The Money Question: How to Know Automation Is Paying Off

A friendly guide to measuring ROI without a finance degree—covering three simple metrics, a narrated success story, and a DIY formula that fits on a napkin.

Meet Your Three Simple Metrics

Hours Returned to Humans — count tasks × average minutes saved.
Errors Prevented — track refunds, chargebacks, or customer complaints before and after.
Speed to Cash — measure days from deal to bank deposit.

A Narrated Example

Kelly owns a 12‑employee furniture workshop. Before automation:

Quotes took 3 days.
15 % of invoices had typos.
Cash hit the account 21 days after shipping.

After a three‑month project with Accelent:

Quotes auto‑generated in 6 hours (staff add final flair).
Invoice errors fell below 2 %.
Cash arrived in 14 days thanks to automated reminders.

Outcome: 200 labor hours saved per quarter and £18 000 freed from stuck cash flow—easily covering the £2 000 spent on tools and setup.

A Napkin‑Sized ROI Formula

Where Net Benefit = (Hours returned × hourly cost) + (Error‑related savings) + (Earlier cash‑flow value). For Kelly, the math looks like this:

Hours value: 200 hrs × £25 = £5 000
Error savings: £2 000
Cash‑flow boost: £11 000 (interest + growth capital)
Total benefit: £18 000
Cost: £2 000
ROI: 900 % within the first quarter.

Keeping Score Over Time

Monthly dashboard: Hours saved, errors caught, days‑to‑cash.
Quarterly review: Decide if another process should join the automated club.

Accelent bakes all this into a ready‑made dashboard, so leaders see green bars rising every Monday—and keep approving the next automation sprint.