Which repetitive work should you automate first?

Almost every conversation raises the same question: where to start? The answer is rarely the biggest process. It is the task that comes back every week and that nobody enjoys.

Question 1: does it come back every week?

Automation only pays off with repetition. A quote retyped three times a week: yes. An annual report: no. Count for a week what keeps coming back. The list will shock you.

Question 2: are the steps always the same?

A system does what you teach it. Tasks with fixed steps work well: enquiry comes in, copy the details, send a confirmation. Tasks that need a judgement call every time, you leave with people.

Question 3: what happens when it goes wrong?

Start with work where a mistake is easy to put right. A wrong confirmation email is annoying. A wrong invoice to a major customer is worse. Build in an approval step there, or start somewhere else.

Three tasks that almost always make a good start

• Quote follow-up: after three days without a reply, a short email goes out automatically.
• Sorting enquiries: a form comes in, the system fills your CRM and sends a confirmation.
• Customer questions out of hours: a chatbot answers what it knows and passes on the rest.

What to leave alone

Anything where your customer expects a human. A complaint, a large project, bad news. That calls for a name and a phone number, not a system.

Pick one task. Build it, measure for a month, and only then look further. That way you know it works before you invest more.