Lead intake to qualified opportunity
How a sales team could separate capture, checks, bounded AI research and a salesperson's review before the CRM is updated. An architecture example, not a client outcome.
The Audit
A fixed-price AI audit of the loops still running through you
We map the loop that waits for you most, end to end across up to five systems, and price taking it out. Two working sessions, £3,500 excl. VAT, delivered within 10 working days.
The problem
You know you're the bottleneck. Where do you start?
Everything routes to you: the awkward quote, the overdue invoice, the "where are we on this job?" The team pays for AI tools and a few people use them well, but nobody has priced which loop to fix first.
Starting a build before that's clear turns uncertainty into cost. The Audit decides what to keep, connect, automate or build first, and what to leave alone.
What you get
A plan you can act on next week
- Two 90-minute working sessions with you and your team
- A current-state map and an issue-and-risk register
- One loop mapped end to end, up to five systems
- AI use cases ranked by value, effort and risk
- A ranked roadmap, with the first build scoped and priced
- A pilot brief you can take to us or anyone else
Timeline
Ten working days to a decision
01. Discovery call
A free 30 minutes to agree the loop and the people to involve.
02. Session 1
Walk through the loop as it runs today: the steps, systems, data and exceptions.
03. Session 2
Test the options for that loop: rules, AI, a new tool, an app or no change.
04. Report and brief
Map, risk register, roadmap and pilot brief, reviewed with you.
Systems we typically review
- Gmail
- Monday.com
- QuickBooks
- Shopify
- Calendly
In depth
What the Audit covers, and what it doesn't
An AI audit is a short, fixed-price review of how one loop in your business actually runs, done to decide what to change first and whether AI belongs in it at all. Ours costs £3,500 excluding VAT. We agree the loop on a free 30-minute call, usually the one that waits for you most often, then spend two 90-minute working sessions on it with you and the people who do the work.
What you get, within 10 working days of the sessions:
- One end-to-end workflow mapped, across up to five systems.
- A current-state map and an issue-and-risk register.
- AI use cases ranked by value, effort and risk, compared with plain rules, better configuration and no change.
- A ranked roadmap, with the first build scoped and priced.
- A pilot brief you can take to us, another supplier or your own team.
What it doesn't cover: a valuation, legal or tax advice, a security certification, or a build. The Audit can end with a recommendation not to build anything, when a setting or a standard tool does the job.
How we pick the first loop
The first loop is rarely the most interesting one. We look for four things: it runs often, it follows rules you can write down, a wrong result can be caught before it costs much, and someone other than you can own it once it runs. Typical first picks are turning accepted quotes into invoices, chasing overdue payments, and answering and booking routine enquiries. Rare, disputed or fast-changing work comes later, if at all.
Each candidate is measured on frequency, effort, waiting time, rework and the cost of an error, not on how impressive the technology looks. The guide Which spreadsheet workflows to automate first applies the same test to work that lives in spreadsheets.
The full guide, section by section
An Audit for owners planning to sell
Buyers pay for a business that runs without its owner and for figures they can check. If you plan to sell in the next one to three years, we scope the Audit around what a buyer will test: which loops still depend on you, and which customer, job, invoice and staff records won't reconcile when someone asks for them. The roadmap then puts those loops in order, so the business can show it runs without you before a buyer looks.
We don't value businesses, broker sales or give tax advice. The Audit looks for the cost and owner dependence a buyer will price in, so you can take them out before a buyer looks. We're happy to work alongside your broker, accountant or exit adviser. The guide Selling in two or three years: the operations checklist buyers test sets out the records a buyer's team will ask for.
Selling in the next few years? A free call about what a buyer will test: which loops depend on you and which records won't reconcile. No valuation, no sales pitch for AI. Book a sale-readiness call
An Audit for new owners: week one of a 100-day plan
If you've just bought a business, the same two sessions become week one of a 100-day systems plan. We look at what you inherited (the systems, the data and who knows what), which records to reconcile first, and which loops still run through the previous owner. The roadmap sets the order for the rest of the 100 days, and the pilot brief covers the first change. The guide The first 100 days after buying a business sets out the plan week by week.
Just bought a business? Spend 30 minutes on what you inherited: which records to reconcile first and which loops still run through the seller. Book a 100-day systems call
What it costs against the UK market
Our Audit is £3,500 excluding VAT for the two sessions and the written outputs. Third-party licences and work beyond the agreed loop aren't included. Published UK audit prices vary widely with the size of the firm and what the report contains; our cost guide lists them with their sources and dates, so you can compare like with like. When you compare, check three things: whether a named loop is mapped end to end, whether the first build comes back scoped and priced, and whether the brief is yours to take elsewhere.
Rules, AI and people in the decision
AI can summarise approved notes, group recurring themes or draft a process hypothesis for review during the Audit. It does not set priorities, treat unapproved documents as fact or replace talking to the people doing the work. Any AI-generated conclusion stays a hypothesis until a person checks it.
Swipe or scroll to compare the columns.
| Decision | Evidence and rules | Human owner |
|---|---|---|
| Choose the workflow | Frequency, time, blockage, errors and observable outcomes | Confirms the problem matters and can be changed |
| Choose the solution | Configuration, integration, automation, AI agent and app compared by explicit criteria | Accepts trade-offs, budget and order |
| Control data | Source of truth, access and data-quality exceptions identified | Approves data use and responsibility for it |
| Launch and learn | Runs, errors, corrections and states logged | Decides whether to extend, stop or change the process |
Working artifact: AI readiness checklist
Tick an item only when you have working evidence or an explicit decision. An unknown stays an open risk.
Swipe or scroll to compare the columns.
| Check | Yes | No | Unknown / action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is there an owner who can change the workflow? | |||
| Are the input, accepted outcome and completion criterion clear? | |||
| Is the system of record set for important data? | |||
| Do exceptions, duplicates and delays have a recovery path? | |||
| Can data and permissions be used for the proposed purpose? | |||
| Can the first release be limited to one repeatable path? | |||
| Is there a way to evaluate the operational effect after launch? |
The checklist is an orientation tool. It is not a security, legal or financial audit and does not replace the responsible person's approval.
Dependencies, risks and limits
- A diagnosis depends on access to the people doing the work, not only leadership objectives.
- Historical data may be incomplete and time estimates biased; keep definitions and the measurement period.
- Providers, APIs, internal policies, applicable law and infrastructure can change feasibility; check them separately.
- A strategy does not produce adoption, savings or revenue by itself. The effect has to be measured after implementation.
- An over-broad plan hides sequencing and ownership. The first release needs a boundary and a stop condition.
Public examples
Lead intake to qualified opportunity, Request and document triage and Service delivery operations hub are solution blueprints, not client results. They show how capture, validation, bounded AI, review and synchronisation can be separated before anything is built.
Next step
Apply the checklist to one workflow and write down the owner, the accepted outcome and the most costly exception. Take the AI readiness check for a first direction, then compare options in Automation or an operational application? and read how we work.
To decide on the first loop, book a call to scope your Audit. Bring process-level steps, roles, systems and risks; do not send credentials, customer data, documents or internal configuration.
Definitions and limits
"AI audit" here means a fixed-scope review of one workflow and its systems, ending with written outputs. "Readiness" means the workflow has an owner, usable data, clear outcomes and controllable risk, not that a company has bought AI tools. This page describes a service; it is not a guarantee of savings, timing or commercial outcome.
FAQ
AI audit questions
Ours is two 90-minute working sessions and a written report within 10 working days. We map the loop that waits for you most, end to end across up to five systems, and give you a risk register, AI use cases ranked by value, effort and risk, a roadmap and a pilot brief.
Ours is £3,500 excl. VAT, for two 90-minute working sessions and a written report within 10 working days. Published UK audit prices vary widely with the size of the firm; our cost guide lists them with their sources. Third-party licences and work beyond the agreed loop aren't included.
The readiness check is a free three-minute self-assessment that points you in a direction. The free 30-minute call looks at one loop with us and tells you whether an Audit is worth it. The Audit is the paid, written analysis you can act on, with us or anyone else.
Yes. For owners selling in the next one to three years we scope it around what a buyer will test: which loops depend on you, and which customer, job, invoice and staff records won't reconcile. We don't value businesses or give tax advice, and we're happy to work with your broker or accountant.
Often, yes. The same two sessions become week one of a 100-day systems plan: what you inherited, which records to reconcile first, and which loops still run through the previous owner. The roadmap then sets the order for the rest of the 100 days.
No. The pilot brief is yours, written so any competent supplier or your own team can use it. If you continue with us, it becomes the scope for the Pilot.
