Which business tasks should you automate first?
Start with one job that repeats, has clear rules and a system that allows access. Here is how to pick it.
By The Solva Group. Published 8 October 2026.
A good first automation is a job that repeats often, follows rules a person could write down, and runs between systems that allow access. The Solva Group recommends choosing one such job, deciding what a person still approves, and agreeing what happens when a step fails, before anything is built.
Which tasks repeat?
List the jobs your team does every day or every week in the same way: typing a sale into a second system, downloading a file from one place and uploading it to another, reading each enquiry to decide who gets it. Frequency matters more than size. A small job done fifty times a week is a better candidate than a large one done once a quarter.
When are ordinary rules enough?
If the job is moving a record from one system to another unchanged, fixed rules do it exactly and the numbers stay right. Most automation between business systems is this kind. Check whether a ready-made connector already supports the records, fields, direction and frequency you need before paying for a custom one.
When does AI help?
AI earns its place where the job needs reading: deciding what an email is about, pulling the details out of a document, or sorting an enquiry to the right person. It is strong at reading, sorting and first drafts. Check final numbers and agree which messages need review before enabling automatic sending.
What access is required?
Every system allows different access, and some allow none. Write down which systems are involved and ask each vendor what can be read and what can be written. A careful developer checks this before quoting. Where reading is enough, keep the connection read-only.
What needs a person to approve it?
Decide which steps may run on their own and which stop for a named person. Anything that leaves the business, changes money, or cannot be undone should wait for approval until the automation has earned trust on your own information.
How will failures be handled?
Agree how a missed or failed step is noticed, who is told, and what happens to the record in the meantime. An automation that fails quietly is worse than the manual job it replaced. Our system integration checklist lists what to write down first.
How we approach it
We look at which systems you have, what access they allow and what you want to move, then tell you plainly what we can automate, what we cannot, and what it costs. You get a written scope and a fixed price before any development starts. See AI automation.
Quick answers
Do we need AI to automate a task?
Often not. Moving records between systems is done by fixed rules. AI helps only where the job needs reading or sorting text.
Do we have to replace the software we use?
No. The point is to keep what works and connect it.
What should we automate first?
One job that repeats often, follows rules you can write down, and runs between systems that allow access.
Where to go next.
Prefer a written workflow plan?
Rather have the plan written for you?
A Workflow Blueprint is a paid, fixed-fee plan for one business workflow, with a written scope and a build quote.
What a Workflow Blueprint includesSee a related project
The reply, already drafted.
- The job
- Read the email and draft a reply.
- Your choice
- Review the draft, or enable automatic replies.
- What reaches you
- The email and its drafted reply, ready to review.
Tell us what you need built.
A rough description is enough.