ROI Calculator
How much is manual work costing your team?
Input your numbers below. The calculator shows what you're spending on manual tasks today, what automation would save, and how fast the investment pays for itself. No email required. Results are instant.
Your numbers
Adjust the inputs to match your team. Results update instantly.
Number of people who regularly perform this task
Average hours each person spends on the task weekly
Salary + benefits, typically 1.3-1.5x base hourly rate
Percentage of tasks that result in errors requiring rework
Your results
Based on a $20,000 automation build with 80% task elimination.
Annual manual cost (labor + errors)
$204,750
$195,000 labor + $9,750 in error costs
Estimated cost after automation
$40,950
Remaining 20% still handled manually + reduced error costs
Annual savings
$163,800
$156,000 labor + $7,800 error reduction
First-year ROI
719%
Payback period
7 weeks
Hours recaptured per year
3,120
That's 60 hours per week your team gets back for higher-value work
How we calculate these numbers
Transparency matters. Here's exactly what's behind each number in the calculator.
Annual manual cost
Team size multiplied by hours per week, multiplied by hourly rate, multiplied by 52 weeks. This gives the direct labor cost of the manual work. We add error costs separately: errors per week (hours x error rate) multiplied by $50 per error incident.
Automation efficiency (80%)
Based on our production deployments, AI automation typically eliminates 70-90% of manual task time. We use 80% as a conservative midpoint. The remaining 20% accounts for human review of edge cases, quality assurance, and occasional intervention.
Automation cost ($20,000)
The midpoint of our Automation Build pricing ($15,000-$25,000). This is a one-time project cost that includes scoping, development, integration, training, documentation, and 30 days of post-launch support. No recurring license fees.
ROI and payback period
First-year ROI is calculated as (annual savings minus automation cost) divided by automation cost. Payback period is the automation cost divided by weekly savings. These are conservative estimates. They don't include secondary benefits like faster throughput or improved employee retention.
What this calculator doesn't capture: Opportunity cost of your team doing manual work instead of higher-value tasks. Revenue impact of faster processing times. Employee satisfaction from eliminating tedious work. The ability to scale operations without proportional headcount increases. In our experience, these secondary benefits often exceed the direct labor savings.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is this AI ROI calculator?
This calculator provides a conservative estimate based on direct labor savings, error reduction, and typical automation efficiency rates. Real-world results often exceed these estimates because the calculator doesn't account for secondary benefits like faster throughput, improved employee satisfaction, reduced turnover from eliminating tedious work, and the ability to scale without hiring.
What's included in the $20,000 automation cost assumption?
The $20,000 figure is the midpoint of our Automation Build pricing ($15,000-$25,000). It includes scoping, development, integration with your existing tools, error handling, monitoring dashboards, team training, full documentation, and 30 days of post-launch support. There are no hidden costs or ongoing license fees for the automation itself.
Why does the calculator assume 80% efficiency?
Based on our production deployments, AI automation typically eliminates 70-90% of manual task time. We use 80% as a conservative midpoint. The remaining 20% accounts for human review, edge cases that require judgment, and the occasional intervention when the agent encounters something outside its training. Some workflows achieve 95%+ automation; others settle at 70%.
How do I know which workflows are best candidates for automation?
The best candidates are high-volume, rule-heavy, and repetitive. Think data entry, document processing, ticket routing, report generation, and approval workflows. If your team describes a task as 'mindless' or 'tedious,' it's probably a strong candidate. Our AI Kickstart engagement ($7-10K, 1 week) identifies and prioritizes these opportunities for you.
What if my actual costs are different from the estimates?
Adjust the inputs to match your reality. The hourly rate should reflect fully-loaded cost (salary plus benefits, typically 1.3-1.5x base salary). If your error rate is higher or lower, change it. If you want a more precise estimate, our team can scope your specific workflow and provide exact numbers during a free discovery call.
Ready to turn those savings into reality?
The calculator shows the potential. A 30-minute discovery call shows you the specific workflows we'd automate and the exact scope, timeline, and price.