Do not start with a platform
If the application already runs the business, the job is to attach a capability, not to rewrite the capability in a new stack. The sequence we use is boring on purpose.
- Pick the task. One document type, one mailbox, one “draft this reply” button. Write the definition of done in a sentence.
- See the data. Can the application already reach the files or records? If not, that integration is the first sprint.
- Ground the model. Use RAG or a structured extract. Do not ask the model to remember your customers.
- Read-only first. Show a draft or a suggested field. A person accepts. Only then write back, using the same roles the screen already has.
- Measure. Hours saved, corrections made, cases escalated. Without that, you cannot decide whether to widen.
When the existing application is the problem
If there is no API, no audit trail, and no way to add a button without a vendor, you are in legacy modernisation first. Bolting AI onto a system you cannot change produces a second system beside it — and staff will use neither reliably.
The wider choice of what to build is in AI for business. If you need a partner for the integration itself, that is AI integration.