Most companies that want automation already know something is wrong. Fewer know which part of the work is causing it, and that is the part worth paying for first.
The work has names: process discovery, current-state mapping, and an automation opportunity assessment. This page explains what each one means in practice, what you get at the end, and what it costs.
§1 The three pieces of the work
I sit with the people who do the work and watch it happen. Where does the request come from, who touches it next, where does it wait? I time the steps and look for where the hours and the money actually go. That is often not where the org chart says the work happens.
Then the process gets written down step by step, the way it runs now, with the time each step takes. Not the version you would like to have. You cannot measure an improvement against a process nobody wrote down, and you cannot decide what to automate in a process you have not defined.
Each step on the map gets the same three questions. Does the input arrive in a consistent shape? Can you check whether the output is right? Does it happen often enough to be worth building? Steps that pass are candidates. Steps that turn on judgement stay with a person, and the assessment says why. The full method is in what to automate first.
§2 What you get
It says what is worth automating, which tools fit, and what should stay with a person. You keep it whether or not you hire me to build anything. Some assessments end with a recommendation not to build. That is a valid outcome, and it costs less than building the wrong thing.
On the services page this is the AI Workflow Audit: $1,500 fixed, covering one part of your business, with working sessions with your team. New clients can get a lower first-project price in exchange for a case study; the conditions are on the same page. If you want to see how I think before paying anything, every new client gets one diagnostic call at no charge. Bring one process and the material behind it.
§3 Why the same person should do the analysis and the build
I am a CBAP-certified business analyst with nineteen years of enterprise analysis behind me, at KPMG, E.SUN Bank, and Mercedes-Benz Mobility. After the assessment I can build what it recommends, with n8n and Claude, in your own accounts. Because I am the one who has to make it work, I have no reason to put a step on the list that I am not confident about.
If you already know exactly what you want built, you do not need this. Hire a builder. How to choose an automation consultant explains when each kind of provider is the better choice.
§4 To start
Tell me which process eats the most hours each week and how many people it involves. I will tell you whether it needs an assessment or whether the answer is already obvious.
Related: questions owners ask.