Every piece of software you use now has an "AI" feature. Most of them are not worth the premium. Here is how to separate what is actually useful from what is just a checkbox on a sales deck.
What Actually Saves Time
Transcription and meeting notes. If you are in a lot of calls, a tool like Otter or Fireflies pays for itself in the first week. Writing assistance for first drafts, not final copy, but getting something on the page faster. Data categorisation and classification when you have large spreadsheets that need to be sorted by type or sentiment.
What Is Mostly Noise
"AI insights" in analytics dashboards that tell you things you already know. AI email writing assistants that produce generic text that still needs heavy editing. AI chatbots on your website that are not trained on your actual product, they damage customer trust when they give wrong answers.
The R500/month Rule
If a tool costs R500 per month, it needs to save you at least 2–3 hours of work per month to break even. Track this for the first 90 days. If it is not hitting that threshold, cancel it.