Map the work
Before picking a tool, list the workflows that repeat weekly, the ones that break at handoffs, and the ones that nobody owns. If the workflow is not written down, it is not ready for an agent. Write it down first.
Pick one workflow
Choose a workflow with a clean input and a clean output. Lead intake. Quote drafting. Recap emails. Make the agent do that one thing. Measure it for thirty days. Then decide what is next.
Ship and measure
Ship in tight sprints with success criteria written up front. Cycle time, error rate, human-correction rate, cost per run. If you can't name the metric, you don't have a system yet.
Keep the guardrails
Agents can burn through API credits fast. Cache prompts, batch calls, run open-source models where they fit, and show the bill. Keep human approval gates on anything that touches money, medical, or legal.