Start with a repeatable workflow
Useful candidates include drafting a support reply, summarising an approved report or turning a meeting note into a task list. A vague goal such as 'use AI everywhere' makes quality and risk hard to judge.
Score the trade-offs
Compare accuracy, privacy, integrations, review time, export options and price. A free tool that needs constant correction may cost more attention than a smaller tool with a clear boundary.
- Define what data may be shared.
- Keep a human approval step for customer-facing output.
- Record the model, prompt and date for important work.
Use a practical scorecard
Score each candidate from one to five for task fit, privacy, accuracy, review time, integrations, exportability and total cost. Keep the notes beside the score so a later decision is explainable.
Pilot before scaling
Run a small, reversible test with representative examples. Keep the original files, measure error types and stop if the tool cannot meet the required standard without unsupported claims.