Identifying opportunities
Every business has dozens of tasks that could be automated. The hard part is knowing which ones to tackle first. This page gives you a practical framework for spotting the right opportunities and prioritizing them.
What to look for
The best automation candidates share common traits. Walk through your daily operations and flag anything that matches:
- Repetitive tasks - anything done the same way, multiple times a day or week
- Data entry - copying information from one system to another
- Decision trees with clear rules - “if X, then Y” logic that doesn’t require judgment
- Communication templates - emails, messages, or notifications that follow a pattern
- Report generation - pulling data, formatting it, and sending it on a schedule
- Data movement between systems - syncing CRM to spreadsheet, inbox to task list
The Automation Opportunity Matrix
Plot each candidate on two axes: how often it happens and how complex it is.
| Low complexity | High complexity | |
|---|---|---|
| High frequency | Automate first (quick wins) | Automate second (high value) |
| Low frequency | Maybe automate (nice to have) | Don’t automate (not worth it) |
Start in the top-left quadrant. These are your quick wins - tasks that happen constantly and are simple to automate. They build momentum and prove value fast. Then move to the top-right: high-frequency, complex tasks deliver the biggest long-term payoff but take more effort to set up.
Bottom-left tasks are worth automating eventually, but don’t prioritize them. Bottom-right tasks - rare and complicated - are almost never worth the investment.
How to find candidates
The best technique is simple: ask your team. Sit down with each person and ask one question:
“What do you do every day that a robot could do?”
People know their own pain points. They just haven’t been asked.
Red flags that scream “automate me”
Watch for these phrases in your team’s daily work:
- “I copy this from our CRM into the spreadsheet every morning”
- “I check this inbox every hour for new requests”
- “I send this same email every week with updated numbers”
- “I pull this report every Monday and forward it to the team”
Any time you see copy-paste between systems, scheduled manual checks, or templated communication, you’re looking at an automation opportunity.
Check your understanding
Repetitive tasks, data entry, decision trees with clear rules, communication templates, report generation, and data movement between systems.
High frequency, low complexity - the quick wins. They build momentum and prove value fast. Then move to high-frequency, high-complexity tasks for the biggest long-term payoff.
Ask your team: “What do you do every day that a robot could do?” People know their own pain points - they just have not been asked.
Next steps
Now that you know what to look for, learn how automation actually works in Automation Basics.