12 AI automation examples for small and mid-sized businesses

The short answer

The best first automation is a task your team repeats every day, that follows the same steps each time, and that nobody enjoys. Below are twelve that businesses commonly start with.

Sales and marketing

• Website enquiries answered within a minute, qualified and added to the CRM.
• Follow-up emails sent automatically when a quote has had no reply.
• New leads researched and scored before a salesperson sees them.
• Reviews requested after each completed job.

Finance and admin

• Supplier invoices read from email and entered into the accounts package for approval.
• Receipts and expenses matched to bank transactions.
• Overdue invoice reminders sent on a schedule, with the tone you choose.
• Weekly reports assembled from several systems and sent to managers.

Operations and customer service

• Bookings confirmed, reminded and rescheduled without phone calls.
• Incoming emails sorted, tagged and routed to the right person with a draft reply.
• Customer documents and IDs checked for completeness before a person reviews them.
• Stock levels watched and re-orders raised when a threshold is hit.

How to choose your first one

• Count how many hours a week the task takes across the team.
• Check the steps are the same each time. If every case is different, it is a poor first candidate.
• Check the systems involved can be connected, through an API or an export.
• Keep a person approving the result at first, then remove the approval once it has earned trust.

Quick answers