Readiness is not about the tools. It is about whether your data, your processes and your rules can survive contact with them.

Small businesses rarely struggle to find an AI tool. They struggle because the information it would need lives in four places and disagrees with itself, the process it would automate was never written down, and nobody has decided what staff are allowed to paste into an external tool.

This survey covers six areas in about seven minutes and gives you a readiness profile at the end — including the areas where you are not ready, which is the more useful half.

The six areas

Data foundations — where the information actually lives, how long it would take to produce, and whether you would act on a report built from it without checking first
Process documentation — whether your repeatable processes are written down, whether a new hire could follow them unaided, and whether you know how many hours a week your most repetitive task really takes
Tooling and integration — whether your main systems have supported integrations, and whether you have ever successfully automated anything between two of them
Security and governance — whether there is a written rule about what staff may enter into external tools, whether you know what they are already doing, and what obligations you carry over customer data
Skills and ownership — whether anyone is accountable for evaluating new tools, and whether anyone has actually built a working automation before
Use-case clarity — whether you can name the specific task, and whether you would be able to tell if it worked

Readiness fails at its weakest area, not its average. Strong data and no governance is a different problem from strong governance and scattered data — and the two need opposite next steps. Read your lowest area first.

Take the survey

Fifteen questions across six sections, about seven minutes. You will see your readiness profile at the end.

If you already know what you want to automate

The AI Use-Case Shortlist is the companion to this survey — a seven-page worksheet that ranks candidate processes against the six factors that predict whether an automation effort succeeds. Readiness first, then the shortlist.

General business guidance only. This survey is a planning aid, not professional, legal, financial or regulatory advice, and it does not assess compliance with any AI-specific regulation or standard. Automation decisions involving personal data, employment outcomes, credit, health, safety or other regulated activity carry obligations this survey does not evaluate — take qualified advice on your own circumstances before proceeding.