AI Readiness Assessment — Is Your Business Ready for AI?

19 questions · about two minutes

1. Is the data an AI would need held in systems rather than in people or spreadsheets?

Almost all of it is in systemsMixed — systems plus significant spreadsheetsMostly spreadsheets and shared drivesLargely in people's heads

2. How much do you trust the accuracy of your core records?

High — we reconcile regularlyReasonable, with known gapsPatchy — we work around itLow

3. Can you export or query historical records (tickets, orders, calls) for analysis?

Yes, easilyWith some effortOnly with vendor helpNo

4. Are the processes you would automate documented?

Documented and currentDocumented but out of dateOnly informallyNot at all

5. Would two people describe the process the same way?

Yes — it is consistentBroadly, with variation at the edgesNo — everyone has their own version

6. Do you measure how long the process takes or how often it fails?

Yes, with real numbersRoughlyNo

7. Do your core systems expose APIs?

Modern, documented APIsSome do, some do notLegacy with limited accessNo APIs at all

8. Do you have staging or test environments?

Yes, mirroring productionA basic oneNo — changes go straight to live

9. Who can change your core systems?

In-house teamA retained partner who responds quicklyA vendor with long lead timesNobody, in practice

10. Do you have role-based access control across your systems?

Yes, enforced and reviewedRoughly, not reviewedShared logins are common

11. Do you have a position on where company data may be processed?

Yes, documentedInformally understoodWe have not considered it

12. Are actions in your core systems audit-logged?

Yes, comprehensivelyPartiallyNo

13. Is there a named owner accountable for the outcome?

Yes, with authority to decideYes, but they need sign-off for everythingNo clear owner

14. How would your team react to automation of their work?

Positively — they want the tedium goneMixedAnxious or resistant

15. Is there a budget for ongoing running and tuning, not just the build?

YesNot explicitlyNo — it is a one-off project

16. What automation exists today?

Meaningful workflow automation in productionSome integrations and scheduled jobsA few email rulesNone

17. Have you tried an AI tool in a business process before?

Yes, in productionYes, experiments onlyNo

18. Do your systems already talk to each other?

Yes, properly integratedPartiallyNo — people move data between them

19. Is there a single place where a customer's full history can be seen?

YesPartially — across two or three systemsNo

What does AI readiness actually mean?

AI readiness is not about having a strategy document or a budget. It means four practical things: the data an AI would need to make a decision exists somewhere reachable and is reasonably accurate; the processes it would automate are defined well enough that two people would describe them the same way; someone owns the outcome and can approve changes; and your security and access model can accommodate a system acting on your behalf. A business strong on those can deploy quickly. A business weak on them will spend most of its budget discovering that.

Methodology

How this is calculated

Published in full, so you can disagree with it. A tool that hides its model is a lead form.

Nineteen questions across seven categories, each answer scored 0–1 for maturity.
Data, systems and processes carry the highest weights because they determine whether a project is feasible at all; automation maturity carries the lowest because it is a nice-to-have, not a prerequisite.
The overall score is the weighted average of category scores, not of individual answers, so one weak category is not hidden by a strong one.
The priority list shows your weakest individual answers with a specific recommended action for each.

Assumptions and limits

Self-assessment. Teams consistently overestimate data quality and process documentation — if in doubt, choose the lower option.
A high score does not mean automation is worthwhile for you, only that you could deliver it. Use the Automation Opportunity Scanner for the value question.
Weightings reflect our delivery experience and are published so you can apply your own judgement.

FAQ

Questions about this tool

Often yes, if you narrow the scope. A single workflow against a single accessible system is a legitimate way to build readiness rather than wait for it. What does not work is starting broad while the foundations are weak.

Systems and data. Process and leadership problems slow a project down; data and system access problems can stop it entirely.

Work the priority list top-down. Most of it is process and access work rather than software purchase — getting decision-critical data into systems, documenting the process, and naming an owner.

No. Nothing is stored unless you choose to have the report emailed to you.

Related tools

If you want this built

Turn the number into a plan.

Send us the workflow behind your result. We will come back with how we would automate it, what stays human, and what it takes to build.

Find What I Can Automate Talk about a workflow