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Automation ROI calculator

Automation ROI calculator

Before you build anything, check it is worth building. Enter the hours your team loses each week to manual work - copy-pasting, chasing, rekeying - and what a fix would cost to build and run. You get the payback in months and the hours your people get back each year.Updated October 2026

starting figures are for example - replace them with yours
paybackunder 1 month
hours back a year1,104
time value a month$5,520
net a month, after run cost$3,520
net in year one$39,740
Pays back fast - this is worth building.
what to do
  • That is about 1,104 hours a year your people could spend on client work instead.
Not sure how many hours you lose? That is what the ops audit measures.
Two weeks, a real number for the hours your team loses, and a plan for what to build first.
Start with an ops audit
The method

How the numbers are worked out

hours back a year = hours lost a week × people × 46 working weeks

time value a month = hours back a year × loaded hourly cost ÷ 12

payback (months) = build cost ÷ (time value a month - monthly run cost)

We use [object Object] working weeks rather than 52 to allow for holidays and time off. The "loaded hourly cost" is what an hour of that person really costs you - salary plus taxes, benefits, software and desk - not their billing rate.

For example: 8 people each losing 3 hours a week is 1,104 hours a year. At a loaded cost of $60 an hour that time is worth $5,520 a month. Take off a $2,000 monthly run cost and you net $3,520 a month, so a $2,500 one-off cost pays back in under a month. These are example figures - put in your own.

Hours back is not the same as money saved. Nobody gets let go: the point is that your people spend those hours on the work only they can do - client work, judgement, relationships. The money figure is a way to compare the cost of a fix with the cost of doing nothing.

how to use it

Five inputs, a payback date

  1. Estimate the hours each person loses a week to the manual task - better still, have them log it for a week.
  2. Enter how many people do that task.
  3. Enter the loaded hourly cost of those people.
  4. Enter the one-off cost of the fix and what it costs a month to run.
  5. Read the payback in months, the hours back a year and the net value in year one.
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questions

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate the ROI of automation?

Work out the hours a year the automation gives back (hours lost a week × people × [object Object] working weeks), value them at the loaded hourly cost, take off the running cost, then divide the one-off cost by the monthly net to get the payback in months.

What is a loaded hourly cost?

What an hour of someone's time really costs the business: salary plus employer taxes, benefits, software and overheads, divided by the hours they work. It is usually well above their salary divided by hours.

How do I know how many hours my team loses?

Ask people to note the time they spend on one manual task for a week. A rough guess is fine to start, but a measured week is far more reliable. An ops audit does this across the whole firm.

Does automation mean fewer people?

Not the way Forge does it. In a people business - businesses that sell their people's expertise and time: agencies, accountants, lawyers, consultants - the point is to give people their hours back for the work only they can do, not to cut the team.

What would Forge cost?

An ops audit is $2,500 / £2,000, credited to your first month. Monthly plans are $2,000, $3,500 or $7,500 (£1,600, £2,800 or £6,000) a month, with your first build included.

keep reading

Related for agencies

01

Hours-lost worksheet

Measure the hours per task and per person before you put a number in here.

learn more →02

Ops audit template

Run your own audit: apps, workflows, hours and what to fix first.

learn more →03

What is an ops audit?

The two-week check that finds the hours and scopes the first build.

learn more →04

Forge pricing

Every price on the page - audit, then a monthly plan with the first build included.

learn more →
build. publish. prove.

Find out how many hours your team really loses.

Forge builds, runs and keeps improving the automations that track this for you - time, margin, reporting - on a monthly retainer. No code on your side.

start with a 2-week ops audit more calculators