What it means to automate a business and where to start

> Declaration of interest: BAI Business offers automations and publishes this article. It is signed by Héctor Redondo, CEO and founder of BAI Business.

Today I want to talk about what it means to automate a business and where to start, which is where almost everybody gets stuck.

To automate is to make something you always do the same way happen by itself when something else occurs. When a new customer arrives, they get the list of documents. When an invoice is paid, the thank-you email goes out. When an appointment is cancelled, the slot is freed. It is not magic or futuristic technology: it is writing down once a rule that you used to carry out by hand.

What an automation looks like inside

All of them, simple or complicated, have three parts:

1. What triggers it: a new customer, a booking, a form, a payment, a review or a date.
2. Conditions (optional): only for a certain service, or if the customer has a certain tag.
3. What happens next: send an email, wait a few days, tag, create a task, notify your team.

If you can explain a task in that form ("when this happens, and if this other thing is true, do that"), it can be automated.

Why it matters so much to me

I work about 16 hours a day to build BAI. And there are self-employed people in my family, so I know what it is like to watch someone work themselves to the bone, hour after hour. If there is one thing I am clear about, it is that the hours that weigh most are the ones you repeat. Those are the ones I want to happen by themselves, so that the time left goes to what the customer actually pays you for. I see hundreds of reels of people automating their business with AI, and I decided to do it for mine and for the BAI community. We are a small number of businesses, but we are already a community, and here I tell you how we do it.

What to automate first

Not everything is worth it. Look at three things for each task:

• How many times do you do it? Once a year it is not worth it; five times a week, it is.
• Is it always done the same way? If it changes every time, the rule is hard to write.
• What happens if it is forgotten? If forgetting it costs a customer or a payment, it moves up the list.

Imagine a small firm that, every time it signs up a new client, has to email them the list of documents they must bring and, three days later, remind them. Today one person does it when they remember. It is frequent, always the same and costs money when forgotten: a perfect candidate. (An invented example, not a real customer.)

What to leave by hand, for now

• What changes every time: a delicate case with a customer.
• What works badly today: if the manual process is chaos, automating it only makes it faster and more chaotic. Order it first, automate it afterwards. This is my opinion, not a rule.
• What needs human judgement: a difficult conversation with a customer.

How to start this week

1. For five days, write down every task you repeat. One line per task and how long it takes.
2. Pick the one that repeats most and changes least.
3. Write it with the three parts: what triggers it, conditions, what happens next.
4. Set it up and watch what happens for three days.
5. Measure how much time you save and decide on the next one.

How many companies do it with artificial intelligence

Do not confuse automating with using artificial intelligence: they are different things, and I explain them in artificial intelligence or automation. As a data point, the INE reports that 21.1% of companies in Spain with 10 or more employees and an internet connection use AI (first quarter of 2025, accessed on 11 October 2026); it does not measure how many automate with rules.

What we have built at BAI

I keep my own tasks in BAI's task module, each with its owner and its date, and automations are part of how the platform works. According to what we publish on the website, each BAI solution comes with its automations already built (the appointment reminder, the review request, the email when an invoice is paid) and you can build your own by choosing what triggers them, with conditions and what happens next, without writing anything technical. You see every time one has run and, if something failed, you repeat it with one click. When your case does not fit that mould, our team studies your process, tells you what is worth automating and in what order, and builds it; you decide when it is switched on.

You can do the five steps above with any tool.

What to do now

Start with step one: write down what you repeat for a week. If you want to see how we solve it, there are ready-made automations for your business and custom automation.

How we checked this

I read the INE figure directly in its press release on 11 October 2026. The five steps are my method, not a rule. What I say about BAI comes from the published pages of our website. I wrote it with the help of artificial intelligence from the cited sources and from what we use at BAI; I sign it myself.

Sources

• INE, "Encuesta sobre el uso de TIC y del comercio electrónico en las empresas. Año 2024 - Primer trimestre 2025": https://www.ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/ETICCE20241T2025.htm (accessed on 11 October 2026).
• Description of BAI's automations: published pages Ready-made automations and Custom automation.