Leck Tech Contact

Small Business AI Readiness Check

Find out how much AI could do for your business, and how much control you have over how it is used. 15 everyday questions (one more if you use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace), about 3 minutes, no technical knowledge needed.

  • Free, no email required to see your results
  • Want more precision? Each area has optional technical questions (13 in all, more if you use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace) with tips on how to find the answers
  • Your answers stay in your browser unless you choose to send them
  • Covers AI policy, business accounts, data protection, Copilot and Gemini oversharing, and staff training

Answer from what you know. In the scored questions, “Not sure” is fine: it counts the same as “Partly” and goes on a short list of things worth finding out.

Where AI could save you time

These questions are not scored. They show where AI is most likely to pay off in your business.

Do staff write similar emails, quotes or proposals from scratch?
Do you answer the same customer questions again and again by email or phone?
Does time go into hunting for files, policies or answers buried in old email?
Are meeting notes and follow ups written up by hand, or not at all?
Do staff copy details out of invoices, forms or PDFs by hand?
Does someone turn numbers into a written summary or update every week or month?

About your business

Do you use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for company email and files?
Do you handle health, financial or legal information about your clients?
How many people work in your business?

Foundations

Are your company files mostly in one place in the cloud (such as SharePoint, OneDrive or Google Drive), rather than spread across laptops, USB drives and personal accounts?
Do you know whether software you already pay for (such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or your accounting or CRM system) includes AI features?
Go deeper: 2 technical questions (optional)

Answer any you can; skip the rest. Here “Not sure” counts as a gap and goes on your list of questions for your IT provider.

Your key processes (quoting, billing, taking on a new client) are written down well enough that a new hire could follow them.

How to find out: Pick one routine task and see whether written steps exist anywhere other than in someone's head.

Your business data lives in proper systems (accounting, CRM, practice or job management) rather than loose spreadsheets.

How to find out: List where customer, job and financial information is kept today and how many copies of each exist.

Policy and approval

Is one person responsible for deciding which AI and software tools the business uses?
Have you told staff in writing which AI tools they may use for work, and what they must never put into them?
Go deeper: 2 technical questions (optional)

Answer any you can; skip the rest. Here “Not sure” counts as a gap and goes on your list of questions for your IT provider.

Staff have acknowledged the AI policy in writing, and it is reviewed at least once a year.

How to find out: Check whether signed acknowledgments exist and when the policy was last updated.

AI features in software you already use (CRM, accounting, meeting and email tools) have been reviewed for what they do with your data, and switched off where they are not approved.

How to find out: Check each main application's admin or privacy settings for AI, assistant or smart features and the data terms that go with them.

Tools and accounts

When staff use ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini or similar tools for work, is it always on a company business account rather than a free or personal one?
Do you know which AI tools staff actually use, including browser extensions and the AI features in software you already pay for?
Go deeper: 4 technical questions (optional)

Answer any you can; skip the rest. Here “Not sure” counts as a gap and goes on your list of questions for your IT provider.

Staff cannot connect new apps or AI add ons to company email and files without an administrator's approval.
Your business AI plans are set so your data is not used to train models, with chat history and retention settings chosen on purpose.

How to find out: Look in each AI tool's admin or workspace settings for data controls, model training and retention.

Staff sign in to AI tools with their company login and multifactor authentication, so access ends automatically when someone leaves.

How to find out: Check whether staff sign in to AI tools with Sign in with Microsoft or Google, or with a separate password.

Browser extensions on company computers are managed, so staff cannot install AI extensions that read every web page and email.

How to find out: Ask your IT provider whether Chrome or Edge extensions are controlled by policy, or check the extension list on a few computers.

Data protection

Do staff know never to paste client records, health or financial details, passwords or contracts into AI tools that are not approved for it?
Does someone check AI written content (emails, quotes, contracts, website text) before it reaches a customer?
Go deeper: 3 technical questions (optional)

Answer any you can; skip the rest. Here “Not sure” counts as a gap and goes on your list of questions for your IT provider.

Data loss prevention rules or sensitivity labels flag or block sensitive information (card numbers, Social Security numbers, client files) before it goes into AI tools or out by email.

How to find out: In Microsoft 365, check Microsoft Purview for data loss prevention policies and sensitivity labels; in Google Workspace, check Data protection rules.

Meeting recorders and AI notetakers are approved centrally, and everyone is told when a meeting is recorded or transcribed.

How to find out: Check recent meeting invites and attendee lists for bots such as Otter, Fireflies or Read.ai.

You have a written step for what to do if confidential data goes into the wrong AI tool: who to tell, how to get it deleted, and whether clients must be told.

How to find out: Check whether your incident response plan mentions AI tools at all.

People and training

Have staff had any guidance or training on using AI tools well and safely in the last year?
Go deeper: 2 technical questions (optional)

Answer any you can; skip the rest. Here “Not sure” counts as a gap and goes on your list of questions for your IT provider.

Training covers risks for specific roles: AI written invoice fraud and cloned voices for anyone who handles payments, and what not to share for client facing staff.

How to find out: Ask your finance staff what they would do if the owner called asking for an urgent payment to a new account.

AI activity is logged (for example Microsoft Purview auditing for Copilot) so you could check what was asked and shared if something went wrong.

How to find out: In Microsoft 365, check whether auditing is on in Microsoft Purview; for other AI tools, look for audit logs in the admin console.