There's a sequence to this. Start in the wrong place and you build something clever that nobody uses. Start in the right place and the next automation sells itself.
First, we go after the work that repeats every single day and touches a customer. Lead replies, order confirmations, booking follow-ups. The reason is simple: this is where the money leaks fastest. A lead that waits four hours for a reply is a lead that booked someone else. Fix the response time and the pipeline moves within a week.
Second, we go after the work that repeats every week and touches the team. Reports, recaps, invoice chasing, meeting notes. This is where the hours live. Nobody loves this work, and it's the first thing to slip when people get busy. Hand it to a machine and you give the team their afternoons back.
Third, and only third, we go after the interesting work. The custom portal, the quote generator, the thing that actually differentiates the business. By this point the team trusts the systems, the data is clean, and the build has room to breathe. Start here and you're polishing a car with no engine.