Find the repeated friction
Look for work that is frequent, predictable, and prone to avoidable manual errors. Duplicating information across tools, routing routine requests, and assembling recurring reports are useful starting points.
Understand the exceptions
Write down the normal workflow and the situations that require human judgment. Good automation includes a clear path for exceptions, an accountable owner, and visibility into failures.
Start small and measure
Automate one well-understood step first. Compare the time and effort involved before and after, collect feedback from the people doing the work, and improve the process before expanding it.