Use Case Discovery: How to Find AI Opportunities That Actually Matter

Most companies don't have a lack of AI ideas.

They have too many ideas, no clear way to prioritize them, and no consistent path from "this could be cool" to something that's actually live in the business.

That's where Use Case Discovery comes in.

At OpsGenius, we run Use Case Discovery workshops to help teams surface the right AI opportunities, rank them, and turn them into a real roadmap. So you're not stuck in pilot mode forever.

What is Use Case Discovery?

Use Case Discovery is a structured process for finding and prioritizing AI opportunities across your organization.

The goal isn't to create a giant list of "AI ideas." It's to identify the few opportunities that will create real impact, fast.

Why Most AI Efforts Get Stuck Early

A lot of AI projects stall for simple reasons:

• Teams pick use cases that don't matter enough
• No one agrees on what "success" looks like
• Ideas don't turn into actual execution
• Solutions get overbuilt too early (or never built at all)

The result is the same: lots of experimentation, not much production.

What Makes a Good AI Use Case?

The best use cases usually have at least one of these:

• High volume: It happens every day or every week
• Time-heavy: It eats hours from skilled people
• Error-prone: Mistakes cause real downstream issues
• Clear inputs + outputs: You can define what "done" looks like
• Easy adoption: People will actually use it

If a use case doesn't check any of those boxes, it might still be interesting, but it probably won't be a priority.

What Happens in an OpsGenius Use Case Discovery Workshop

We keep this practical and grounded in real workflows.

1. We Map How Work Actually Happens

Not what the process doc says. Not what people wish was true.

We look for:

• Bottlenecks
• Handoffs
• Repeat work
• "Why are we still doing this manually?" moments

2. We Surface Use Cases From the People Closest to the Work

AI adoption doesn't come from a slide deck. It comes from teams seeing "oh wow, this would actually help me."

3. We Turn Good Ideas Into Solution Briefs

This is where things get real.

Each strong opportunity gets documented with:

• What the problem is
• How it works today
• What better looks like
• How to measure success
• What it would take to implement

So leadership isn't forced to guess what's worth funding.

4. We Prioritize Based on Impact and Effort

You walk away knowing:

• What to do first
• What can wait
• What's not worth doing

Choosing the Right Solution Level

One of the biggest reasons AI projects fail is teams jump straight to "we need custom software."

Sometimes you do. But not always.

OpsGenius uses three Solution Levels:

• Level 1: ChatGPT / Claude workflows + prompts
• Level 2: Automation with Zapier, Make, or n8n
• Level 3: Custom development with team-backed engineers

The point is to match the solution to the problem and get value quickly.

What You Get at the End

After Use Case Discovery, you'll have:

• A shortlist of the best AI opportunities in your org
• A prioritized roadmap
• Solution Briefs ready to implement
• Clear success metrics so ROI isn't fuzzy

No more "AI brainstorming." Just a plan.

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Want to build a real AI roadmap? Book a discovery call with OpsGenius and we'll talk through your goals and the best next step.