The AI Readiness Checklist for Indian SMEs

Most SMEs we meet are not short on AI ideas - they are short on a way to choose between them. This checklist is what we run with clients in the first week of every engagement.

1. Pick a P&L line, not a use case

Do not start with "let's use ChatGPT". Start with: which line on the P&L is bleeding? Then ask whether AI moves it.

2. Find a clean data trail

If the process is run on WhatsApp and Excel, the first project is digitising the trail - not training a model.

3. Name one human owner

Every AI project needs one accountable owner who is not IT. AI without a process owner becomes a dashboard nobody reads.

4. Constrain the first project to 6 weeks

Six weeks forces you to ship something measurable. Anything longer drifts into a science project.

5. Decide build vs buy honestly

For 80% of SME use cases, a configured SaaS beats a custom build. Build only when the workflow is your moat.

6. Budget for change management, not just licences

The cost of getting humans to use the tool is usually 2-3x the licence cost. Plan for it.

7. Pick metrics before you pick vendors

If you cannot say "success looks like X by week 6", do not start.

8. Pilot in one branch / one team

Never pilot across the whole org. You will not learn fast enough to course-correct.

9. Write down what not to automate

Customer escalations, hiring decisions, anything regulated - these need a human in the loop. Document it before the vendor talks you out of it.

10. Plan the integration before the demo

Every shiny demo collapses when it has to talk to Tally, Zoho Books, or your homegrown ERP. Ask integration questions first.

11. Set a kill criterion

Decide in advance what result would make you shut the pilot down. Without it, sunk-cost takes over.

12. Schedule the next review on day one

Put the 6-week review on the calendar before kickoff. AI projects that don't have a review date don't have an owner.

If you can answer all 12 honestly, you are ready. If you cannot, fix the gaps before you sign anything.