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AI and automation ROI calculator
Enter what a manual process costs you today and what it would take to automate it. You get the yearly savings, the payback period, and the first-year return, with the arithmetic in plain view.
Your estimate
| Per year | Today | After | Returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours on the task | 720 | 360 | 360 |
| Cost of those hours | $32,400 | $16,200 | $16,200 |
- Net savings per year
- $15,000
- Value of the hours returned, minus the cost to run it.
- Payback period
- 12.0 months
- Build cost divided by net savings per year.
- First-year result
- $0
- Net savings in year one, minus the build cost.
- Three-year result
- $30,000
- Three years of net savings, minus the build cost.
- First-year ROI
- 0%
- First-year result divided by everything spent that year.
This is an estimate from the numbers you entered, not a promise. Nothing you type here is saved or sent anywhere.
01The math
Six lines of arithmetic.
There is no model behind this page. If you can check a spreadsheet, you can check these numbers.
What the calculator does
- Hours today = people x hours per week x weeks per year
- Cost today = hours today x cost of one hour
- Hours returned = hours today x share of time removed
- Net savings per year = hours returned x cost of one hour, minus the yearly running cost
- Payback in months = build cost / net savings per year x 12
- First-year ROI = (savings in year one, minus everything spent that year) / everything spent that year
What it leaves out
- Errors and rework the manual process causes today, which often cost more than the hours
- Revenue that arrives sooner or does not slip through, such as faster quotes or invoices
- The time your own people spend on the project, unless you added it to the build cost
- Whether the returned hours get used. An hour saved only counts if it goes to other work
- Turnover and training: a documented, automated process is easier to hand to a new hire
02The Savings Ledger
An estimate before, a measurement after.
Every engagement is measured the same way: baseline the process, build against it, log every run, report the result. Hours are valued at your staff rate. Revenue counts when it is collected.
Step 01: Baseline
Before anything is built, we time the process as it runs today: who does it, how often, how long, and what an hour of that person costs your organization.
Step 02: Build
The automation or app goes live against that baseline. Nothing counts until it runs in real work, on real records.
Step 03: Log
Every run is logged. Hours saved are valued at your staff rate, not a national average. Revenue an app generates counts only when it is collected.
Step 04: Report
The Savings Ledger: monthly under the Fractional CAIO agreement, at demo day for a Cohort, at handover for CoBuild. The same arithmetic every time, and you can check it.
Common questions
How do you calculate the ROI of automation?
Start with what the process costs today: the people who do it, the hours each spends per week, the weeks it runs, and what an hour of their time costs you. Multiply that by the share of time the automation removes to get yearly savings. Subtract the yearly running cost, then compare the result with the one-time build cost. This calculator does exactly that and shows each step.
What is a good payback period for an automation project?
It depends on how long you expect the process to stay the same. If the process is stable for years, a payback of twelve to eighteen months can be reasonable. If it is likely to change next year, look for something that pays back in a few months, or automate a smaller piece first.
What hourly cost should I use?
Use what an hour of that person costs your organization, not just the wage. A common shortcut is annual salary divided by 2,080 hours, plus 25 to 30 percent for benefits and payroll taxes. Use your own numbers if you have them.
What share of time can AI or automation remove?
It varies widely by process, so treat any single number with suspicion. Repetitive data entry between two systems can drop close to zero. Work that needs judgment, review, or customer contact keeps a person in it. Run the calculator at a cautious figure and again at an optimistic one, and decide on the cautious one.
Is this the same as the ROI of AI?
For most small and mid-sized organizations, yes. The measurable return on AI comes from specific tasks that take fewer hours or produce fewer errors. Returns that are harder to count, such as better decisions, are real but should not be what justifies the first project.
How do I measure the savings after the project is live?
Time the process before anything is built, log each run once it is live, and value the hours at your own staff rate. That is the method we use on every engagement. An estimate like this one is where the conversation starts; the measured figure is what you report.
Want the baseline measured instead of estimated?
Bring the process to a thirty-minute call. We will tell you whether it is worth automating, and what we would time first.
Prefer email? erik@civic-dialog.com