Checklist: 20 processes where AI can create value in a mid-market company
This is a preliminary discussion list. It helps select processes worth checking during an audit. A process being listed here is not a guaranteed result: the final estimate depends on data, process maturity, process ownership, and the cost of change.
1. How to Use the Checklist
- Mark processes with repeated manual work or recurring errors.
- Check whether historical data, documents, correspondence, or operation logs exist.
- Identify who owns the process and will be accountable for impact after rollout.
- Select 3–5 processes for an initial ROI estimate.
2. 20 Processes for Initial Screening
| # | Process | Where value may appear | First question for the process owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | First-line customer request handling | Shorter response time and lower first-line workload | What share of requests repeats every week? |
| 02 | Sales lead qualification | Faster separation of promising leads from low-fit requests | Which signals distinguish a high-quality lead? |
| 03 | Commercial proposal drafting | Less manual document assembly and fewer condition errors | Which parts of a proposal repeat across deals? |
| 04 | CRM meeting notes and next steps | Better sales discipline and fewer lost commitments | Where are call and meeting outcomes recorded today? |
| 05 | Invoice, act, and payment reconciliation | Less manual checking and fewer document discrepancies | Which discrepancy types occur most often? |
| 06 | Management reporting | Faster report consolidation and variance explanation | How many hours does one recurring report take? |
| 07 | Overdue-payment monitoring | Earlier risk detection and personalized reminders | Which signals usually precede a payment delay? |
| 08 | Demand and inventory forecasting | Fewer stock-outs on bestsellers and less excess inventory | Do you have sales history by product, location, and period? |
| 09 | Assortment and promotion analysis | Faster view of what sells, what stalls, and why | Which decisions are made from this analysis today? |
| 10 | Stock-replenishment recommendations | More accurate orders and fewer manual corrections | How often do buyers manually override the automatic calculation? |
| 11 | Returns, claims, and complaints | Faster cause classification and recurring-defect visibility | Is there a unified dictionary of return reasons? |
| 12 | Supplier document checks | Less manual extraction of details, dates, and terms | Which documents arrive most often, and in what format? |
| 13 | Product-card enrichment | Faster preparation of descriptions, attributes, and media | Which product-card fields are filled manually most often? |
| 14 | Contract and appendix comparison | Faster discovery of deviations from standard terms | Is there an approved template and a list of critical clauses? |
| 15 | Internal knowledge base | Fast search across policies, instructions, and responsible owners | Where are the current instructions stored today? |
| 16 | Initial candidate screening | Less manual resume review against formal criteria | Which criteria must not be violated during screening? |
| 17 | Employee onboarding and training | Faster introduction to company processes and rules | Which questions do new employees ask most often? |
| 18 | IT support requests | Faster ticket classification and standard solution suggestions | What share of tickets is closed by a standard instruction? |
| 19 | Call and message quality control | Detection of script violations and reasons for lost customers | Is there an agreed communication-quality scorecard? |
| 20 | Operational anomaly detection | Earlier discovery of unusual write-offs, discounts, or actions | Which deviations are currently detected too late? |
3. What to Take Into the Initial Estimate
For a quick estimate, choose processes that combine recurring operation volume, measurable cost of error or manual work, clear ownership, and available historical data. This is usually enough to formulate 2–3 ideas for a 30-minute discussion.