Start with the work, not the tool
AI is most useful when it removes a specific friction: summarising documents, preparing first drafts, organising research or routing repeated requests. A smaller, well-defined use case is easier to test and improve than a sweeping transformation plan.
Use what already works
You may not need custom software. An existing product, a thoughtful prompt library or a simple connection between two tools may solve the problem. Custom development makes sense when the workflow, data or experience is truly specific.
Keep people in the decision
Define what AI may prepare, what a person must review and how sensitive information is handled. This creates a useful system people can trust rather than another experiment that quietly disappears.