Free interactive decision tool
Start with a familiar problem. Enter what happens in a normal week, how long the work takes, and what the AI process would cost. We do the yearly math and show where the estimate needs evidence.
Start with the problem
Choose a familiar example or name your own repeated task. Every number below starts as an illustration; change it to match your team.
Good scope: “draft a customer reply.” Too broad: “improve customer service.”
A normal week is easier to estimate than a whole year.
We calculate the year
500 × 48 = 24,000 items
At 60% suitable and 65% actual use, AI helps with about 9,360 items a year. Adjust both percentages below.
Take a recent month from your ticket, invoice, or sales system and divide completed items by four. No report? Count one representative day and multiply by your working days. Use a quieter week if demand swings; you can test a higher volume later. We use 48 working weeks by default to leave room for holidays.
On these assumptions, AI would help with about 9,360 items a year. Start lower if you are unsure.
Compare today with the full AI-assisted process, including a person's review.
Time five real items from start to accepted result and use a typical value, not the fastest. Repeat with AI on the same kind of items. If you do not know the employer cost per hour, keep the sample amount as a placeholder and verify it before a funding decision. Saved time is capacity, not cash unless a budgeted cost actually goes away.
Start with your software quote and a small usage test. The sample includes setup and support costs; open the extra assumptions to change support.
Use the quote for annual software. For usage, run 20 to 100 real items and divide the bill by items handled. Ask the implementation owner for setup and support hours. The amounts shown are illustrations—not market prices or a vendor quote.
Most first passes should leave this at zero. Add money only when you have evidence.
How to calculate: use a measured change in accepted outcomes, multiply by gross profit or loss per outcome, then divide by the AI-assisted items. Do not count the same staff time twice.
You can explore the numbers without this checklist. Open it when you are preparing a real pilot.
Method
Count finished work. Time the current process and the AI-assisted process through the same approved result. Include checking and fixes. If the new process takes longer, those extra hours enter the cost.
Keep time separate from money. Hours freed can help a team take on more work. They become cash savings only when a planned expense is avoided or reduced. Count extra profit or avoided losses separately and only with evidence.
Use break-even as a test. The minimum use rate is how much suitable work must use AI to cover first-year fixed costs. Compare it with observed use during a trial; it is not a prediction.
Decide with evidence. The less- and more-use views show how the answer can change. Before expanding, compare a limited trial with the old process, name an owner, and write down what would make you pause it.
Choose one repeated task. Count completed items in a normal week and multiply by working weeks. Estimate how many are suitable for AI, then compare hands-on minutes today with minutes using AI, including review. Add software, setup, usage, and support costs. Count saved time as cash only when a budgeted expense is actually avoided or reduced.
No. Released hours are capacity. They become cash savings only when a planned expense is avoided or funded labor spend is reduced. The calculator keeps capacity value separate and asks what share becomes cash.
Measure eligible volume, use, accepted output, hands-on time including review and corrections, quality, exceptions, variable cost, and the business outcome. Use a comparable baseline and a written stop rule.
It is the share of suitable work that would need to use AI to cover first-year fixed costs, using your entered value and cost per item. It is a threshold, not a forecast. If every AI-assisted item loses cash, using it more will not fix the result.
Use the model with current evidence
A seat license may not cover every agent task. Read the Copilot seat-versus-usage budget test, then enter the full variable cost here.
The people who design cases, check results, and repair failures are part of the investment. Use the hidden pilot-work ledger to make those hours visible.
Use the worksheet to document evidence and ownership, or read the deeper guide to building a case a finance team can audit.
