A regional electrical contractor: from "where do we start?" to a funded first project
Regional electrical contractor. Engagement: AI Automation Readiness Assessment. Related service: Business Process Automation.
A regional electrical contractor knew automation could help but not where to begin. We ran a fixed-fee readiness assessment across four departments, delivered a written report with a risk register and a prioritized quick-win backlog, and presented it to leadership. They moved directly into implementation, starting with time-tracking compliance.
The situation
The company had grown to the point where the same manual work was being done in several departments, each with its own habits. Leadership had heard plenty of AI pitches and wanted an honest answer to one question: which of our processes is actually worth automating first?
What we did
- Seven stakeholder interviews across four departments: pre-construction, a specialty division, construction, and administration
- A four-document assessment: an executive snapshot, the final report, a risk register covering data, compliance, and operational concerns, and a prioritized quick-win backlog
- A live executive read-out, where leadership chose their first project from the backlog
What we found
The highest-value opportunities were not the flashiest. The quick win the client selected first was time-tracking compliance: a process that touched every field crew, carried real risk when it went wrong, and was well suited to automation. The assessment ranked it above several more exciting ideas because it would pay back fastest with the least disruption.
The outcome
The client moved directly from the read-out into a paid implementation of their first quick win. The assessment produced a plan that got funded, not a report that sat in a drawer.
Why it matters
Most automation projects fail at selection. This engagement is the model for our readiness assessment: interviews, a written risk register, a ranked backlog, and a read-out, so the first build starts from evidence instead of a guess.