Every week brings a new AI tool promising to transform sales, marketing or support. Most small businesses can’t evaluate them all, and don’t need to. A short, consistent scorecard helps you decide quickly and avoid paying for overlapping tools.
Start with the task, not the tool
Write one sentence: “We want to [task] for [who], so that [result].” For example: “Draft first replies to WhatsApp enquiries in English and Arabic, so the team replies within 15 minutes.” Tools that don’t do that task well are out, however good the demo.
Check first whether a tool you already pay for does it: your CRM, email platform, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 may include AI features. See the subscription audit.
The criteria
| Criterion | Questions |
|---|---|
| Quality on your work | How good is the output on 20 real examples? How much editing does it need? |
| Data terms | Does it train on your data on your plan? How long is data kept? Where is it processed? |
| Integrations | Does it connect to your CRM, inbox, store, documents? Or is it copy-paste? |
| Language | Arabic quality, right-to-left display, mixed English/Arabic |
| Control | Admin console, user management, audit logs, ability to require human approval |
| Cost | Per seat, per use, or both? Real monthly cost at your volume |
| Reliability and support | Uptime, support hours, how errors are handled |
| Exit | Can you export your data, prompts and history? |
| Security risks | If it reads customer messages or acts on your behalf, how is prompt injection handled? Can it send or change things without approval? |
Test on your own examples
- Collect 20 real, varied examples (easy, typical, tricky, including Arabic if relevant).
- Run each tool on all 20.
- Score each output: usable as is, light edits, heavy edits, unusable.
- Note any factual errors or invented details.
This takes an afternoon and tells you more than any review site.
Check the data terms properly
Look at the terms for the plan you’d buy. Major providers commonly don’t train on business-plan or API data by default, while free or personal plans may. Feedback buttons can change that. See using AI with business data safely.
Decide and review
- Pick the best scorer for the task, not the most features.
- Start with a small number of seats and a review date.
- After a month, check usage and time saved. Cancel if it isn’t used.
Frequently asked questions
Should we pick one AI tool for everything?
A general assistant on a business plan covers many tasks. Specialised tools earn their place only when they clearly beat it on a specific task or integrate where the work happens.
How often should we re-evaluate?
When renewal comes up, or when your main tools add similar features.
What about free trials?
Use them for the 20-example test, with non-sensitive data, and set a reminder before the trial converts to paid.
If you’d like help evaluating AI tools against your real work, that’s part of our tech stack service.
Free download · Excel worksheet
AI tool scorecard
A weighted scorecard for comparing AI tools on your criteria, plus a test sheet for scoring each tool's output on 20 real examples.
Download itNo sign-up. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
Rather have it done?
This is the kind of work our tech stack service covers. Tell us where you are today and we’ll reply with a plan and a fixed price.
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