Illustrative sample

What an AI Opportunity Map looks like

This example shows the shape and decision standard of an audit deliverable. It uses a fictional distribution business and is not presented as a client result.

Do now

Invoice reconciliation

Current friction
Finance staff match transfer alerts, invoice references, and customer messages manually.
Why it is first
The work is repetitive, the inputs already exist, and every proposed match can be reviewed before records change.
Evidence to collect
Weekly transaction volume, minutes per match, exception rate, and cost of delayed reconciliation.
Safety condition
Keep approval with finance staff and restrict access to the minimum customer and payment data required.
30-day test
Run on one account. Continue only if review time falls without increasing reconciliation errors.

Validate first

Customer-enquiry triage

Potential value
Group incoming questions by urgency and draft responses for staff review.
Unknown
Whether message volume is high enough to justify another system.
Next evidence
Sample two weeks of enquiries, classify them manually, and measure response delay before selecting a tool.

Ignore for now

A general-purpose company chatbot

No defined user, no named workflow, and no measurable result. Buying it now creates training, data, and maintenance work before the business has identified a problem worth solving.

The first 90 days

  1. Days 1 to 30: establish the reconciliation baseline and run the controlled test.
  2. Days 31 to 60: compare time, error, and exception data against the agreed gate.
  3. Days 61 to 90: expand only if the result clears the gate; otherwise close it and document why.

Need this decision for your own business?

The AI Opportunity Audit applies this standard to your workflows, numbers, risks, and team.

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