Put your own numbers in, change any assumption, and see the payback period and first-year value. The formula is shown next to the result. It is a planning estimate, not a promise, and it does not ask for your email.
- Estimated payback period
- 7.7 months
- Hours potentially recovered per month
- 46.8 h
- Monthly gross time value
- €1,638
- Monthly net estimated benefit
- €1,538
- Estimated net value over the horizon (12 months)
- €6,556
- Estimated ROI over the horizon
- 55 %
Formula
hours/month = people × hours per person per week × 52/12 × automatable % gross value = hours/month × loaded hourly cost net benefit = gross value + error/rework cost − monthly software & care payback = implementation fee ÷ net benefit net value = net benefit × horizon − implementation fee ROI = net value ÷ implementation fee
This is an editable planning estimate, not a guarantee. Actual results depend on process quality, adoption, volume, exceptions and implementation scope.
Check if the process is a good candidate Discuss this estimate
Inputs
How to fill it in honestly
Three inputs cause most of the error in automation business cases. Here is how we estimate each one in discovery.
Loaded hourly cost
Not the salary divided by hours. Take gross annual salary, add employer contributions, benefits and a share of overhead (typically 25–40% on top), then divide by productive hours per year (around 1,600–1,700, not 2,080). For a €45,000 salary that lands near €35–40 per hour. If in doubt, use the lower figure.
Automatable share
Never 100%. Exceptions, approvals and the cases that need judgement remain human. For a rule-based process with clean inputs, 60–80% is realistic; for anything involving reading unstructured documents or customer intent, start at 40–60%. The calculator defaults conservatively for this reason.
Error and rework cost
Count the errors from last month (wrong invoice, duplicate CRM record, missed follow-up), multiply by the time to find and fix each one, add any direct cost such as a credit note or a lost lead. Only include what you can point to; leave out “reputation” unless you can put a number on it.
A worked example with round numbers
Suppose a workflow can recover 80 hours a month at a loaded cost of €30 per hour, prevents about €600 of rework each month, and costs €300 a month to run (platform, model usage and a care plan). The implementation is a Team package at €6,900, excl. VAT.
| Monthly gross time value | 80 h × €30 = €2,400 |
| Plus error and rework savings | + €600 |
| Minus recurring costs | − €300 |
| Monthly net benefit | €2,700 |
| Payback period | €6,900 ÷ €2,700 ≈ 2.6 months |
| First-year net value | 12 × €2,700 − €6,900 = €25,500 |
This is an illustrative example with invented inputs, not a client result. Your figures will differ.
The formula
- Monthly gross time value = hours recovered per month × loaded hourly cost
- Monthly net benefit = gross time value + error/rework savings − recurring software and care costs
- Payback period = implementation fee ÷ monthly net benefit
- First-year ROI = (12 × monthly net benefit − implementation fee) ÷ implementation fee
Hours recovered = people involved × repetitive hours per person per week × automatable share × 4.33 weeks.
Caveats
What the calculator cannot tell you
- Recovered hours are not cash. The value only materialises if the time is used for something: more clients, faster response, fewer hires next year. Decide what that is before you build.
- Adoption is not automatic. If the team keeps doing the task by hand “to be safe”, the hours are not recovered. Training and a clear owner matter more than the technology.
- Exceptions eat estimates. A process with a 30% exception rate will not hit a 70% automatable share. Discovery measures this; a guess will flatter the result.
- Running costs can grow with volume. Per-task pricing and model usage scale with runs. We set cost caps at launch, but the monthly figure you enter should reflect your real volume.
Want the inputs measured instead of estimated? That is what the baseline step in the audit and every package is for.