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Business OperationsLocal Business

Jackie Brosamer + Brad Axen, Block's AI use case

Business / product operators at Block / Square

Use agentic workflows to help small businesses move from sales data to action: analyzing performance, updating a store, creating payment links, and completing operational tasks inside the Square ecosystem.

The problem

What was broken before AI

Small-business owners often have the data they need, but not the time to act on it. A dashboard can show sales trends, but the owner still has to figure out what changed, what to do next, where to update the catalog, how to create a payment link, and how to share it with customers. The work is spread across analysis, operations, and customer communication.

What changed

What the use case made possible

Agentic tools can connect those steps. Instead of stopping at an answer, the assistant can inspect sales data, suggest an action, update a store or catalog, and generate a payment link or operational artifact. The seller still reviews the decision, but the agent can reduce the number of tabs, clicks, and tool switches between noticing a business opportunity and acting on it.

Why this matters

Why this use case is worth studying

This use case is valuable because it makes AI useful for the everyday work of running a small business. The most helpful agent is not necessarily the one that writes a clever report. It is the one that helps complete the next operational step: update the item, generate the link, prepare the offer, or make the sales insight usable.

Use this when

When this pattern applies

Use this pattern when a small-business workflow starts with data but ends with a manual action. It works especially well when the owner needs to understand what changed, decide what to do, and then update a store, offer, catalog item, or payment flow.

Exponential Builder analysis

01

Build around the handoff from insight to action.

Small-business owners already have dashboards; the leverage comes from reducing the distance between “sales changed” and “I updated the thing customers need.”

02

Start with one operating loop.

A reliable sales-trend-to-product-update or offer-to-payment-link workflow will teach you more than a broad assistant connected to every system at once.

03

Keep approval where reputation and revenue are at stake.

Agents can prepare catalog edits, payment links, and customer-facing copy, but the owner should review anything that changes what customers see or buy.

Who this is for

Best fit

Small-business owners

Local business operators

SMB product teams

Payments and commerce teams

Operators using Square or similar tools

Anyone building AI workflows that connect insight to business action

What to avoid

Mistakes and warnings

Where this pattern can go wrong if you copy it too literally.

Do not let AI make customer-facing changes without review.

Avoid connecting every business system before one workflow works.

Keep recommendations tied to actual data, not generic business advice.

Do not make the owner learn a complicated new interface.

Watch for payment or catalog changes that could confuse customers if not reviewed.

Public workflow preview

The shape of the workflow

A high-level look at how the use case works, with the reusable pattern made clear.

01

Start with real business data

The workflow begins from sales, product, or customer activity inside the business system.

02

Ask what changed

AI summarizes the trend, anomaly, or opportunity in plain language.

03

Decide the next action

The owner or operator chooses whether to update a product, create an offer, or follow up with customers.

04

Let the agent prepare the action

The workflow can update store information, create a payment link, or prepare the next operational step.

05

Keep the owner in control

AI reduces the busywork, but the business owner still approves what customers will see.

Copy the pattern

The reusable idea

Pattern in one sentence

Use AI to connect business insight to the next approved operational action, instead of stopping at a summary.

Reusable idea

Jackie and Brad’s workflow is a reminder that small-business AI should connect insight to action. A chart is useful, but a chart plus the next operational step is better. If a workflow helps someone understand what happened and then makes the next move easier, it is much more likely to become part of the business routine.

Steal this workflow

Use this mini-template for a Square-style data-to-action workflow:

1

Pick one repeatable seller moment: sales drop, item spike, seasonal offer, customer follow-up, or product update.

2

Define the inputs: sales data, product/catalog details, customer context, payment-link requirements, and any business rules.

3

Ask the agent for a plain-language diagnosis: what changed, which item/customer needs attention, and why it matters.

4

Require one recommended action only: update a listing, create an offer, generate a payment link, or prepare follow-up.

5

Have the agent draft the operational artifact: proposed catalog change, payment link description, offer text, or next-step checklist.

6

Add a review gate before anything customer-facing goes live.

7

Save the approved result back into the business system.

8

Track whether the workflow saved time, reduced tab-switching, or helped the owner act faster.

Suggested prompt

“Review the sales and product data below. Explain what changed in plain language, identify the item or customer segment that needs attention, and recommend the smallest operational action to take next. Then draft the action for review — such as a product listing update, offer description, or payment link copy — but do not make any customer-facing change until I approve it.”

Field notes

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