Automation ROI Calculator

How the automation ROI calculator works

This calculator gives you a fast, honest estimate of the return on automating repetitive work. It takes the hours your team spends on tasks that follow the same pattern every time, the share of that work a system can take over, and what an hour of that time actually costs you. From there it works out the time you reclaim and the dollars that frees up.

The maths is simple: hours per week, multiplied by the number of people, multiplied by the share that can be automated, gives you the weekly hours reclaimed. Multiply that by your hourly cost and by 48 working weeks and you have an annual figure. Divide the build cost by the monthly saving and you get the payback period.

What counts as repetitive admin

If you're not sure what number to put in, these are the usual culprits for Australian small businesses:

• Copying data between your CRM, spreadsheets, and accounting software
• Sending the same follow-up, reminder, and status emails over and over
• Chasing documents, signatures, and approvals
• Manually creating invoices, quotes, and reports
• Logging notes and updating records after every call or meeting

Add up the hours those eat across your team and you usually land somewhere between 8 and 20 hours a week per person. That's the time automation gives back.

Is the payback period realistic?

For most small businesses, a first automation pays for itself inside a few months. Once it's live, the saving keeps compounding with no extra cost, which is why the three-year figure is the one worth paying attention to. If you want to see exactly which workflows would move the needle first, book a free 30-minute call and we'll map them with you.

Want to dig deeper into the numbers? Read our honest breakdown of AI automation costs in Australia or what workflow automation actually is.