An AI opportunity shortlist compares real tasks on the same terms. Record frequency, staff time, reachable data, cost of errors and who reviews the output before choosing a pilot.
Use one row for each task
Interview the person who does the work and ask for a normal example, an awkward example and an example that must be escalated. Record where the input comes from, where the output goes and how long the task takes, including rework. A rough count from a real week is a better starting point than a forecast from a demo.
| Candidate | Baseline to record | Gate before testing |
|---|---|---|
| Draft the weekly operations brief | Preparation, review and corrections per brief | Approved source reports and a named reviewer |
| Extract invoice fields | Invoices per week, handling time and exceptions | Representative records and a person who checks the payable amount |
| Triage new customer requests | Requests per channel and time to correct a wrong route | Approved categories and a fallback queue for ambiguous requests |
Rank time, readiness and risk separately
Put the likely benefit beside the effort to get usable data. Mark a task as blocked if no one owns its result, if staff cannot show a representative sample, or if a wrong answer could reach a customer without review. A blocked task can go back on the list when there is an owner and a workable test. This keeps a large theoretical saving from outranking something the team can safely evaluate next week.
What a useful short list looks like
An illustrative operations team picks the weekly brief first: the reports are already approved, a supervisor reviews the brief and the baseline can be timed. It keeps invoice extraction as a second candidate while the finance team builds an exception sample. It defers automated routing until the support lead has agreed where unclear requests belong. Write those reasons next to the rankings so a later owner understands the choice.
Use the AI ROI calculator to test the business case using the team’s actual workload and review time. Then carry the top candidate into a pilot charter.
We can help turn examples from your team into a shortlist with clear owners and test criteria. Explore NetSys AI consulting.
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