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Is Your SME Ready for AI? The Honest Readiness Assessment
This checklist helps you honestly assess where your business really stands before your first AI project. Go through each item and only tick what is actually true today, not what you hope for. Unchecked boxes are not a weakness; they are your concrete to-do list before you begin.
1. Business Goals & Use Cases
2. Data Readiness & Quality
3. Processes & Integration
4. Skills & Change Management
5. Governance, Risk & the Revised FADP
Frequently asked questions
How many ticks make our SME "AI-ready"?
There is no fixed score. This is a diagnostic tool, not an exam: gaps in goals, data and governance should be closed before you start, while some skills gaps can often be addressed alongside a pilot. Use the unchecked items as your roadmap.
Does this checklist replace a legal review under the revised FADP?
No. It offers practical orientation, not legal advice, and ticking the boxes does not guarantee compliance. Whether and how the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP/nFADP) or the EU AI Act apply to your case should, if in doubt, be clarified with qualified data-protection or legal counsel. Guidance from the FDPIC is a good starting point.
We don't process sensitive personal data. Is the FADP section still relevant?
Yes, usually. The revised FADP applies to the processing of personal data in general, not only to particularly sensitive data. Customer, employee or supplier data already counts. So even for seemingly harmless use cases, check which personal data the AI actually processes.
What do we do with the unchecked items after the assessment?
Prioritise them. Blocking gaps, such as missing data access or unresolved data-protection questions, belong before the project starts. Less critical items, like additional training, can be scheduled alongside. Then launch a tightly scoped pilot, gather experience and repeat the assessment before scaling up.