The framing of an honest calculation
A cost reduction is only measurable if it shows up as cash on the income statement. An hour saved by an employee is a saving only if it is reinvested in productive work — otherwise it’s comfort, which is legitimate but doesn’t translate into euros.
Area 1 — Information search: -15 to -30 percent
What’s being measured. Time employees spend searching for information across internal documentation, email, and tools.
Typical savings. 15 to 30 percent of total search time, valued at fully loaded hourly cost. For a 50-person SMB, count on 2 to 4 FTEs of freed capacity per year.
Conditions. Documentation properly prepared and kept in sync. Without that, the gain drops to 5 to 10 percent.
Area 2 — Repetitive writing: -20 to -40 percent
What’s being measured. Time spent drafting quotes, proposals, meeting notes, follow-up emails, product sheets.
Typical savings. 20 to 40 percent less time, at equal or better quality. Major lever on sales and marketing functions.
Conditions. An internal library of examples to feed the assistant. Without examples, the assistant produces generic output — which is unusable.
Area 3 — Tier-1 support: -40 to -60 percent
What’s being measured. Recurring first-level requests (order status, terms, FAQ).
Typical savings. 40 to 60 percent of requests handled without a human agent. Direct savings: -1 to -2 support FTEs on a 50-person SMB with meaningful support volume.
Conditions. Clear human escalation for the remaining 40 percent. Without it, NPS collapses.
Area 4 — Document processing: -25 to -45 percent
What’s being measured. Time spent extracting, classifying, and checking documents (supplier invoices, contracts, case files).
Typical savings. 25 to 45 percent less time, especially on structured extraction tasks (invoices, forms).
Conditions. Minimum volume (at least 200 documents per month). Below that, setup cost exceeds the gain.
Two illusions to set aside
Illusion 1 — “AI will replace X positions.” No. AI absorbs tasks, not jobs. The real gain shows up as redeployment, not headcount cuts. The rare cases where positions are eliminated are the ones where the position was already underused before AI.
Illusion 2 — “The return is immediate.” No. Count on 6 to 9 months to reach nominal productivity. Before that, the curve is J-shaped: net investment in the first 3 months, break-even around month 6, net gain from month 9. See Calculating and maximizing ROI.
For the numbers in practice, see also Grow revenue without hiring and the pricing page.
Twenty minutes to estimate, on your actual cost lines, a realistic range of savings — and the conditions you need to meet to capture them.
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