Measure the work before changing it
Count how many times the task happens each month and how long it takes. Use representative examples. Include edge cases, review, correction, and the time needed to get information from other people.
Calculate capacity, not promised cash
If a task happens 100 times monthly and saves 6 minutes each time after review, it frees 10 hours. At an illustrative loaded cost of $40 per hour, that is $400 of monthly capacity. It is not automatically $400 less payroll or additional profit.
Subtract ongoing costs
Include software subscriptions, usage charges, support, and the time needed to maintain the system. If the illustrative workflow costs $100 per month to run, its net capacity value is $300. A $2,500 setup would take roughly 8.3 months to offset on those assumptions.
Validate after launch
Compare actual review time and error rates with your baseline. Look at what people do with the time recovered: serving customers, following up, or completing work that was previously delayed. Stop or revise a workflow that adds more friction than it removes.
Exovara field notes · Educational guidance. Examples are illustrative.
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