Most AI deployment delays we see are not technical — they are preparation gaps. Here are the 12 things to have ready before your deployment starts.

People & Process

1. A designated AI project owner

Someone on your team who will be the primary point of contact, can make decisions quickly, and will manage the system after go-live.

2. Mapped current workflows

Document the process you want to automate before we start. Even a simple flowchart helps. We can help you do this during discovery.

3. A list of the top 20 questions your system needs to answer

For voice agents and RAG systems, the quality of the AI depends heavily on having clear, representative examples of real queries.

4. Access to existing tools and credentials

CRM login, email hosting credentials, telephony admin access — gather these before Day 1 to avoid delays.

Data & Documents

5. Documents in digital format

PDFs, Word docs, Google Docs — whatever contains your SOPs, FAQs, and knowledge base. Scanned images without OCR need extra processing time.

6. Clean contact or customer data

If integrating with a CRM, export a sample dataset to verify field names and formats match what the AI will log.

7. A data privacy assessment

Know what customer data the AI will touch. Determine if on-premise or private cloud deployment is required for compliance.

8. A stable internet connection at deployment site

Minimum 10 Mbps upload for voice agent deployments. Higher for enterprise multi-agent setups.

9. IT admin access

Someone who can whitelist IPs, configure DNS, and approve firewall rules if needed.

10. A test environment

A staging phone number, test email address, or sandbox CRM account for safe testing before go-live.

11. Budget approval in advance

Have financial approval confirmed before the discovery call so we can move directly from proposal to deployment.

12. A realistic go-live date

Most deployments take 2–4 weeks. Build in buffer time for internal testing and feedback rounds.

If you have most of these in place, you are ready for a discovery call. We will cover any gaps during the scoping session.