Is automation worth it? The five-minute calculation
A finance director doesn’t buy a “robot”. They buy hours, fewer mistakes and less risk. That’s why every automation conversation should start with a calculation, and a simple one.
The formula
Annual saving = frequency × duration × hourly cost
You don’t need a complex model. Three numbers are enough for a first estimate:
- How many times a year is the task done? Daily is about 250 times (working days), or 365 if it also runs on weekends. Monthly is 12.
- How long does it take each time? Measure the real time, including opening systems, waiting and checking.
- What does an hour of work cost? Gross salary divided by working hours, plus overhead.
Three real examples
| Process | Frequency | Duration | Hours a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning overview of incoming invoices | 250 × a year | 30 min | ~125 h |
| Combined weather forecast | 250 × a year | 1.5 h | ~375 h |
| Month-end invoicing | 12 × a year | 3 h | ~36 h |
What the formula misses
Month-end invoicing “saves” only 36 hours a year. So why automate it? Because it happens against a deadline, across dozens of orders, and one missed invoice means shifted revenue and extra work next month. The same goes for insurance policies: the hours are few, but one policy expiring unnoticed costs more than the bot.
So with every estimate, ask a second question: what happens when this is late or wrong?
How fast it pays back
Compare the annual saving with the cost of building and maintaining the bot. Processes that run daily and take more than half an hour usually pay back within the first year, often within a few months. Monthly processes pay back when there are several of them, or when mistakes are expensive.
Check your own company
Our home page has a calculator: enter the number of people and hours per week for a rough estimate. For an exact number, book a free assessment. In 90 minutes we walk through your processes and you get a written report with the calculation for each one.