Choose an AI pilot that answers a business question
A useful AI pilot resolves uncertainty about a business task. It should tell you whether a different way of working is worth adopting, what it costs to operate and what needs to change before more people use it.
Editorial responsibility: Nardus Oelofse, Chief Consultant.
By Chase & Marshal
Name the decision the pilot must support
Start with the decision you want to make at the end. Should the team use this approach for routine account preparation? Does it improve the completeness of a document review? Can it help staff find an approved answer faster?
Write the decision before the demonstration. This keeps a successful presentation from becoming a substitute for evidence. A pilot can be valuable even when the answer is to stop, narrow the use case or resolve a data problem first.
Select a task with enough repetition
Choose work that occurs often enough to test across different cases. Include ordinary examples and awkward exceptions. A pilot based on one ideal document says little about a team handling inconsistent material every week.
Assess the importance of errors as well as the potential benefit. Drafting an internal summary and authorising a customer payment require different controls. Begin where review is practical and the team can contain an unsuitable output before it creates a wider problem.
Measure the complete workflow
Record how the task is done now. Include preparation, retrieval, production, checking and handover. Compare the proposed approach using the same quality standard. A faster first draft can still create more total work if people spend longer checking it.
In an illustrative proposal team, the pilot might help assemble a first draft from approved material. Measure completeness, editing effort, time to an approved proposal and the frequency of unsupported claims. Keep the review responsibility explicit throughout the trial.
Set a decision point and an operating owner
Agree when there will be enough evidence to decide. Use a defined set of cases or a bounded period, depending on the task. Record subscription, integration and review costs alongside the benefit. Identify who will maintain the information and support users if the pilot continues.
End with a short decision record: adopt, adapt, investigate further or stop. Explain the evidence and the conditions attached. If adoption is justified, identify the next group of users, training needs and the measures to keep watching. That turns the pilot into a managed business decision rather than an unfinished experiment.
Questions answered
What is a successful pilot?
One that produces enough reliable evidence to make the next decision. A clear decision to stop a weak use case can protect time and money as effectively as a justified decision to expand.
Related
Sources
Sources supporting the factual statements in this article. Findings should be read within their stated dates, geography and scope.
- AI assistants and agents transform manufacturing workflows - Business.govt.nz. www.business.govt.nz. Publication date not supplied.
Choose the question your pilot must answer
If you have several possible AI projects, we can help compare them and scope a pilot around the one with a worthwhile business question.
