---
title: How to choose the first workflow to automate in an SME
locale: en
url: https://bitora.es/en/blog/primer-flujo-automatizar-pyme/
---

# How to choose the first workflow to automate in an SME

*2026-09-08*

Volume × pain × stable rules: criteria so you do not automate the wrong thing on day one.

Automating “everything manual” is a plan that never starts. A good first flow is boring, frequent and easy to check.

## The practical formula

Prioritise tasks where:

1. **High volume** — more than twenty times a month (better daily).
2. **Visible pain** — costly errors, delays or internal complaints.
3. **Explainable rules** — someone on the team can dictate the criteria without “it depends.”

Copying WhatsApp orders into Excel, sorting quote emails, or generating a weekly report usually beat “build a clever agent.”

## What to park

Processes that change every week, constant exceptions, or political decisions (who gets a discount) with no clear owner. Automation multiplies chaos there.

> **Watch out:** if the first project needs five new systems, it is not the first project — it is a programme.

## How to validate in two weeks

Define input, output and a metric (hours saved or errors avoided). Ship with a human backstop. Measure. Only then expand.

## Next step at Bitora

The [AI agents and automation](/en/services/ai-agents-and-automation/) pillar and the [free diagnostic](/en/free-diagnostic/) exist to pick that first flow from your operations, not from a tool catalogue.