What's That Manual Workflow Actually Costing You?
Plug in your workflow's shape. We'll show you the annual hours, annual cost, and how fast an automation project would pay for itself.
Takes 60 seconds. No login required.
Your manual workflow
Estimate the operational shape. You can move the sliders or type a number — the math updates live.
How long a single instance takes
How often the task happens
Total team members involved
Wage + benefits + overhead per hour
Advanced: working days, weeks, project cost
Our Process Automation engagements start at $12,000
The math
How the Math Works
We don't hide the formulas. Use the numbers in your own spreadsheet if you'd rather.
Annual hours
Minutes per task × tasks per day × people involved × working days per week × working weeks per year, converted to hours.
Annual cost
Annual hours × fully-loaded hourly rate. Use the loaded rate (wage + benefits + overhead), not just take-home pay.
Payback period
Project cost ÷ annual cost, expressed in months. The lower this number, the faster the automation pays for itself.
3-year net savings
(Annual cost × 3) − project cost. Conservative — assumes no growth in volume, which is rarely true.
Examples
What These Numbers Look Like in Practice
Four real-shape workflows we see almost every week. Plug similar numbers in above to see your equivalent.
Customer onboarding checklist
14 steps × ~3 min/step × 30 new customers/month × 1 person × $60/hr → ~210 hrs/yr, ~$12,600/yr.
Weekly client status report
60 min/report × 1/week × 8 account managers × $80/hr → ~415 hrs/yr, ~$33,200/yr.
Invoice reconciliation
8 min/invoice × 60 invoices/day × 1 person × $50/hr → ~1,000 hrs/yr, ~$50,000/yr.
Monthly board pack assembly
4 hrs/month × 12 months × 1 person × $120/hr → ~48 hrs/yr, ~$5,760/yr.
When to skip
When the ROI Isn't There
We don't take engagements that won't pay back. Four situations where we'd tell you to skip the automation.
- →Volume is genuinely tiny (under 30 minutes/week total across the team) — payback never lands.
- →The workflow changes meaningfully every quarter — you'll spend more time maintaining the automation than running it manually.
- →The bottleneck is decision-making, not execution. Automation that still requires a human to think doesn't save the thinking time.
- →The process touches a system with no API and no stable UI — fragile RPA bots fail more than they help.
Numbers Look Worth Acting On?
Schedule a 30-minute discovery call. We'll review your workflow + send a written scoping recommendation within a week — whether you hire us or not.