Ship real impact in one quarter, without boiling the ocean. This is Silyze’s field guide for delivering measurable AI outcomes fast, then compounding those wins into a durable advantage.
Who this is for
- Founders & CTOs under pressure to show ROI this quarter.
- Ops, Support, Growth leaders who want automation that sticks.
- Engineering teams that need a clear, low-risk delivery plan.
Principles that make 90 days realistic
- Start at the edge, not the core. Wrap manual work with AI instead of refactoring core systems on day 1.
- Use the data you already have. Docs, tickets, CRM notes, connected with retrieval (RAG) beats net-new data collection.
- Human-in-the-loop (HITL) first. Draft > approve > send. Automate the hand movement before removing it.
- Guardrails and observability baked-in. Every answer has a source; every action is traceable.
- Weekly evals, not vibes. Golden sets, error buckets, and dashboards decide what ships next.
The 90‑Day Roadmap
Phase 0 (Days 0–7): Alignment & baselines
- Pick 2 quick-win use cases (from the menu below).
- Define Success Metrics and a single spreadsheet P&L.
- Connect data: KB/docs, helpdesk, CRM, inbox, ticketing, simple vector index.
- Ship a no‑code prototype (internal) to validate feasibility.
Exit criteria: Metrics, data access, security review signed off.
Phase 1 (Days 8–30): Pilot (HITL)
- Build thin vertical slices:
- Support Reply Drafts inside your helpdesk UI.
- Outbound Personalization drafts for Growth/Sales.
- Doc → JSON Extraction for Ops/Finance (invoices, KYC, contracts).
- Add RAG over existing docs (policies, product, pricing).
- Stand up observability (traces, prompt versions, citations).
Exit criteria: 2 pilots live to internal users, weekly evals running.
Phase 2 (Days 31–60): Partial automation
- Move top‑performing paths from draft → auto‑send w/ review.
- Add confidence thresholds and safe refusals.
- Expand coverage with 10–20 targeted KB entries.
- Cost controls: caching, smaller models for easy tasks, batch jobs at night.
Exit criteria: ≥30% of target volume handled with <1% critical error rate.
Phase 3 (Days 61–90): Scale & handoffs
- Integrate system actions (refund check, plan change, ticket creation).
- Tighten exclusions/limits and rate guards.
- Publish ROI report: savings, revenue impact, error rate, next quarter plan.
Exit criteria: Project pays for itself or has a clear breakeven date.
Quick‑Win Use‑Case Menu (pick any two)
1) Support: Reply drafts + deflection
- What ships: AI drafts with citations in the helpdesk; KB‑grounded chat for deflection.
- Why it wins: Faster responses, fewer escalations, better CSAT.
- Target impact (90d): AHT −20–35%, deflection +10–25%.
2) Growth/Sales: Personalized first‑touch emails
- What ships: Prospect research + 100‑word first drafts with safe variables.
- Why it wins: More replies without burning domains.
- Target impact: Reply rate +2–4pp; time saved on research.
3) Ops/Finance: Document → JSON extraction
- What ships: Invoices/receipts/contracts parsed into structured records with HUMINT review.
- Why it wins: Eliminates swivel‑chair data entry.
- Target impact: Throughput +3–5×; error rate ↓ vs manual.
4) Success: Churn‑risk summaries
- What ships: Account digests (tickets, NPS, usage) with renewal risk flags.
- Why it wins: Focuses humans on the right saves.
- Target impact: Save rate +10–20% of at‑risk cohort.
5) Product: Issue triage & duplicate detection
- What ships: Clusters similar bug reports; suggests owners and known fixes.
- Why it wins: Shorter time‑to‑triage; better prioritization.
- Target impact: Triage time −30–50%.
Delivery rule: If it doesn’t affect a KPI you pay for, it’s a Q5, not a quick win.
The ROI Math (simple & transparent)
Core formula
ROI = (Value − Cost) / Cost
Value = Savings + New Revenue
Savings = Hours_saved × Loaded_rate
New_Revenue = Incremental_conversions × Avg_margin
Cost = Model usage + Infra + Eng time (amortized) + Vendor fees
Example (Support pilot, 90 days)
- 6 agents × 2 h/day saved × 60 days × €30/hr = €21,600 savings
- Model/infra/vendor = €3,900
- Eng (amortized) = €6,500
- ROI = (21,600 − 10,400) / 10,400 ≈ 108%
Keep everything in one sheet. Decide with numbers, not anecdotes.
Architecture (how Silyze ships fast & safe)
- Ingestion: APIs, webhooks, s3/storage; HTML/PDF cleaners.
- RAG Layer: vector index (pgvector / equivalent), metadata filters (locale, version).
- Orchestration: Node/TS + Python microservices, queues, idempotent jobs.
- Guardrails: allow‑listed intents, refusals, PII redaction, policy snippets.
- Observability: traces (OpenTelemetry), prompt/version registry, per‑step logs.
- Cost controls: caching, model routing (small → big), batch/off‑peak.
- HITL: approval UIs in your tools (helpdesk/CRM/backoffice).
Prefer thin verticals over platforms upfront. Replace parts later, not outcomes now.
Eval & Safety: Weekly ritual
- Golden set expanded weekly (20–50 examples).
- Error review: hallucinations, policy misses, wrong action.
- Drift checks: docs stale, product/name changes, seasonality.
- Shadow‑prod: auto‑run but don’t auto‑act; compare vs humans.
- Red team: adversarial prompts on risky intents.
Ship, measure, harden, repeat.
Example 90‑Day Plan (copy‑ready)
Day 0–7
- Pick Support Drafts + Doc→JSON.
- Connect helpdesk, docs, storage; stand up vector index.
- Draft success sheet + baseline.
Day 8–30
- Ship Support Drafts (HITL).
- Build extraction pipeline with review tool.
- Start weekly evals, logging, cost tracking.
Day 31–60
- Automate top intents at confidence ≥ 0.8.
- Add 15 KB articles to cover gaps.
- Introduce model routing + caching.
Day 61–90
- Add system actions (ticket, refund check, case update).
- Publish ROI; expand to Growth first‑touch.
- Lock next‑quarter backlog by measured impact.
Objections you’ll hear (and how to answer)
- “We don’t have clean data.” Start with retrieval over the cleanest 30 docs; author 10 new KB entries.
- “Hallucinations worry me.” Ground on docs, cite sources, add refusal rules, gate by confidence.
- “Models are too expensive.” Route 70–90% to small models + cache. Big models only for hard cases.
- “Legal won’t sign off.” Prove auditability: citations, logs, access controls, retention.
What we need from you (checklist)
- 2 target use cases, 1 owner each
- Access to docs/helpdesk/CRM or sample files
- A single KPI per use case + baseline
- A weekly 30‑min review slot
- Decision‑maker for go/no‑go at each gate
FAQ
How do we avoid sending wrong messages?
Start with human‑approval. Promote flows to auto‑send only when evals are green.
Can we use our private models?
Yes. We route by cost/performance and can pin workloads to your preferred providers or on‑prem.
What about multilingual?
We prefer native content per locale for policy/price. Otherwise: translate + locale‑specific guardrails.
Pick two high‑leverage use cases. Connect the data you already own. Ship HITL pilots in 30 days, partial automation by day 60, scale by day 90. Measure weekly. Your quarter funds your roadmap.
Talk to Silyze
Want this plan adapted to your stack and KPIs? Email support@silyze.com or book a quick scoping call. We’ll ship the first wins in weeks, not years.