I can try to throw something together some tips for Illustrator (I’m not the one to ask wrt Inkscape), but its pretty dependent on the source file and the desired output / layout of the design. There’s not as much a one-size-fits-all process. Sometimes it works really well, and sometimes it just doesn’t work and I have to recreate the artwork manually.
This video is a pretty good walkthrough of what I do when I use live trace to make laser cutter paths.