Automation & Technology Readiness Assessment

What is taking too much time, and would automation help?

A review of the work, preparation and risks behind an automation or technology opportunity, before you choose a tool or commit to implementation.

Tell us what is not working

Who this is for: Organisations considering new technology without a clear set of uses or a practical implementation plan.
When this helps: A new tool or AI idea is attracting attention, but the problem it would solve and the preparation needed are unclear.
Decision at the end: A recommendation to progress, validate, defer or stop each opportunity, with the evidence, safeguards and responsibilities needed for its next phase.

Value path

Commitments and work → usable capacity and reliable service

The problem: Repeated tasks, rework and missed handoffs may leave the team short of time. Choosing a tool before understanding the process can leave the cause unchanged.
Evidence we need: The process and service results you want to improve, records of normal work and exceptions, relevant data and systems, and the people responsible for delivery and safeguards.

Assess → Transform → Operate → Scale

Understand the problem before deciding what to change.

This engagement covers Assess. Transform, Operate and Scale each need a separate scope and approval. An assessment recommendation does not commit you to later work.

Assess
Understand the problem
Check the evidence and how the work happens. Decide which problem needs attention first.
Transform
Put the change into practice
Agree the scope, responsibilities and success measures, then implement the chosen changes.
Operate
Make the change hold
Support the change in day-to-day use and review whether it is delivering the intended result.
Scale
Repeat what works
Use results from day-to-day work to decide what to improve or extend, retaining the conditions that made it work.

Best for

Organisations considering new technology without a clear set of uses or a practical implementation plan.

Boundaries and responsibilities

When this helps: A new tool or AI idea is attracting attention, but the problem it would solve and the preparation needed are unclear.
Why it matters: Checking the process first helps distinguish a useful automation opportunity from a tool that adds work or risk.
What you can decide: A recommendation to progress, validate, defer or stop each opportunity, with the evidence, safeguards and responsibilities needed for its next phase.
What is included: Agree the processes, intended results and decisions to assess.
Review the automation and technology options, including whether AI is suitable, against the data, process, skills and controls required.
Check the preparation, risks and evidence gaps for the priority opportunities.
Recommend practical next steps and identify opportunities that need more evidence or should not proceed.
What we need from you: A brief covering the results you need, candidate opportunities, constraints and decision-makers.
Available process maps, customer or performance records, system information, policies and results of earlier trials.
Working sessions with process, data and technology leads, risk specialists and the people responsible for adoption.
Access to agreed sources or supplied exports. We record unknowns rather than fill them with assumptions.
Your responsibilities: Name a sponsor, process leads and the people responsible for controls.
Provide relevant process records, customer or performance information, system context and existing policies.
Agree the trade-offs and safeguards, then choose which opportunities need further discovery, a pilot or delivery.
Decision criteria: Relevance: does the opportunity address a real business or process priority?
Evidence: are the need and process understood, with gaps stated?
Readiness: are the data, systems, skills, responsibilities and adoption requirements clear enough for a next step?
Risk: are privacy, security, delivery and change risks understood before commitment?
Next step: is the recommendation clear, including what evidence could change it?
Before you commit further: Proceed when the problem, evidence, responsibilities and safeguards support a practical next phase.
Validate when an important assumption needs testing before commitment.
Defer when preparation or adoption requirements cannot yet be met.
Stop when the tool does not address a supported business or process need.
What is not included: Automation or software builds, product or model selection, production deployment, integrations, data engineering, model training and ongoing monitoring or operations.
Formal legal, regulatory, security or privacy certification, detailed procurement and a full enterprise technology operating model unless separately agreed.
Guaranteed business outcomes, technical performance or adoption where the required client evidence and validation are not available.
Discovery, pilots, transformation leadership or technology delivery after the assessment; each is separately scoped against an accepted opportunity.
How this differs: Assesses a tool in the context of the process, data, controls and people who would use it.
Separates opportunities ready to progress from those needing a test, a pause or a stop.
More focused than the Business Growth & Technology Opportunity Assessment: this examines workflow readiness and tool decisions, not the full transformation programme.

What we examine

01High-friction workflows
02Automation and technology opportunities
03Data and technology readiness
04People and capability
05Governance and risk
06Value and implementation feasibility

What you receive

01
A brief covering the agreed results, processes, candidate opportunities and important unknowns
02
An opportunity register linking each option to its problem, evidence, requirements, risks and responsible person
03
An assessment of preparation and risk across data, process, systems, skills, controls and adoption
04
Prioritised recommendations on what to progress, validate, defer or stop
05
A decision pack identifying the next evidence or test needed for each priority
06
A handoff separating discovery, pilot or delivery work for its own scope

How it works

01
Agree the priority results, processes, opportunities and decision-makers.
02
Review the available evidence and record its limits.
03
Assess each option against the problem, preparation, risk and adoption needs.
04
Recommend what to progress, validate, defer or stop.
05
Present the decision pack and next evidence steps, separating follow-on work for its own scope.

What happens next

Decide what to do next.

You receive prioritised automation and technology recommendations. Any discovery, pilot, transformation or delivery phase has a separate scope, with its own objectives, evidence, safeguards, deliverables and commercial terms.

Tell us about the problem