An AI readiness assessment for small and mid-size businesses, before you spend on AI
We check your HubSpot data, the way work moves through your team and the AI you already pay for. You get a ranked list of where AI can help first, what has to be fixed before it can, and who on your team should own it.
Free, 30 minutes, and you'll leave with at least one clear next step.
What is an AI readiness assessment?
It's a short, paid study that tells you whether AI will help your business now, and where. We look at the data AI would read, the jobs it would do and the people who would check its work. We rank the places where AI can save the most time at low risk, and list what needs fixing first.
Most companies skip this step. They buy a tool, point it at a messy CRM and get confident answers that are wrong. The assessment finds those problems while they're still easy to fix.
It fits any growing business with work that repeats. Picture a sales team with inquiries piling up, a service firm writing the same proposals over and over, or an online brand answering the same order questions all day.
What does the assessment check?
We ask for read-only access where your systems allow it, and we talk to the people who do the work.
- Data quality in HubSpot. Duplicate contacts and companies, records with no owner, deals with no activity, lifecycle stages that never get updated and empty fields an AI would need. We also check whether your product or service list matches what you sell today.
- Your other systems. Whether order, billing or project history from NetSuite, QuickBooks, Shopify or your back-office system reaches HubSpot, and how often. An AI that can't see that history can't spot a customer who stopped buying.
- How work moves. We follow a few recent inquiries, orders and support questions from start to finish. We note where people retype, wait or look things up by hand. Those spots are usually the best AI jobs.
- AI you already pay for. HubSpot Professional and Enterprise plans include a monthly allowance of AI credits, and many go unused. We also check which ChatGPT or Claude accounts people use for work, and whether company data is going into personal accounts.
- Quick wins. Jobs where AI could help within weeks, using tools you already own, with a person checking the output.
How does the assessment run?
- Week 1
Kickoff and access
We agree on the teams in scope, get read-only access to HubSpot and any other systems, and book short interviews.
- Weeks 1 to 2
Data and systems review
We check the records AI would read and write, and how data flows between HubSpot and your other tools.
- Weeks 2 to 3
Follow the work
We sit with sales, service and operations and watch requests move through the business.
- Final week
Readout
We walk your leadership team through the findings, answer questions and agree on what to do first.
What you get at the end
A readiness score for each area
Data, systems, processes and people, each scored with the reasons behind it, so you can see what's holding AI back.
A data fix list
The specific records, fields and connections to clean up, in order. Your team can do it, or we can.
Data AgentA ranked list of AI uses
Each one with the hours it could save at your volumes, what a mistake would cost and whether HubSpot's built-in AI can do it or it needs custom work.
Custom AI workflowsRules for the first one
What the AI may do, what it never does on its own and who on your team checks its work. It starts out drafting only, and gets more room after it proves itself on your records.
A plan for the AI tools people already use
Which accounts to keep, which to close, and simple rules for what data can go into them.
Claude for businessWho is the assessment for?
- Your leadership team keeps hearing about AI agents and wants a straight answer on whether they fit your business.
- You run HubSpot, or you're about to, and you're not sure the data in it can be trusted.
- Your HubSpot bill includes AI credits and you have no idea whether anyone uses them.
- Your team already pastes work into ChatGPT or Claude, with no rules for it yet.
- New inquiries, customer questions or proposals take hours of reading and retyping every week.
What happens to your data during the assessment?
We ask for read-only access wherever a system offers it, so we can look without changing anything. We don't load your customer list into an AI tool to run the assessment. If we want to test an AI step on a few of your records, we ask first. We use a business account whose terms say your data isn't used for training, and we send only the fields the test needs.
When the assessment ends, we remove our access with you. The findings live in a document you keep.
Why the data check comes first
When we audited a commercial oven manufacturer's HubSpot account, stale deals and uncontacted leads made its reports unreliable. Any AI reading that account would have inherited the same gaps.
When don't you need an assessment?
If you already know the one job you want AI to do, and the data for that job is clean, skip this and start with a pilot. If HubSpot is brand new and nearly empty, AI has nothing to read yet, so start with HubSpot setup.
And if we ran a Friction Point Analysis for you in the last year, most of this work is done. We'll reuse it.
Examples by industry
What we find depends on the business. These pages show common patterns in a few we know well.
- Manufacturing: order history that never reaches the CRM.
- Distribution: big account lists and too few reps to watch them.
- Ecommerce: the same customer questions answered by hand all day.
What happens after the assessment?
You'll have three options. Your team can work through the plan on its own, since we write it so you can. You can run a fixed-scope AI pilot with us on the top-ranked job. Or, if we turn up bigger process problems, you can widen the work into a full Friction Point Analysis.
The 30-minute call is free. The assessment is paid and fixed in scope, and we set that scope on the call based on how many teams and systems are involved. It runs on the same terms as the initial analysis of our Friction Point Analysis. It takes 2 to 4 weeks, and the fee is credited toward any work you start with us within 60 days.
AI readiness assessment questions
What do we get at the end of the assessment?
A readiness score for your data, systems, processes and people, a data fix list in order, and a ranked list of AI uses with the hours each could save. You also get rules for the first AI project and a plan for the AI tools your staff already use.
How is this different from a Friction Point Analysis?
A Friction Point Analysis looks at every place work slows down, whether AI could help or not. The AI readiness assessment is narrower. It asks where AI fits, whether your data can support it and what rules it needs. If we find bigger problems, you can widen it into a full analysis.
What access do you need to our HubSpot account?
Read-only access covers most of it. We may also ask for a short screen share with someone who uses your order, billing or accounting system. And we'll want 30 to 45 minutes with a few people in sales, service and operations.
Do we have to be using AI already to get value from this?
No. Many companies we talk to haven't started. The assessment tells you where to begin and what to fix first, so the first project has a fair chance of working.
Can our own team carry out the plan?
Yes. We write the fix list and the ranked AI uses so an in-house admin or ops lead can work through them. Some clients do the data cleanup themselves and bring us in for the AI build.
What if the assessment says we're not ready for AI?
Then you know before you buy a tool that won't work. You'll get a clear list of what to fix and roughly how long it should take. Many of those fixes help on their own, AI or not.
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Get a straight answer on AI for your business
On the call we'll ask what you'd want AI to do and how much you trust your HubSpot data. We'll tell you whether an assessment is worth it or you can skip ahead.