Five processes to automate first

You can't automate everything at once, and you shouldn't try. The best first candidates share three traits: they repeat often, they follow clear rules, and a mistake is annoying rather than catastrophic.

Invoice approval is the classic. Data is re-keyed between systems, and requests wait in inboxes for a signature that's almost always a yes. Employee onboarding is another: the same forms, the same accounts, the same checklist every time.

Lead routing, ticket triage and stock reconciliation round out the usual list. In each case people spend their day moving information from one place to another instead of acting on it.

Before you build anything, count. How many times a week does the process run, and how long does each run take? Multiply, and start with the biggest number. Then ship the smallest version that removes the manual step, and measure again.