An AI automation pilot should test one useful task with representative information, a named business owner and clear review criteria. Its purpose is to produce evidence for a decision: improve the approach, connect it to daily work or stop. A convincing demonstration alone is not enough.
Choose a task you can evaluate
Start with a repeated activity whose input and expected output your team can explain. Preparing an enquiry summary, finding an approved policy or extracting invoice details can be easier to evaluate than a broad instruction to “automate customer service”. First confirm whether ordinary rules or a form would solve the problem more simply.
Write down what happens today, where people spend effort and how they judge a good result. Choose someone who can review examples and resolve questions. Microsoft’s project planning guidance similarly connects the business challenge, users, scope and success measures before implementation.
Write a brief your team can use
Use this worksheet before selecting a model or development tool. Agree the answers with the people doing the work and the owners of the relevant systems.
| Decision | What to record |
|---|---|
| Task and owner | The activity, who uses the result and who accepts the pilot. |
| Inputs and knowledge | Example requests, approved sources, access rights and information to exclude. |
| Expected output | The format, required facts and what must happen when information is missing. |
| Action boundary | What AI may prepare, what it may change and what requires human approval. |
| Evaluation | Test examples, acceptance criteria, reviewers and evidence to retain. |
| Operating assumptions | Expected usage, running cost, system connections and ongoing ownership. |
An example: prepare a customer enquiry response
Illustrative scenario, not a customer result. A sales team receives questions about connecting its service to existing systems. The pilot reads an enquiry, identifies missing details and prepares a reply using approved product information. A sales colleague reviews it before sending.
Keep the first version’s boundary explicit: it does not promise prices, commit delivery dates or change a customer record. If the approved material does not answer a question, the draft should identify the gap. Test a clear request, an ambiguous request, a request outside the service scope and an attachment containing irrelevant instructions.
Measure useful work, including the review
Compare the current process and the pilot on equivalent tasks. Measure the whole activity, including checking and correcting the output. A faster draft can still create more work if a reviewer must rebuild it.
- Correctness: Are the important facts accurate and supported by approved sources?
- Review effort: What changes does a colleague make before accepting the result?
- Completion time: How long does the task take from request to accepted output?
- Exceptions: Does the workflow recognise missing information and hand over clearly?
- Running cost: What does a completed task consume, including failed attempts?
Set acceptance criteria before the final evaluation. Include variations of real requests and repeat tests where results can vary. Microsoft’s agent evaluation checklist provides a useful structure for expected responses, test criteria and continued evaluation. Your thresholds should reflect the consequences of an error in your own workflow.
Decide what happens after the pilot
Record the result, remaining gaps and the decision owner. Moving into production may require additional permissions, integration testing, monitoring, support arrangements and user training. Confirm who updates the source material and who can pause the workflow if it behaves unexpectedly. A pilot can be successful because it exposes an unsuitable use case before a wider investment.
Questions before you start
Do we need to replace our existing systems?
No. Begin with the task and assess the information and connections it needs. The pilot can evaluate a useful output before any production integration is agreed.
How long should the pilot take?
Estimate after reviewing the workflow, data access, integrations and evaluation effort. Agree a bounded scope and review point rather than treating one duration as suitable for every project.
Should an AI agent send messages automatically?
That depends on the task and its consequences. For a first enquiry-response pilot, preparing a draft for a named reviewer provides a clear starting boundary.
What should we bring to the first conversation?
Bring one problem, a few permitted example inputs, the systems involved and a person who understands a good outcome. Avoid sending sensitive production records in an initial enquiry.
Turn one task into a practical starting point
Explore DVMSKE’s AI consulting and development services, knowledge assistants or document intelligence. To scope your first pilot, tell us which task takes too much effort.
This is DVMSKE’s practical planning framework, informed by the official Microsoft guidance linked above. It is not a promise of a particular return, duration or production capability.
