AI Audit for Small Business: A 15-Minute Checklist

Score five parts of your business 0, 1 or 2 and start where you score highest, knowing the right fix there is not always AI.

How to score#

You need 15 minutes, a pen, and last month's call log and calendar. Score on paper, or open the worksheet. Anyone can view it. To fill it in, use File, then Make a copy (needs a Google account), or File, then Download.

The five areas spell RAPID. For each one, answer the three questions, then score it:

• 0 = Not a problem for us, or already fixed.
• 1 = Some friction, and we live with it.
• 2 = A real drain on our time, and we know it.

Be honest rather than generous: a 2 marks where a fix buys back the most time.

R: Repetitive work#

The same steps in the same order every time: data entry, scheduling, invoicing, chasing paperwork.

1. What does someone here do every day in exactly the same order?
2. Does anyone retype details that already sit in another system?
3. How many hours a week go to data entry, filing and manual updates?

Example: one client's details typed by hand into the booking system, the invoice and the calendar.

• 0 = Most of our process is digital and connected.
• 1 = Some of it is automated. Several daily tasks are still manual.
• 2 = Real hours every week go to the same manual steps.

If R is your top score: get the software you already pay for (bookings, invoicing, email) to pass details to each other, or have a small internal app built. The test: a new inquiry creates the client record, the folder and the first email with no retyping. See spending less time on routine admin.

A: How easily customers reach you#

Whether people can get hold of you, and how long they wait.

1. What share of calls do we miss? Count them in last month's call log.
2. How long does a new inquiry wait for a first reply?
3. Can a customer get an answer, or book, outside opening hours?

Example: the phone rings out while you are with a client, and the question everyone asks is answered nowhere on your website.

• 0 = We reply fast, and people can book or get answers out of hours.
• 1 = We miss some calls, and reply times vary.
• 2 = We miss calls often, have nothing out of hours, and inquiries go cold.

If A is your top score: start by counting the calls you miss. Then make your website answer the common questions and take bookings or details. An assistant comes later. If a chatbot answers customers, you answer for what it says: a Canadian tribunal held Air Canada to its chatbot's wrong answer in 2024, and a German appeal court did the same to a clinic in May 2026. Neither ruling binds a US court. See helping customers find and choose you.

P: Paperwork and posts#

Anything you write again and again with new details: quotes, reports, newsletters, social posts, follow-up emails.

1. How many hours a week go into writing for customers?
2. What do you skip because it takes too long?
3. How long does one quote or report take, from notes to sent?

Example: three quotes waiting at the kitchen table at 9 PM, or a month of posts that never went up.

• 0 = We get it all out on time without it hurting.
• 1 = Some of it is slow, and some gets skipped.
• 2 = Paperwork and posts are a constant backlog.

If P is your top score: set up an assistant that knows your templates, prices and past work, so a quote starts from your voice notes in your own format and you check it before it goes. Here is how to build one. See AI assistants and knowledge tools.

I: Information you do not have#

The things you decide by gut because the numbers are not in one place.

1. Can you answer "which service makes us the most money?" in under a minute?
2. Where would you look to spot a slow season coming, or a regular who has gone quiet?
3. What did you look at before your last big decision?

Example: a spreadsheet updated when someone remembers, and three systems that each hold part of the answer.

• 0 = A report answers these questions when we need it.
• 1 = We track some of it by hand and rarely look.
• 2 = Decisions come from gut feel. Nothing is in one place.

If I is your top score: get your numbers into one place first: one weekly report from the systems you already use. A tool that answers questions from your own files comes after, once steps 1 to 3 of the security checklist are done. See making answers easier to find.

D: Data safety#

Whether you know where business information goes when someone uses an AI tool. We come from a cybersecurity background, and this is the area we would check first.

1. Does anyone here use AI tools for work, including on a personal account or phone?
2. Does everyone know what must never go in (customer details, financial records, contracts, health information), and is that written down?
3. Has anyone connected an AI tool to the business email, calendar or shared files, or let one act on a website where they are signed in?

Example: client notes pasted into a personal chatbot to tidy them up, or an AI assistant given the shared inbox.

• 0 = Our rules are written down, training settings are checked, and we know what is connected.
• 1 = People use AI tools here, and nothing is written down.
• 2 = We have no rules, we are not sure what is being pasted in or connected, and nobody has looked.

If D scores 1 or 2, do this first, whatever else scored higher: steps 1 to 3 of the AI security checklist, this week. They take about an hour. See choosing and using your tools well.

Where to start#

0Not a problem1Some friction we live with2A real drain on our time

1. RRepetitive workDoes anyone type the same details into two places?Score 0Score 1Score 2
2. AHow easily customers reach youDo calls ring out, or inquiries wait a day for a reply?Score 0Score 1Score 2
3. PPaperwork and postsDo quotes, reports or posts pile up?Score 0Score 1Score 2
4. IInformation you do not haveCould you name your most profitable service in a minute?Score 0Score 1Score 2
5. DData safetyDo you know what goes into AI tools here, and what they can reach?Score 0Score 1Score 2

Your starting point

Score all five

Use the scores you gave above. Each area name takes you back to its questions.

1. Start with your highest score. The total does not matter.
2. If D scored 1 or 2, do its first hour this week, before anything else.
3. If two areas tie, start with the one that costs you money every week.

Whatever you fix, keep the conversations that carry the relationship (bad news, apologies, negotiations) and the judgement calls for yourself. Health records, bank details and ID documents never go into a general AI tool.

Next step#

This week, spend one hour on your starting area: follow its link, or map the process on paper.

If you want a second opinion, send us your five numbers and tell us what your business does. We will tell you what we would look at first, including when the answer is simpler than AI.