A test for business owners

Your business is growing. You still can't get from day-to-day operations to strategy, same as last year.

With the businesses I work with, I see the same pattern over and over. According to a late-2025 survey by the Czech AI Association and the Czech Chamber of Commerce, nine out of ten Czech companies are counting on AI this year, but only 11% call it a key part of their strategy. For the rest it stayed at a few ChatGPT prompts and nothing about how the business runs has changed. What's missing is a foundation solid enough for AI to actually speed anything up.

From dozens of interviews with company directors, I put together an ebook that shows where others lose time and money every day, so you don't repeat their mistakes.

Or jump straight to the 3-minute test →

Sound familiar?

"The business can't breathe without me."

Decisions the team should be making still land on you. You're on vacation and the phone won't stop ringing.

"I know it, we just never wrote it down."

Processes work as long as the same people are around. The moment someone leaves, you find out how much was held together by them alone.

"I decide by gut feeling, not by numbers."

By the time you find out which part of the business actually makes money, you've burned the time you could have spent deciding.

"I'm afraid of growing further, because I know the system won't hold."

More orders or clients should be a joy, not a risk. For you, it's a risk.

A real example
Problem: Six people at one company spent an entire morning looking for one file, because nobody quite knew where it was or who last edited it.
↓
Fix: Get the data in order first, who owns what and where things live. Only on that foundation does it make sense to build AI or automation, not the other way around.

Want more real examples? Download the case studies (PDF) →

How we work together: from process diagnostics to AI adoption

First we look at how the business actually runs. Then we build a plan together. Only after that does it make sense to talk about technology.

1
Mapping and diagnosis

We go through how the company actually runs.

  • What: what processes it has in place, who's responsible for what, and what tools people use to get the work done
  • Who I talk to: ten to fifteen people from management and operations
  • How long: 4 to 6 weeks for a company of around 30 to 50 people, longer for a bigger or more complex business
  • Output: a visual process map showing exactly where time, money, or information gets stuck
2
Action plan

The process map turns into an action plan.

  • what needs fixing, what just needs tightening up, and in what order, first, second, third
  • you get it in writing, right after the diagnostic
  • steps built around your business specifically
3
Implementation

Following the plan, we take one of three paths, depending on what the company actually needs:

  • automating specific steps
  • a custom technical solution built with our partner Moravio
  • leaving the process as it now stands, with no further build

Either way, you end up saving time and money, with the company ready to keep growing.

Want to see the whole process in action?

It's the same process I use with every company I work with, whether that's manufacturing, a B2B service business, or an online business. You'll see it step by step, on a custom metalworking company, from data chaos to a 90-day action plan.

Implementation partner

From action plan to working system

I handle the diagnostic, the process map, and the action plan myself. When that points to building a custom system or connecting tools you already use, I build it together with Moravio, an Ostrava-based company that has been building custom operational software since 2011 for companies like Veolia, Notino, and ASSA ABLOY. At the end you have a system running in live operation, and not just a document of recommendations.

moravio.com →
Moravio s.r.o.
Real example · MSIC

What a diagnostic typically turns up

1Approval always waits on one person, even when they're out of office
2Order status depends on who you happen to ask
3No one's quite sure who's allowed to decide what

A typical pattern from dozens of diagnostic days at companies across the Moravian-Silesian region, as a business consultant for MSIC.

Real example · Talkey a.s.

What an action plan could look like

1Unify the approval process, with clear rules on who approves what, up to what amount
2Connect approvals to the CRM, so management sees every deal's status in one place
3Train the sales team on the new process

Result: management now sees the status of every deal in one place, instead of searching through emails and chat.

Real example · B2B service company, 20-person team

What changed after implementation

✕Before: task approval waited on the owner, sometimes for days
✓After: the app routes approval straight to the team, within hours
8 to 10 hours a week freed up for leadership
Free download

Where should I send the ebook?

30 Problems CEOs Deal With Behind Closed Doors. I'll send it straight to your email as a PDF, along with a few lines on what to do next.

Please enter a valid email so I know where to send the ebook.

How I actually work

From current state to action plan

This is the real process I use on every diagnostic, whether it's a manufacturing company, a B2B service business, or an online business. I'm walking through it on a custom metalworking company because it's the clearest way to show the whole process in one place. The company name and exact numbers are made up, but the type of problems and the steps to fix them match exactly what I see in practice.

85 employees 45 orders a month custom metal manufacturing CRM used by sales only ERP with no shop-floor data modeled loss: 380K CZK a month

How the current state shows up in day-to-day management

How much software a company has matters less than how information, responsibility, and decisions connect.

What people do every day

Jan, salesCopies the order from an email into the CRM, then again into an Excel sheet for production.
Petra, plannerKeeps the one real production plan in her own file and changes it eight times a day.
Milan, purchasingChecks stock by phone, because the ERP doesn't match reality.
Eva, floor supervisorGets priority changes verbally, logs production output at the end of the shift.
Lucie, logisticsFinds out the delivery date only once the product is already finished.

Where the process breaks down

A · Quote waits on the engineerOne person approves every calculation, a 1 to 3 day queue.
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B · The order gets rewritten three timesEmail, CRM, ERP, production plan. No single owner of the data.
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C · Material goes missing at the last momentERP reservations don't match the physical warehouse or the current plan.
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D · Production doesn't see changes in timeExcel, the whiteboard, and paper all show three different priorities.
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E · Quality and logistics react too lateDefects and delays only surface right before shipping.

What it costs

47K CZK85 hours a month spent re-entering and tracking down data.
145K CZKExpress shipping and emergency purchases caused by late changes.
78K CZKMachine downtime, resequencing, and unplanned changeovers.
110K CZKScrap and rework from repeated errors without fast feedback.
14 delayed orders31% of monthly output misses its originally promised date.

Current state as a process map

Click a step to see exactly what happens there and where it gets stuck. Steps are ordered by how an order moves through the company.

1. Inquiry
2. Quote
3. Order
4. Planning
5. Production
6. Shipping
7. Review

Receiving the inquiry

Risk: medium
Input

Email, PDF drawing, requested deadline.

What happens

Jan manually creates the contact and opportunity, saves the attachment to a shared folder.

Handoff problem

The engineer doesn't know which version of the attachment is latest or what's already been checked.

Loss / signal

15 minutes of admin per inquiry, 7% of inquiries missing complete data.

What the map revealed

Each finding ties together evidence, a root cause, an owner, and a quantifiable loss.

B · Order rewritten three times

Owner: sales director
Observation

The same 12 fields get entered into the CRM, the ERP, and a production Excel sheet.

Root cause

The CRM and ERP share no common identifier and no clear rules for required data.

Impact

85 hours of work a month, plus a wrong deadline or quantity on 4% of orders.

Evidence from mapping

Shadowing five real orders showed 9 to 14 manual copy steps per order. In two cases the latest drawing revision differed between systems.

Recoverable loss
35K CZK

A concrete 90-day action plan

Process control and data come first, then integration and automation.

Days 0 to 14 · Stabilize

One order-to-delivery ownerThe CEO names Petra process owner with authority across departments.Output: RACI and escalation rules
One order ID from the inquiry onJan creates the ID at the inquiry stage; everyone uses the same reference.Metric: 100% of orders traceable
Daily 15-minute exception reviewPlanning, purchasing, production, and logistics handle only the deviations.Metric: blockers open over 24 hours

Days 15 to 35 · Unify the data

Mandatory quote dataTomáš defines the technical minimum; without it a quote can't go for approval.Impact: shorter queue, fewer bounces
ERP as the source for dates and BOMPetra's Excel stays only as a temporary view, not as the database.Metric: zero manual re-entry into the plan
Fixing inventory accuracyMilan introduces regular counts and ownership of material movement.Target: inventory accuracy above 97%

Days 36 to 65 · Connect the flow

CRM to ERP, no re-entryAn approved quote creates the customer, the order, and the base line items.Saving: 35K CZK a month
Production confirms at the operationEva rolls out a simple terminal or barcode for start, stop, and defects.Target: data no more than 15 minutes behind
Logistics sees the completion planLucie gets a heads-up 48 hours before shipping, plus instant updates on changes.Target: 60% fewer express shipments

Days 66 to 90 · Manage performance

One operations dashboardOn-time delivery, blockers, missing material, work in progress, and defects.Owner: Petra, reviewed weekly
Automatic alertsDeadline risk, missing material, pending approvals, and repeat defects.Target: act before the loss occurs
AI only on top of reliable dataDelay prediction and order summaries for sales and production.Condition: unified data and ownership
Target delayed orders14 → 5per month
Recoverable monthly loss≈ 250K CZKof the modeled 380K CZK
Payback period4 to 7 monthswith disciplined rollout
Same method, different industry

This works outside manufacturing too

The same process-mapping approach you see for KOVOMAX, I use for e-commerce companies and for businesses that sell online: courses, services, subscriptions. The steps change, the way of working doesn't.

The customer journey in an online store

Click a step to see its goal, the systems behind it, and the main metric.

Customer journey
The technology behind it

Acquisition

Marketing
Goal

Bring in people who actually have a shot at buying.

Systems & data

Ad accounts, UTM parameters, consent, analytics.

Automation

Budget shifts based on performance, excluding people who already bought.

Main metric

Cost per paying customer.

From ad to sale to retention

The same approach I use for online courses, subscriptions, or digital services.

Customer journey
Control layer

First contact

Marketing
Goal

Grab attention with a specific problem, not a generic ad.

Systems & data

Ad account, audience, content, link to the next step.

Automation

Testing ad variants and re-targeting the people who responded.

Main metric

Cost per qualified click.

Karel Petroš, process and AI consultant

Who's behind this

Ten years in B2B sales, six years in marketing, including international markets. As a business consultant for the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre, I interviewed CEOs and managing directors across the region about how their companies actually operate, and spent dozens of diagnostic days on-site at their companies: analyzing processes and services, looking for exactly where they were losing time and money, and recommending what to fix first. Then I went in as interim CMO at NaučímeAI, where I was in charge of the company's entire marketing: delegating work, communication, setting up processes and building products. I helped the company with the transformation of its business, direction and growth.

Right now at Talkey a.s. I do active B2B sales on LinkedIn and beyond, work with partners and affiliate partners, and gradually set up marketing and sales processes from first contact with a lead to closing the deal: webinars, email sequences, content writing, approvals and information handoffs between sales reps and management, including the CRM connection. These days that's what I spend my time on with small and mid-sized companies: I look at how the company communicates, who's responsible for what, what authority each role actually carries, what tools people use to do the work, and where time and efficiency get lost. That produces a visual process map, plus an action plan that shows the strong points, the weak points, and the gaps that need fixing. Only then comes the actual fix, and with it, AI where it's genuinely needed, if at all.

This test is a shortcut to the same diagnostic I run on calls. It'll show you exactly where your business is losing the most, before we even start talking about what to do about it.

10 years in B2B sales 6 years in marketing Business consultant · MSIC Interim CMO · NaučímeAI B2B sales & processes · Talkey a.s.
A direct chat with me

Ask me directly

There's a chat running in the bottom right of this site, and I'm the one answering it, Karel, in person. No AI is hooked up to it feeding you generic, empty phrases. Ask anything, your current situation, processes in your business, AI implementation, how it might work for you, or whatever's on your mind. You'll get an answer from what I've actually worked through with clients.

Karel Petroš, process and AI consultant
Karel Petroš Usually replies within a few hours
I run a company with 18 people, and I have to personally sign off on every invoice over 20,000 crowns, even when I'm at a client meeting or on vacation. Last week that held up a delivery by three days. Can AI actually fix this?
First you need written rules for who can approve what, and up to what amount, without you. Once you have that in place, it makes sense to bring in AI, say as a watchdog that flags any invoice that's been sitting unsigned for more than a day.
FAQ

Before you take the test

Is the test really free?

Yes, no catch. You never enter a card. At the end you get your result and an offer for a 20-minute call, but you don't have to take it.

What happens with my email?

I'll send your test result to it, and if you check the newsletter box, AI Leader Weekly once a week. I never sell or share your address, and you can unsubscribe anytime with one click.

Will I get bombarded with calls after the test?

No. Booking a call is entirely up to you, I never call without setting it up first. You're welcome to just read your result and close the tab.

Is the result actually personal, or a generic template?

The questions are built to show exactly where your business is losing capacity, not generic advice for everyone. It comes from the same diagnostic I run on live calls with clients.

I don't want to wait for a call, I have a question right now. What do I do?

Message me directly through the chat in the bottom right. I answer there personally, not through an AI bot.

What's next?

Download the ebook with real problems other CEOs deal with, or go straight into the 3-minute test for your own business.

Step 1 of 2

What kind of business do you run?

Almost done.

Where should I send your result?

Please enter a valid email so I have somewhere to send your result.

No spam. Without checking the box, you'll just get your result, nothing more.

–/4
Your weakest spot

"Your business needs a solid foundation, not another tool on top. Only on that foundation does it make sense to build AI or automation."

Case study
What this looks like in practice → Two real cases from practice, open the full case studies (PDF)
Karel Petroš, process and AI consultant

Karel Petroš: I help companies build the processes and tools that hold them together as they grow

Ten years in B2B sales, six years in marketing, including international markets. As a business consultant for the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre, I ran dozens of diagnostic interviews with CEOs and managing directors across the region about how their companies really operate. As interim CMO at NaučímeAI, I led the company's entire marketing and helped it transform its business, direction and growth, and right now at Talkey a.s. I do active B2B sales and build marketing and sales processes from lead outreach to closing the deal.

  • Business consultant for MSIC: dozens of diagnostic days and interviews with CEOs and managing directors across the Moravian-Silesian region about where their company can move next
  • Interim CMO for NaučímeAI: the company's entire marketing, including delegation, communication, processes and product creation
  • Talkey a.s.: active B2B sales on LinkedIn and beyond, partners and affiliate partners, processes from lead outreach to closing the deal
Where I've solved this recently

The AI-built app moved task approvals from the owner to the team, cut the process from days to hours, and freed up an estimated 8 to 10 hours a week of leadership time.

B2B service company, 20-person team

At Talkey I do active B2B sales and gradually set up processes from lead outreach to closing the deal, including webinars, email sequences and content. I connected deal approvals to the CRM, so management now sees the status of every deal in one place.

Talkey a.s.

As interim CMO I was in charge of NaučímeAI's entire marketing: delegation, communication, setting up processes and product creation. I helped the company with the transformation of its business, direction and growth.

NaučímeAI, interim CMO

Dozens of diagnostic days on-site at companies across the Moravian-Silesian region: interviews with CEOs and managing directors about how the company operates, process and service analysis, and recommendations on what to fix first.

Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre

What happens on the call

In 20 minutes, we'll go through your result and talk through what it specifically means for your business. That gives you a clear overview of priorities, what to tackle first, second, and third, and, if it makes sense, a recommendation on whether a full diagnostic, a custom technical solution, or AI in a specific process is worth it, based on what's actually happening in your business. No pressure, if it turns out this isn't a fit, I'll tell you straight.

Book a call →