An AI Workflow Design,
in full.
Not consultancy to redo every time, but a reusable playbook. This is the Operations department example, open and free: which monitoring loops to automate, what scale to start at, with which tools and which compliance controls. The exact shape of what we graft into your business.
What to really automate
The pattern of what works: high-frequency, data-dense monitoring loops — stock, exceptions, failure signals — where getting ahead matters. AI flags the reorder and moves stock before a stockout, not after; it doesn't negotiate with the vendor in your place.
- Stock reordering and rebalancing al posto di: Manual review of reorder points
- Logistics exception handling al posto di: Reroutes decided by hand on disruptions
- Procurement intake and sourcing al posto di: Manual RFQ cycles and vendor comparison
- Predictive maintenance al posto di: Scheduled or reactive maintenance
- Demand planning al posto di: Spreadsheet forecasting
Stock reordering and logistics exception handling are cited among the highest-return categories of 2026, but the available figures are self-reported aggregates from vendors and analysts, not independently verified: read them as direction, not a promise of results.
The plumbing first, then the vertical agent
Unlike sales, the AI market for operations has opaque pricing below the enterprise tier: almost every vertical vendor quotes bespoke. That's why the order matters more than the brand.
Horizontal automation
The plumbing layer — triggers and actions between the systems you already use. It costs little, activates quickly and serves to prove the loop before committing budget. It's the honest entry point for most SMEs.
Vertical ops agent
A tool specialised in procurement or supply chain, running on top of the horizontal automation. It makes sense — with a bespoke quote — only once the specific loop is validated and its return is concrete enough to justify it.
Our default choice for an SME is to start from horizontal automation to prove the workflow at low cost, and negotiate a vertical tool only once the monitoring loop is proven. Picking the exact vendor — and the due diligence on its data-processing terms — is part of the graft.
The phases of the graft
In operations the number-one cause of failure isn't technical: it's scope that's too broad. The 2026 analyses of agentic AI projects almost always tell the same mistake — a whole rollout is sold before a single loop has been proven. That's why here you start narrow.
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1
Pilot
First 30 daysA single high-frequency monitoring loop — usually stock or maintenance signals — a named owner, the usage policy written and the metrics instrumented before you start. Not a supply-chain rollout: a single loop, genuinely proven.
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2
Scale
First 90 daysOnly after the first loop holds up do you extend to the other use cases and weigh moving from horizontal automation to a vertical tool. The guardrails on data and vendors are consolidated.
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3
Ongoing
Steady stateContinuous monitoring of adoption and results, periodic review of vendors and risks. The playbook stays alive: it gets updated, not archived.
The compliance overlay, and who governs it
Compliance overlay
An operations workflow touches less personal data than sales, but opens one more front: agents that read vendor data and drive spending decisions raise procurement-specific questions — where the vendor's data resides, who is accountable if an agent gets a contract wrong — beyond the GDPR baseline. Internal operations automation at SME scale isn't in itself a high-risk category under the EU AI Act, but the vendor's terms and its due diligence demand the same rigour as any software choice.
The AI owner
No big-enterprise Center of Excellence: in an SME one or two people named as AI owner are enough. Five responsibilities stay with them — setting priorities, who decides what, enabling the team, reusable standards and monitoring adoption and results — without assuming a whole dedicated department.
The same pattern, other departments.
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Sales
Lead scoring, automated follow-ups, CRM hygiene.
See the full example -
Marketing
Campaign optimisation and copy with brand oversight.
See the full example -
Finance & Administration
Accounts payable, month-end close and cash forecasting, with a human on the money.
See the full example -
HR & People
Screening, onboarding and an internal knowledge base, with high-risk hiring kept under oversight.
See the full example -
Customer support
Ticket deflection, triage and agent-assist, with answers anchored to sources — no hallucinations.
See the full example
This is the example. We graft yours.
The other departments follow the same pattern. Start from the free assessment to find out where it makes sense to begin, or let's talk directly.
Example for guidance only: it does not constitute legal advice or a compliance assessment.