How do I review our AI use and focus on a few platforms?

Review the work, not the tools. List every AI tool your team uses or pays for, and tie each one to a specific workflow with a named owner. Then keep only the tools connected to a result you can check. Whatever doesn't map to a workflow and an owner is an experiment, and experiments need an end date.

Why "which AI tools should we use?" is the wrong first question

Most teams get here the same way. Someone tries a chat assistant, someone else signs up for a writing tool, a manager adds a meeting recorder, and a few apps you already pay for switch on their own AI features. A year later, nobody can say which of these changed how work actually gets done.

Comparing tools at that point doesn't help, because the problem isn't the tools. Nobody decided which work AI is supposed to help with, who owns that work, or how anyone would know it's better.

A practical way to review your AI use

  1. Inventory everything. For each tool, write down who uses it, what they use it for, how often, what it connects to, and when it renews. Include AI features inside software you already run (CRM, email, phone, documents), not just stand-alone apps.
  2. Tie each tool to a workflow. Name the actual work it touches: following up with leads, preparing proposals, answering repeat client questions, building reports, finding internal knowledge. If you can't name the workflow, flag the tool.
  3. Name an owner and a baseline. One person is accountable for each workflow. Write down how that work performs today (time, errors, response speed, follow-through) so you have something to compare against.
  4. Decide: keep, consolidate, fix, or drop.
    • Keep what's used weekly and clearly helps a named workflow.
    • Consolidate tools that do the same job.
    • Fix tools that serve a strong workflow but sit unused because nobody set them up properly.
    • Drop the rest at renewal.
  5. Set a rule for anything new. A new tool gets in only if someone can name the workflow, the owner, and how you'll check whether it helped by a set review date.

What "a few platforms" usually looks like

In my experience, a focused setup is usually some version of:

  • One general assistant that the team actually uses, with shared instructions and examples so the output sounds like your business.
  • The AI already inside your core systems, used on purpose instead of by accident.
  • One or two targeted builds for the workflows that matter most to revenue or capacity, each with an owner who maintains it.

The exact list depends on how your business runs. The rule is the same either way: fewer tools, each tied to work someone is accountable for.

Where a "digital EA" fits

Many owners want AI to act like an executive assistant: preparing them for meetings, drafting follow-ups, tracking commitments, pulling the right information when they need it. That can work. It works when it's built around specific, repeated jobs and your own standards, with a person still accountable for what goes out. Treat it as one more workflow in the review, with a defined job and an owner, not as another tool to try.

The operator's view

I've run Call Lead Solutions since 2011, doing pay-per-call work in healthcare, insurance, Medicare and financial services. The lesson from that business carries straight over to AI. Revenue depends on how calls and leads are routed, qualified and followed up, not on which software brand sits underneath. AI tools are no different: the gains come from fixing a defined workflow, not from adding another subscription.

When a tool review turns into something bigger

Sometimes the review shows that the real issue isn't the number of tools:

  • One workflow is clearly leaking time or revenue. That calls for a closer look at the workflow itself. See the Workflow Opportunity Assessment.
  • AI systems are live but nobody owns their upkeep. That's an operations job. See Managed AI Operations.
  • Several AI initiatives are running with no executive owner. That's a leadership gap. See Fractional CAIO.

Not sure which of these applies to you?

The AI Fit & Direction Call is a free 15-minute conversation. We look at where you are and decide whether there's a fit and which next step makes sense. It's a qualifying conversation, not the review itself.

Book an AI Fit & Direction Call

FAQs

We're not sure yet what we want AI to improve. Where do we start?

Start with the review above, not with a new tool. Once each tool is tied to a workflow and an owner, the gaps usually become obvious, and the first workflow worth fixing tends to stand out.

Can AI work as a digital EA for the owner?

Yes, for defined, repeated jobs such as meeting prep, follow-up drafts and tracking commitments, as long as it works from your standards and a person stays accountable for what goes out. It works best as one focused workflow, not as a pile of separate assistants.

How does AI help a business grow?

Mostly by protecting work that already drives revenue: faster follow-up, more consistent proposals, less time lost to admin. Growth comes from choosing which of those workflows to fix first and measuring it, not from adopting more tools.

Our new business mostly comes from referrals. Can AI help us build a more repeatable way to win clients?

It can support the parts of acquisition you can define, such as follow-up, qualification and nurturing, once the process itself is written down. AI amplifies a process you have; it doesn't replace not having one.