Start here if you don't know where to start.
Before any tool, any budget and any vendor, a first AI project needs four things to be true. Work through these with your team and you will know whether you are ready — and what to fix if you are not.
A workflow you can name
Not "improve efficiency". Something a person does, on a schedule, that you could watch over their shoulder.
Information it can reach
The documents, records or messages the task depends on, and permission to use them.
A named owner
One person accountable for the outcome, with the authority to change how the work is done.
A way to tell if it worked
A number or an observation you agree on beforehand. Time saved, errors avoided, queue length.
Then prepare the pilot
Once the four basics are in place, these checks turn a promising idea into a pilot you can judge fairly. The checklist is a planning aid, not a certification, legal assessment or promise of return.
- 05
Set data and access boundaries
Agree which information is allowed in the workflow, who may see the results and which processing environments are acceptable. Include hosting expectations, retention requirements and restricted material. For GCC operations, do not assume every country, customer or business unit has identical requirements.
- 06
Decide where people must review
Identify actions or answers that need approval. Define what happens when information is missing, an output is uncertain or an integration fails, and give users a clear route to a source or a person.
- 07
Build a realistic test set
Use approved examples that cover typical tasks, ambiguous inputs, exceptions and out-of-scope requests. Write down the expected outcome for each case before testing. Where real records are not appropriate, start with redacted examples.
- 08
Plan the operating effort
Identify who will maintain the knowledge, approve changes and support users. Consider tool access, integration work, review time and ongoing costs as well as initial setup. A successful demonstration is not the same as a sustainable process.
- 09
Make a clear pilot decision
Define the evidence needed to continue, revise or stop. If ownership, permitted data use or human oversight remains unresolved, address that gap before expanding the project.
Score yourself honestly
Four out of four: you are ready to pilot. Two or three: worth a conversation about what is missing. Fewer: start with a discovery session instead of a project.
Talk through your score