---
title: Which processes to automate first? A free two-minute check
description: Choose the processes your business runs and the hours each one takes. See what each costs you a month, and which one to automate first.
url: https://www.streamlight.ai/tools/where-to-start/
updated: 2026-10-29
---

# Which of your processes to automate first

Choose the processes your business runs and the hours each one takes. See what each one costs you a month, and which one to start with.

-   About 2 minutes
-   No sign-up
-   Stays in your browser

## What you get

You get each of your processes with what its hours cost you a month, side by side. The process that costs you the most is marked as the one to start with. You also see how many of its hours automation usually saves. For example, a home-services firm that spends 12 hours a week booking calls, at $42 an hour, spends about $2,200 a month on that process.

## How it works

1.  **Choose your kind of business,** such as home services, an agency or an online shop.
2.  **Choose the processes your business runs.** The tool lists the common ones for your kind of business, such as booking calls or sending invoices.
3.  **Set the hours a week** each process takes your team. Each process starts at the hours that are typical for a business like yours, so you only move the ones that are different. At the top, set what an hour of your team’s time costs you.
4.  **Read the result.** Each process shows what its hours cost you a month, and the one that costs the most is marked as the place to start.

## Questions

### Which processes should a small business automate first?

Start with the process that takes your team the most hours each week and follows roughly the same steps each time. Answering customer questions, booking work and entering invoices are common examples of that kind of process.

### What if my biggest process is hard to automate?

A process that’s hard to automate can still come first when it takes the most hours. A person then decides at a few steps: for example, the automation drafts each quote, and you approve any quote over $2,000.

### Can I automate a process with the tools I already have?

Sometimes, yes. Many tools now have AI built in, such as HubSpot for sales and Xero for bookkeeping. If your first process happens inside one of those tools, try its AI first. The [build or buy check](https://www.streamlight.ai/tools/build-or-buy/) tells you whether that’s likely to be enough.

## Next

Want to see where the hours go in your first process? [Map it with the process mapper](https://www.streamlight.ai/tools/process-mapper/).

[All free tools ›](https://www.streamlight.ai/tools/)

## Once you know your first process, the next step is seeing it run.

After a 30-minute call, we build a clickable prototype of that process in two to four days. The prototype runs on sample data, so nothing touches your real systems. The prototype and the call are free, and you decide afterwards.

[Book a call](https://www.streamlight.ai/book/) [Ask our AI assistant](https://www.streamlight.ai/#agent)