Automation
Automation ROI calculator
Automation ROI starts from the hours a process takes and the loaded cost of the people doing it, plus the errors that process creates. Savings are the share of that work the automation removes, minus what it costs to run. Payback months are the implementation cost divided by the monthly net. Returned hours are capacity. They are cash only when overtime, contractors, or a hire actually go away.
Use one recurring process. The result is the annual cost of doing it by hand, the hours a build would return, and how many months the implementation takes to pay back.
Payback on the implementation
4.4 months
The process costs $23,400 a year in labor. Removing 60% of it, plus errors, is $21,240 before the build.
- Hours returned / year
- 312
- Labor savings
- $14,040
- Error savings
- $7,200
- Year-one net
- $13,140
- Three-year net $54,420.
Planning model, not a quote. A KeenCraft engagement is a fixed Statement of Work after a free strategy call.
How the number is calculated
- Annual manual hours = people × hours each week × weeks the process runs.
- Annual labor cost = annual hours × loaded hourly cost. Include wages, payroll taxes, and benefits if you know them.
- Labor savings = annual hours × the share of work removed × loaded hourly cost.
- Error savings = errors per month × cost per error × 12. Leave errors at zero if you cannot price them.
- Year-one net = labor savings + error savings − implementation − 12 months of operating cost. Payback months = implementation ÷ the monthly net after operating cost.
Starting example
The figures below use the fields the calculator opens with. Change the fields and the live result updates. This example stays on the page so the formula can be checked without the form.
- Annual labor on this process
- $23,400
- Annual benefit
- $21,240
- Year-one net
- $13,140
- Payback
- 4.4 months
Questions this calculator answers
How do you calculate automation ROI?+
Add the labor you stop spending and the errors you stop fixing, then subtract the build and the cost of running the automation. Payback is the build divided by the monthly net. A two-person process at five hours a week and $45 loaded, with 60% of the work removed, is already more than $10,000 a year before errors.
What is a loaded hourly cost?+
The cost of an hour of that person's work to the business, not their take-home wage. Salary, employer taxes, and benefits belong in it. Using the wage alone understates the process.
Are saved hours the same as saved money?+
No. The hours come back as capacity. They become cash when you cut overtime, stop a contractor, or delay a hire. If the team keeps the hours and fills them with other work, the value is real and it is not a smaller payroll.
What should the reduction percent be?+
The share of this process a machine can finish without a person retyping it. Copying a form into a CRM can be most of the hour. A judgment call in the middle of the process should stay human, so the reduction is lower. 100% is rarely honest.
Ready to build something that saves you money from day one?
Book a free 30-minute call. Tell me what you're trying to build or fix, and I'll tell you honestly whether KeenCraft is the right fit and what it would take.