Ten questions · No email needed
A free AI readiness assessment for your business.
This AI readiness assessment is for business owners and managers who want a straight answer before they spend anything on AI. It takes a few minutes. If you can, answer it with whoever does the day-to-day admin, as they'll know where the time really goes. You'll land in one of four bands, from "AI can wait" to "ready to automate", each with one next step.
Answer ten questions
Pick the answer closest to how things are now, not how you'd like them to be. If you're torn between two, pick the one nearer the top.
Your result
Each answer scores 0, 1 or 2 points, in the order they're listed, so totals run from 0 to 20. Your result is the band your total falls in, and your lowest-scoring answers show where the gaps are.
One thing a total can hide: AI mostly earns its keep on work that repeats, like the jobs in questions 1 and 2 and the enquiries in question 6. If you don't have much of either, it's unlikely to save you much time yet, whatever your total.
Score 0 to 5
AI can wait for now.
From your answers, it's too early for AI to make much difference. Either there isn't much work that repeats, or the basics aren't in place. Your next step: pick the job that comes round most often and write down how it's done, step by step. If you'd like a second opinion before you begin, our AI consultancy starts with a free call, and if AI isn't the answer, we'll say so.
Score 6 to 10
Close the gaps first.
You're part of the way there. Your next step: go back to your lowest-scoring answers and fix what you can, using the notes below on each part of the check. If your answer to question 8, about your team and AI tools, is one of them, our training can help close that gap. It runs online, for 2 to 6 people, on fixed dates agreed with you.
Score 11 to 15
Get a plan before you build.
You've already got a fair amount sorted. The risk now is starting too big, or with the wrong job. Your next step: find out which job, if any, is worth starting with. Our AI consultancy starts with a free call. Simple, well-defined jobs go straight from the free call to a written plan with the hours. That plan is free: it's your quote. Bigger or less clearly defined jobs start with a first AI review: a fixed-length session, charged by the hour, with its length agreed with you and written down first. Either way, the plan says which job comes first, and the hours it will take.
Score 16 to 20
You're ready to automate.
You already have most of what this check looks for. Your next step: automate the repeat job that takes up the most time. We build it in your own accounts, with the hours written down before we start, and test it on real examples with a person checking the results. If it deals with customers, the safeguards under Enquiries below apply. Once it's paid for, it's yours.
Is my business ready for AI?
Your business is ready for AI when the groundwork is in place. There's work that comes round often enough to be worth handing over. Its steps are settled, and the information it needs sits in tools the business controls. Someone has the time to check the results, and the team knows what personal data must stay out of AI tools.
Here's what each part of the check looks for, and what to do if it pulled your score down.
Repeat work. AI and plain automation pay off on jobs that come round every day or week and follow the same steps, such as copying enquiry details into a spreadsheet or sending booking reminders. A job that comes up a few times a year rarely repays the hours it takes to build. If the steps change every time, settle them first. Our guide How can AI help my business? goes through where AI fits in an SME's week.
Your information. An automation can only use information it can reach. If yours is on paper, in someone's head or in a personal account, start by moving it into shared tools in the business's name. That matters to us too: we set automations up in your own accounts, and once the work is paid for, the automations and the data in them are yours.
Enquiries. If most enquiries ask the same few questions, AI can draft replies for your team to check, or answer routine questions on your website or phone line. It works from answers you've approved, so writing them down comes first. Standard messages like booking reminders go out automatically, in wording you've approved. Anything AI writes for one particular customer is checked by a person before it goes out. Live assistants, such as website chats and phone receptionists, always say they're AI, hand over to a person on request, and have their conversations reviewed afterwards. No outbound AI marketing calls. More on AI receptionists for business.
People and data. Someone needs to own each automation: check its work, especially early on, and notice when something stops. Your team also needs to know what personal information must never go into an AI tool. The ICO's guidance on AI and data protection (opens in a new tab) sets out how UK data protection law applies when you use AI with personal data. It's under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, so check for changes. This isn't legal advice.
Want a longer checklist? Skills England publishes a free Employer AI Adoption Checklist (opens in a new tab) for employers in England. It goes further into your team's AI skills and how to build them. Both links checked 8 October 2026.
Questions
It's a look at how your business runs now, to see where AI would fit. This one is the quick version: ten questions you answer yourself, for a rough result. A fuller assessment looks at your actual tasks, the tools you already pay for and where the hours go, and that's part of working with us as your AI consultant. For bigger or less clearly defined jobs, that's a fixed-length first AI review, charged by the hour. A simple, well-defined job goes straight from the free call to a free written plan with the hours.
No. There's no sign-up and nothing to download. Your score is added up in your browser, and your answers are never sent to us or saved. Our privacy notice says the same in its section on the AI readiness check.
Treat it as a rough guide, not a verdict. A high score means you've covered most of the basics. It doesn't mean AI will save you time on every job. That depends on how long a job takes now and how many hours a build would need. Working that out is what the free call and the written plan are for. How we price explains how the hours are agreed.
It's written for UK SMEs, from a handful of people up to about 250 staff. In a business with several teams, answer for one team at a time, as each team's work and tools can differ.