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 each week. That's the time automation gives back.
Is the payback period realistic?
How fast a first automation pays for itself depends on the hours it saves, which is what this calculator shows. Once it's running, you get the saving every month, which is why the three-year figure is the one worth paying attention to. This calculator leaves out the monthly cost of the tools it runs on; the automation payback calculator includes it. If you want to know which jobs would pay back first, book a free 30-minute call and we'll give you a straight answer, including the ones that aren't worth automating.
Want to dig deeper into the numbers? Read our honest breakdown of AI automation costs in Australia or what workflow automation actually is.
