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If you’re not using AI in these 3 areas, you’re leaving leverage on the table
It’s getting noisy out there.
Every week there’s a new AI tool, someone’s telling you you’re behind, and there’s another “this changes everything” moment…
If you’re running a business, it creates this low-grade anxiety of:
Am I missing something?
Here’s the reality:
Most businesses aren’t behind because they’re not using AI.
They’re behind because they’re using it in the wrong places.
So instead of chasing tools, I think it’s more useful to anchor on this question:
Where does AI actually create leverage in a business today?
In my experience, it comes down to three areas.
Let’s get into it:
1. Internal Knowledge Base (SOPs, Onboarding, Training)
This is the least sexy use case.
It’s also one of the highest ROI.
Most businesses have:
Scattered documents
Tribal knowledge in people’s heads
Inconsistent onboarding
Repeated questions
AI changes this.
You can:
Centralize your SOPs
Make them searchable
Let your team ask questions in plain language
Standardize how work gets done
Instead of asking a manager, your team asks the system.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, they follow a process.
What to do this week:
Start documenting your core workflows and plug them into an AI layer. Even a rough version is better than nothing.
Because once your knowledge is structured, AI can actually do something useful with it.
2. Decision Support & Analysis
This is where I think most people are underutilizing AI.
They’re using it to produce.
Not to think.
AI is incredibly good at:
Synthesizing large amounts of information
Comparing options
Identifying risks
Stress testing assumptions
What it’s not good at is making the final call.
That’s your job.
But it can make you significantly better at that job.
Examples:
“Compare these 3 vendors and highlight trade-offs”
“What are the risks of this pricing change?”
“Pressure test this go-to-market strategy”
Instead of going in blind, you’re going in prepared.
What to do this week:
Pick one decision you’re currently working through and run it through AI as a second layer of analysis.
Not for answers.
For better questions.
3. Customer Support Triage
Customer support is one of the easiest places to create leverage with AI.
Because a lot of it is:
Repetitive
Process-driven
Time-consuming
AI can:
Handle first-touch responses
Route issues to the right person
Surface relevant information instantly
But here’s the key.
It shouldn’t replace the human.
It should support them.
Because the real opportunity in customer support isn’t just efficiency.
It’s experience.
If you can:
Respond quickly with AI
Then follow up thoughtfully with a human
You don’t just solve problems.
You build loyalty.
What to do this week:
Look at your top 10 most common support requests and build AI-assisted responses for them.
Then layer in human follow-up where it matters.
The Bigger Point
AI is a force multiplier.
It makes good systems better.
And bad systems worse.
If you don’t have:
Clear processes
Defined workflows
Strong decision-making
AI won’t fix that.
It’ll just expose it.
Where Most People Go Wrong
They start with the tool.
Instead of the problem.
They ask:
“What can this AI tool do?”
Instead of:
“Where are we wasting time, money, or effort?”
That’s backwards.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need 20 AI tools.
You need a few well-placed applications that actually move the business forward.
Start with:
Your knowledge
Your decisions
Your customer experience
Get those right.
Then layer in more.
Thanks for reading!
Dave
