Where this industry usually has AI opportunity
Start with work that repeats often, has a recognizable input and output, and can be reviewed before it affects a customer, candidate, client or financial record.
| Workflow | Why assess it | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Research collection | Repeated source gathering and summarization. | Consultant validates sources and implications. |
| Meeting follow-up | Decisions, actions and workstream updates recur daily. | Human approves external messages. |
| Proposal first drafts | Repeated structures and capability proof points. | Human owns scope, price and claims. |
| Knowledge retrieval | Internal case studies and expertise are hard to find. | Use approved internal sources. |
| Deliverable QA | Consistency, citations and formatting can be checked. | Consultant owns final content. |
Prioritize repeated operational work, not novelty
Count how often the workflow occurs across the whole firm, how many people touch it, how long it takes, and how frequently exceptions appear. A modest improvement to a daily cross-team workflow is often worth more than an impressive demo used twice a month.
The best first pilot often removes the repetitive middle of a workflow while keeping judgement and irreversible actions human-controlled.
Example: research-to-brief workflow
The exact boundary should depend on the data available, error cost and approval requirements. Start narrow enough that quality can be measured against the current process.
What not to automate first
- Delegating strategic recommendations to a model without expert review.
- Using unverifiable generated facts in client deliverables.
- Uploading confidential client material into unapproved systems.
- Automating pricing, commitments or legal language.
- Optimizing for output volume instead of insight quality.
How to start
Select one workflow that happens every week, measure its current frequency and duration, define the smallest useful AI-assisted step, and run the pilot with explicit approval and exception rules. Compare time, quality and rework after the pilot—not just model output quality.