15. Will the office team do less work—or inherit a new queue of corrections?

Draft answer framing: Measure total work removed and work added. Give the operational team authority over rules, exceptions and acceptance.

Why it matters: One reviewed engineer-coordinator advertisement includes quoting, invoicing, parts ordering, reporting and contractual service levels. It illustrates why replacing telephone handling alone should not be equated with replacing a whole coordination role; it is not a labour-market estimate. (reed.co.uk)

Put this question to the expert:

“Which tasks disappear, which remain, and which new tasks appear when the AI goes live? Who has the authority and time to manage them?”

A strong answer should cover:

• A before-and-after task map, including checking summaries, correcting records and chasing incomplete enquiries.
• One agreed exception queue rather than parallel spreadsheets, inboxes and agency dashboards.
• Training in safe rule changes, pausing automation and reporting faults.
• Named ownership for customer, asset and scheduling data.
• Separate measurement of time released, workload predictability and cash savings.
• Consultation on monitoring: ICO worker-monitoring guidance includes considerations for call recording and alternatives such as call records. (ico.org.uk)

Evidence to request: A staff-reviewed workload log and operational sign-off, including unresolved objections.

Follow-up: “If the owner likes the demo but the office manager rejects the workflow, what happens next?”

Expert quote: ____________________