AI Readiness Assessment: A Plain-English Checklist for Growing Businesses

How to use this checklist

Score each statement: - 2 = true for us - 1 = partly true - 0 = not true yet

There are 20 statements across five areas, so the top score is 40.

1. Processes: do you know how work gets done?

1. We could write down the main steps of our five most common weekly tasks.
2. We know which tasks take the most hours each week.
3. Our main tasks are done roughly the same way each time, no matter who does them.
4. We know where work usually waits or gets stuck.

Why it matters: AI speeds up processes. If the process isn't clear, AI speeds up the confusion.

1. Information: can AI find what it needs?

1. Our key documents, templates and past work live in one or two places, not scattered across personal inboxes.
2. Our customer and job records are mostly complete and up to date.
3. We have written answers to the questions customers ask most often.
4. We know which of our information is confidential or regulated.

Why it matters: AI tools work from what you give them. Scattered or outdated information gives you scattered or outdated drafts.

1. People: will your team use it?

1. At least one person on the team is curious about AI and has time to test it.
2. Leadership has said clearly why we're trying AI and what it's for.
3. The team isn't worried that AI is being brought in to replace them, or we've talked about it openly.
4. We're willing to set aside a few hours for training.

Why it matters: In our experience, adoption depends more on people than on the tool. Untrained tools tend to go unused.

1. Tools: what do you already have?

1. We know which software we pay for today, and roughly what it costs.
2. We've checked whether our current tools (email, CRM, accounting, documents) already include AI features.
3. We use business or team plans, not personal accounts, for work tools.
4. We have one person who owns our software accounts and logins.

Why it matters: Many businesses already pay for AI features they haven't switched on. The cheapest first win is often inside a tool you already own.

1. Rules: are the guardrails in place?

1. We've decided what information must never go into AI tools.
2. We've checked that model training on our data is turned off in the AI tools we use.
3. A person reviews anything AI drafts before it reaches a customer.
4. We have, or could write, a one-page AI policy for the team.

Why it matters: Simple rules prevent the mistakes that make owners give up on AI.

What your score means

Look at your lowest-scoring area too. That's usually the thing holding the rest back.

What a professional AI readiness assessment adds

This checklist is a good start. A hands-on assessment goes further: someone talks to the people doing the work, watches where time actually goes, and turns that into a ranked plan with numbers.

That's what our AI Checkup does. Over two weeks we map your week, find the problem that limits everything else, set up a first quick win, and rank your top five AI uses by hours and dollars saved, plus what isn't worth the money. You get a 90-day plan and a review call.