Before you buy an AI agent, run the numbers.
This original calculator estimates the monthly economic benefit of automating an invoice workflow. Every starting value is illustrative. Replace each input with your own measured data. The result is not a claim of realized cash savings.
1. Manual baseline
2. Retained human effort
Straight-through means correct completion without manual repair. Oversight is a separate assumed control cost.
3. Technology and launch
Monthly manual baseline
Reference cost before automation, not automatic savings.
Modeled monthly economic benefit
After retained human work and recurring operating costs.
Simple implementation payback
Assumes modeled monthly benefit is stable and realized.
Audit ledger
| Manual baseline | |
| Exception processing | |
| Human oversight | |
| Software, support and risk reserve | |
| Total post-automation monthly cost | |
| Net monthly economic benefit | |
|---|---|
| First-year net after implementation |
One-variable sensitivity
Only the straight-through completion rate changes. Every other input stays fixed.
| Completion | Net / month | Payback |
|---|
Released staff capacity has economic value only when redeployed or monetized through a documented operational outcome. Cash savings require evidence such as reduced contractor invoices, lower overtime or approved budget changes. Never count the same benefit twice.