Fix how the work moves. Then put AI where it earns its place.
Five phases, six principles and a twelve-question assessment. The method behind every review I run, written here so a business your size can run it without me, before any AI tool touches client information.
The problem is rarely the tool. It is the way the work moves underneath it.
Businesses buy software, add automations, switch on AI features, and six months later the same bottlenecks are still there behind more dashboards. Unclear ownership. Missing handovers. Manual chasing. Decisions trapped in the owner's head. No technology fixes that; it makes the problem move faster, and now it moves client information too.
The AI Framework fixes the workflow first, then layers systems, automation and AI on top of something that already works. It is the method I use. It is written here so you can run it yourself, in the order below, before you put AI anywhere near your business.
Five phases. Do them in order.
Each phase has its own page with the steps, the questions to ask, and what you should have in hand before you move on. Skipping a phase is the usual reason the next one fails.
01 · Audit
Find out how the work actually moves, and where AI is already in it.
02 · Map
Redesign how the work should flow before any tool goes in.
03 · Build
Set up the systems around the workflow, not the other way round.
04 · Automate
Add automation and AI only where it earns its place, with a human at every point that matters.
05 · Optimise
Measure against what you said you wanted, and keep the rules current as the tools change.
Six principles you will be tempted to break.
They decide what to build, what to leave alone and when to stop. Read them before phase one and again before phase four.
The six principlesAssess an AI use in twelve questions.
Modelled on the questions the NSW Government asks its own agencies before an AI system is approved, cut down for a business your size. Run it on every AI tool, feature or workflow before it touches client information.
Run the assessmentThe AI Framework is free. The Kit turns it into your rules.
The AI Rules Kit turns this framework into eight documents you complete yourself. Something else in mind? Book a call.
Start with the Exposure Check