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AI automation vs workflow redesign
AI automation and workflow redesign are related, but they are not the same thing. Automation executes a step. Workflow redesign changes the path work takes.
Many companies need both, but the order matters.
Definition
AI automation uses AI or software to complete, draft, route, summarize, classify, remind, or update part of a workflow. Workflow redesign clarifies intake, ownership, handoffs, approvals, exceptions, and visibility before software starts acting.
Automation is strongest when the workflow is already understandable. Redesign is necessary when the workflow is causing the pain.
What Oliver Labs looks for
Oliver Labs looks at whether the repeated work is stable enough to automate and whether the surrounding handoffs are clear enough to trust the output. If the same task is repeated with consistent rules, automation may help. If every step requires a different explanation, redesign comes first.
This is why the AI Systems Review happens before implementation.
What this usually means in a real workflow
A lead follow-up reminder can be automated. A messy intake process with missing source data and unclear ownership may need redesign. A dashboard can expose work, but it cannot fix a process nobody owns.