Workflow design
What to automate before investing in AI
Separate predictable handoffs from work that needs interpretation before choosing a tool.
AIR Interactive · Practical guide
Map the handoff before choosing the tool
Follow a real request from arrival to completion. Where is information copied? Where does work wait for a notification? Which steps follow the same rule every time? These are useful places to investigate before introducing AI.
For example, a completed website form might need to create a customer record, assign an owner, and send an acknowledgment. If the required fields and routing rules are clear, ordinary workflow automation may handle the job.
Use explicit rules for predictable work
Moving a document into the right folder, sending a reminder after a defined interval, or routing a request by postcode usually starts with a rule. Microsoft’s Power Automate planning guidance describes automating manual, repetitive business processes.
A rule is easier to inspect when the decision is exact. Keep calculations, approval thresholds, and required-field checks explicit so someone can explain why an action happened.
Add AI where the input is messy
AI becomes a candidate when useful information is buried in varied language: an email describing a fault, a technician’s free-form note, or a long document that needs a summary. It can prepare structured information for the next step.
A practical combination is to draft a job request from an email, ask a coordinator to confirm it, and then use ordinary rules to route the approved request. The model interprets the message; the workflow controls what happens next.
Design for the exceptions
Decide what happens when a customer record is missing, two records match, or a connected system is unavailable. Give each exception an owner and retain enough information to investigate it.
Pilot one complete handoff. Measure completion time, rework, and failures. A faster first step is not much help if it creates extra cleanup downstream. Use the results to decide whether AI adds enough value to justify maintaining it.
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