Getting started
How long does it take to get an AI tool into daily use?
The short answer
For one well-chosen process, weeks, not quarters. Our first tools are typically live within a month of starting, running alongside the old way until the numbers match, and each process after that goes faster. Daily use comes from training the people who run the work, at their pace, until it is part of the week.
By Bruno Guberinich and Peter Davis III, founders of Summit Client Services. Updated .
The timeline, step by step
- The first call 30 minutes Bring the process that eats the most time. We tell you plainly whether AI is the fix.
- Map the work About an hour per process We sit with the people who run it and write down how the work really happens.
- Build and check On your systems Built on your systems and matched against your own past results. Every difference explained or fixed.
- Roll out At your pace We train the people who use it, at their pace, until it is part of the week.
- Every month Month to month We review what is working, fix what is not, and pick the next process.
First tools are typically live within a month of starting. The same five steps are on our homepage.
What slows most AI projects down
- Starting with a platform, not a process. Licenses for everyone, then waiting for uses to appear.
- Skipping the people who do the work. Designing from a description of the process instead of from the person who runs it.
- No check against real numbers. Without proof on past results, nobody trusts the tool enough to retire the old way.
- Training once. One session, then back to the old habits.
What daily use looks like
Daily use is not a login count. It is the person who owns the process using the tool every time the work comes due, the old way retired, and the hours measured before and after on the same work. Measured that way over one week on a leader's recurring processes, a client saw up to 50% more productive per person.
What it takes from your team
- About an hour from the person who owns each process.
- Nobody else's calendar touched, and nothing taken offline.
- Hands-on training at each person's pace, including the people who are nervous about AI.
When it takes longer
- Regulated data, such as health records, that needs the right agreements in place first.
- Rules nobody can state yet. Mapping comes first.
- No way to export the data. See reporting when the ERP has no usable API.
- A company-wide AI platform still to choose. We help make that call, and it adds time.
Questions people ask next
Do we need to choose an AI platform first?
No. We work in Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, and recommend the one that fits how your company already works, or say so if the answer is none of them yet.
Will this get in the way of the day-to-day work?
No. It takes about an hour from the person who owns the process, with no new system and nothing taken offline. The new tool runs alongside the old way until it matches.
How do you get people who are not technical to use it?
We start with the person who owns the process, at their pace, on their own numbers. Each tool does one job the same way every time, so there is little new to learn.
What if it does not work?
Month to month: you can stop at any step, and you keep everything we built.
How do you measure whether it worked?
In hours on the same recurring work, before and after, with the output checked against your own past results.
More answers
- What is an outsourced AI department, and is it worth it? An outside team that sets the strategy, builds the tools, trains your people and keeps it working, month to month.
- How do companies automate a monthly commission run? Rules in code, every result matched to past payouts, a person approving. Four days became about two hours.
- Can AI automate reporting if our ERP has no usable API? Yes. If your team can export a report, a tool can be built on those exports, with no admin access.
- All answers Every question we have answered so far, in one place.
In the field guide
Your next step
You have the answer. Now ask about your business.
Thirty minutes. You bring one process, and we tell you plainly whether AI is worth doing there and where we would start.
Book a 30-minute working sessionNot ready to talk? Read the field guide
About Summit Client Services. Summit Client Services is your outsourced AI department: we set the strategy, build the tools into how you already run, train your people and keep it all working, month to month. Founded in 2026 by Bruno Guberinich and Peter Davis III. Not affiliated with any other company named Summit Client Services.