Resources / Guide · 7 min read
The AI Readiness Checklist
Twelve things to true up before you spend a dollar on an AI project — from data hygiene to executive sponsorship.
Data — reachable, not perfect
Your data does not need to be clean. It needs to be reachable. If a human can query it via an API, a model can use it. If it lives in someone’s inbox or a locked-down spreadsheet, fix that first.
A workflow with a current cost
Pick a workflow you can put a dollar figure on today — hours per week times loaded labor cost. Without that number, you cannot prove ROI, and the project becomes politics.
One human owner
Not a committee. One person who can say yes, schedule meetings, and break ties. Without an owner, the project dies in week three.
Tolerance for "good enough"
AI is probabilistic. If your workflow requires 100% correctness with no human review, AI is not the answer — yet. If it can tolerate a review queue, you are ready.
A measurement plan
How will you know it is working? Decide before you build. Time saved, deflection rate, conversion lift — pick one and instrument it on day one.
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