AI automation for business, by team and industry

Teams by AI opportunity

Ranked by the share of a working year AI can take on per person. Customer service leads at 56%, sales trails at 40%.

1. Customer service, 1,126 hours a year per person, exposure 66 of 100, share of a working year 56%
2. Finance and accounting, 1,030 hours a year per person, exposure 60 of 100, share of a working year 52%
3. Data and analytics, 1,016 hours a year per person, exposure 64 of 100, share of a working year 51%
4. HR and recruitment, 976 hours a year per person, exposure 58 of 100, share of a working year 49%
5. Procurement and supply chain, 952 hours a year per person, exposure 53 of 100, share of a working year 48%
6. Marketing and content, 932 hours a year per person, exposure 59 of 100, share of a working year 47%
7. Operations and admin, 912 hours a year per person, exposure 55 of 100, share of a working year 46%
8. Legal and compliance, 898 hours a year per person, exposure 53 of 100, share of a working year 45%
9. IT and software, 892 hours a year per person, exposure 58 of 100, share of a working year 45%
10. Sales, 790 hours a year per person, exposure 51 of 100, share of a working year 40%

Industries by AI opportunity

The same ranking for 15 industries, from the mix of roles each one employs. Finance and insurance lead at 49%. All industries.

1. Finance and insurance, 977 hours a year per person, exposure 58 of 100, share of a working year 49%
2. Accounting, consulting and advertising, 919 hours a year per person, exposure 56 of 100, share of a working year 46%
3. Software and IT services, 918 hours a year per person, exposure 58 of 100, share of a working year 46%
4. Legal services, 898 hours a year per person, exposure 53 of 100, share of a working year 45%
5. Media and publishing, 811 hours a year per person, exposure 51 of 100, share of a working year 41%
6. Telecommunications, 784 hours a year per person, exposure 49 of 100, share of a working year 39%
7. Real estate, 744 hours a year per person, exposure 44 of 100, share of a working year 37%
8. Government, 690 hours a year per person, exposure 41 of 100, share of a working year 35%
9. Education, 681 hours a year per person, exposure 43 of 100, share of a working year 34%
10. Healthcare, 657 hours a year per person, exposure 38 of 100, share of a working year 33%
11. Retail, 655 hours a year per person, exposure 41 of 100, share of a working year 33%
12. Manufacturing, 621 hours a year per person, exposure 35 of 100, share of a working year 31%
13. Gambling and gaming, 555 hours a year per person, exposure 34 of 100, share of a working year 28%
14. Transportation and warehousing, 551 hours a year per person, exposure 31 of 100, share of a working year 28%
15. Hospitality and food service, 457 hours a year per person, exposure 28 of 100, share of a working year 23%

How we rank

Each task in each job gets a score for how much of its time AI can remove today, and a team's figure weights every job by how many people do it in the US. Hours are that share of a 2,000-hour working year. Read the full methodology, or see the score for any job.

Adoption path

Three steps, in this order, for any team. Each team page names the tasks that fit each step.

1. 1Quick wins

   Give each team an approved AI assistant and a written policy on what data it may see. People keep doing the work, faster.

   AI governance →

2. 2Workflow automation

   Automate the high-volume tasks AI can do end to end, such as data entry, matching and routing, and send the exceptions to a person.

   Customer service has the most to automate: 1,126 hours a year per person.

   Process automation →

3. 3Agents

   Hand whole workflows to agents that work across your systems, with a person approving what they produce.

   Private AI →