will hand over the files without argument. We would rather be the firm that gave you an honest map.
Who this is for
Businesses with 5 to 100 employees who have concluded that AI is probably relevant to them but cannot tell which of the forty vendors emailing them every week is worth a meeting. It is particularly useful before a software purchase, before a hire, or before a busy season.
Who this is not for
If you already know exactly what you want built — a specific integration, a specific assistant — skip the assessment and go straight to implementation. If you have fewer than five employees, a single working session is usually enough and we will say so on the call rather than sell you a full engagement.
Timeline and investment
| Business size | Duration | Typical investment |
|---|---|---|
| 5–20 employees, single location | 2 weeks | [$X,XXX] |
| 20–50 employees | 2–3 weeks | [$X,XXX] |
| 50–100 employees or multi-location | 3–4 weeks | [$XX,XXX] |
National benchmarks for SMB AI readiness assessments run roughly $2,000–$5,000; larger discovery engagements run higher. Set your figures deliberately — see pricing for how we think about this.
Find out what AI is actually worth to your business
Book a free 30-minute working session. We map your three most repetitive workflows, estimate the hours and dollars on the table, and tell you plainly whether AI is the right tool — or whether it isn't.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a free consultation?
A free consultation is a sales call — thirty minutes, a general conversation, and a proposal. An assessment is paid work: interviews, observation, systems review, and a document with your company's specific numbers in it. We offer the free call too, and it is genuinely free. But you should not expect a free call to produce a roadmap.
Will you recommend your own services?
Sometimes, and we flag it plainly when we do. The roadmap distinguishes between work you can do in-house, work an existing vendor should handle, off-the-shelf software that solves it for a monthly fee, and work that genuinely needs custom implementation. Only the last category is ours.
What do you need from us?
Roughly six to ten hours of staff time spread over two weeks, access to observe normal work, and a list of the software you pay for. We do not need access to your production systems during the assessment.
Do you sign an NDA?
Yes, routinely, before discovery starts. We will also sign yours.