ROI of Automation
Q: Wondering about the ROI, value proposition, and justification for automation?
A: This will put that into perspective...
Benefits
Some benefits include…
- ROI (Return on Investment)
- Speed
- Time saving
- Accuracy
- Lower Overhead
EXAMPLE
Conditions
(Feel free to swap out the numbers and adjust the math)
- Zapier Starter plan costs $20/month paid annually ($240/year)
- Zapier Starter plan comes with 750 Tasks (Zap trigger steps don’t count as Tasks)
- You use all 750 Tasks in a billing cycle (9,000/year) [$0.04 per Task]
- Each Zap action step saves you 30 seconds (6.25 hours per month and 75 hours per year) [make sure to factor in context switching, rework, etc.]
- You value your time at $100/hour
If you do those 75 hours of work, then that’s the equivalent of $7,500/year.
If the Zaps do the work of those 75 hours per year, then that costs $240/year.
That’s a net return of $7,260/year. (30.25x increase)
Plus, you now have 75 hours of time during the year to devote to other jobs that can possibly generate revenue, which would further up the ROI.
Case in point, if those 75 hours of free/found time generate $50/hour ($3,750/year), then the ROI is actually $11,010/year! (45.875x increase)
You can calculate your break even point, by determining the time it will take to recoup your initial investment, then it’s positive returns!
(In this case, the break even point would be after 2.4 hours of your work.)
Seems like a relatively logical trade of money for time, plus other benefits.