Tuaha Jawaid
Tuaha runs discovery, the audit and delivery at Kastling. His background is consumer goods marketing and sales on the agency side, working on brands including Unilever, Red Bull and Toyota. He spends most of his time with operations leaders, mapping how work runs today before anyone proposes software.
LinkedInWritten by Tuaha
AI workflow automation: what it costs to run and what it savesThe cost of AI workflow automation splits into five areas: discovery or a paid audit, implementation, infrastructure and model usage, integration licenses, and support and change. Model usage is usually the smallest recurring line and scales with volume and document length, while support, exception handling and adoption are the lines buyers underestimate. Savings come from hours returned at loaded cost, fewer errors and faster cycle times, but only count as cash when they change hiring, overtime or outside spend.Read How to calculate the ROI of AI automationCalculate the ROI of AI automation by measuring the current process first, then valuing hours saved at loaded cost, errors avoided and faster cycle times, and setting that against the full cost to build, run and support the system. Express the result as a payback period under conservative assumptions, and count saved hours as money only when they change hiring, overtime or contractor spend.Read What happens in an AI readiness assessmentAn AI readiness assessment is a structured review of specific workflows, the data and systems behind them and the people who run them, to decide where AI or automation will help, what must be fixed first and in what order to act. A good one ends with named, prioritized opportunities and a roadmap, not a maturity score or a deck of industry trends.Read AI workflow automation: a practical guide for operations teamsAI workflow automation puts AI models inside a defined business process to read, classify and prepare work, while fixed rules, integrations and named people handle the steps that must be predictable. It suits repetitive, document-heavy or request-heavy work such as intake, routing, document checks and approvals. Start with one measurable workflow, keep consequential approvals with an accountable person, and expand only once the numbers show it works.Read Build, buy or integrate: deciding on custom business softwareBuy standard software when the process is common and you can adapt to the product, integrate when your existing systems already hold the data and only the connections are missing, and build custom software only where the process sets you apart or no product fits its core steps. Most growing companies land on a hybrid: buy the core system of record, then integrate or build the edges around it. Compare the options on 3 to 5 year total cost of ownership, not on the first invoice.Read How to choose an AI implementation partner: 10 questions to askChoosing an AI implementation partner comes down to ten questions about scoping, testing, human control, ownership, lock-in, security, integration feasibility, who does the work, how success is measured and what happens after launch. Ask every shortlisted firm the same questions and compare the answers side by side. Then verify with reference calls and a small, paid first piece of work before committing to a large build.Read What drives the cost of custom softwareThe cost of custom software is set mostly by scope: how many user roles the software serves, how many systems it connects to, how much existing data has to move, and what the security and compliance requirements are. Technology choices and hourly rates matter far less than most buyers expect. Budget for the years after launch as well, because hosting, support and maintenance continue for as long as the business depends on the software.Read Internal tools and customer portals: planning the first releaseThe first release of an internal tool or customer portal should cover one workflow for one group of users, end to end, rather than a thin version of everything. Decide roles, permissions and how people sign in before design starts, because those choices are expensive to retrofit. Then measure adoption against the work actually moving through the tool, not against logins.Read Off-the-shelf, no-code or custom software: when to use eachBuy an off-the-shelf product when the process is standard and a vendor already handles it well. Use a no-code or low-code platform for internal tools and team workflows where speed matters more than scale, and govern those apps the same way you govern any other business system. Build custom software when the process is specific to your business, when data volume or integration depth exceeds what a platform can carry, or when the app must live inside a system of record you already own.Read How to write a requirements brief a development partner can useA good requirements brief is a decisions document, not a design document. In two to four pages it states the business problem, who uses the software and in what role, how the process runs today, what must be in the first release, which systems and data are involved, the constraints, how success will be measured and who decides. Written that way it produces comparable quotes, a realistic plan and far less rework.Read In-house, agency or partner: how to staff an AI projectAn AI project needs a business owner and a process owner from inside your company, plus AI engineering, integration, data, cloud and change skills that you can hire, contract or bring in through a partner. For a first workflow, a specialist partner working with named internal owners is usually the fastest route, and hiring makes sense once there is steady work to keep a team busy. Whichever route you take, your company should own the code, the accounts and the documentation.Read Which business processes to automate firstChoose the first process to automate by scoring candidates on volume, repetition, how much judgment they need, data availability, systems access, cost of errors, whether someone owns the process and whether you can measure it. The best first candidate is usually a frequent, well understood, medium consequence process with one accountable owner, not the one people complain about most. Score three to five candidates, pick the highest, and scope it as a single workflow with a recorded baseline.Read
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