What to automate after the first three

The processes where a person still moves data or sends a status.

The first automations are usually obvious: an online form that creates a record, invoices that send themselves, a booking tool. If you haven’t done those yet, start with our guide on how to automate business processes. Once they’re running, the next layer is quieter work that still eats hours every week.

• Status updates.

  Someone checks where an order or job stands and emails the customer or the team. A system can send that when the status changes.

• Data moves between two systems.

  Copying orders into a spreadsheet, retyping customers into the accounting tool, exporting and importing every week.

• Follow-ups that follow a clear rule.

  A quote not answered in a week, an invoice a few days late, a review request after delivery.

• Weekly reports that always look the same.

  The same numbers pulled from the same places every Monday.

• Exceptions that can be flagged.

  Let the system check every order and show a person only the ones that need a decision.

Work that happens the same way every time, with written steps and a rare decision in the middle.

1. 01

   List the candidates.

   Every place someone moves data or sends a status by hand. If you’re not sure where they are, map it first.

2. 02

   Check it’s repeatable.

   Same trigger, same steps, same result, almost every time.

3. 03

   Check it’s written.

   If the process still lives in someone’s head, write the steps first.

4. 04

   Check the decision in the middle.

   If someone has to use judgment most of the time, it isn’t ready. If the decision is rare, automate the rest and flag the exceptions.

How often, how long, and how bad a mistake would be.

• How often does it happen?

  Score high whenDaily or many times a week.

  Score low whenA few times a year.

• How much time does it take?

  Score high whenHours a week across the team.

  Score low whenA few minutes, once in a while.

• How written is it?

  Score high whenThe steps are on a page and everyone follows them.

  Score low whenIt lives in one person’s head.

• What if it goes wrong?

  Score high whenEasy to spot and undo.

  Score low whenGoes straight to customers or money with no check.

Score each candidate on the four questions and start with the highest. Usually it’s a frequent, written, low-risk job: the weekly report or the status email, not the pricing decision.

Judgment, unwritten work, and anything that needs a new tool first.

• Anything that needs judgment in the middle.

  Pricing calls, unusual customers, hiring decisions. Automate the steps around them and keep the decision with a person.

• Anything that isn’t written down.

  You can’t automate steps you can’t describe.

• Anything that needs a new tool before the current ones are used.

  Start with what you already have. Most tools you pay for can do more than they’re doing.

Newer AI tools, like AI agents and coding assistants such as Claude Code, can handle more of the messy middle than older automation could. The same rule still applies: written first, reviewed by a person, then automated.

One at a time, with an owner, and a check that it’s still working.

1. 01

   Automate one, then watch it.

   Run it alongside the manual version for a week or two before you switch the manual one off.

2. 02

   Give it an owner.

   Someone who gets the alert when it fails and knows how to fix or bypass it.

3. 03

   Write it down.

   What it does, what triggers it, and what to do if it stops.

4. 04

   Check it monthly.

   Processes change; automations quietly break. A quick monthly look catches it early.

List the processes where someone still moves data or sends a status. Pick the one that happens most often. Write the steps if they aren’t written. Then automate that one.

If you want the next automations scoped, built and handed over, that’s our AI & automation work.

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