Automate this workflow, or redesign it before we automate?

Maximizing AI ROI requires fundamentally redesigning workflows, not just automating old processes. Failing to transform work means AI adoption won't translate into measurable outcomes.

2026-08-16 · Counsel verdict · AIssential

The question

We have a costly manual workflow and pressure to apply AI to it. Do we automate the process as it exists today to show a quick return, or redesign the process first and automate the redesigned version — accepting a longer path to value?

Counsel's position

Redesign the workflow first, then automate it, to unlock dramatically better business outcomes and avoid digitizing waste.

Verdict

The verdict: Redesign the workflow first, then automate it, to unlock dramatically better business outcomes and avoid digitizing waste.

How the criteria decide

1 of 4 criteria resolved on cited evidence. 3 had none either way.

Stop Just Automating: Why Redesigning Work is the Secret to AI ROI

For IT and CX leaders aiming to maximize AI ROI, your strategy must extend beyond basic automation. Instead of merely speeding up old processes, you should fundamentally redesign workflows from the ground up. Evaluate current customer and employee journeys, then intentionally ass

• Stop Just Automating: Why Redesigning Work is the Secret to AI ROI

Don’t automate bad workflows: Why AI should begin with redesign

For executives overseeing AI implementation, prioritize workflow redesign before automation. You should challenge existing processes by asking if they would be built the same way today, simplifying and standardizing them first. This approach ensures AI improves work by eliminatin

• Don’t automate bad workflows: Why AI should begin with redesign

Everyone’s using AI. Almost nobody’s actually winning with it.

For Directors of AI/ML or VPs of Engineering evaluating AI initiatives, recognize that simply adopting AI tools is no longer a competitive advantage. Your focus must shift from basic automation to fundamentally redesigning workflows around AI capabilities. Measure current process

• Everyone’s using AI. Almost nobody’s actually winning with it.

Redesign Work Before You Add More AI Agents

For AI/ML Directors and Executives evaluating AI investments, your focus must shift from tool deployment to workflow transformation. Before scaling more AI agents, you should identify specific value pools, redesign critical workflows to define human and agent responsibilities, an

• Redesign Work Before You Add More AI Agents

Adoption Is Not Absorption

For Directors of AI/ML or VPs of Engineering evaluating your organization's AI strategy, recognize that high adoption metrics alone are insufficient. You must prioritize initiatives that fundamentally redesign workflows and integrate AI into your operating model to achieve measur

• Adoption Is Not Absorption

Read another verdict

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