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AI Automation ROI Calculator

Enter your actual task volume. See hours saved, annual labour value recovered, and months to payback — using real Australian labour rates and evidence-based automation percentages from production Iverel deployments.

Custom:AUD / hour (fully loaded)
Email triage & replies
85% typically automatable
Quoting & proposal drafting
70% typically automatable
Invoicing & reconciliation
90% typically automatable
Scheduling & follow-up
80% typically automatable

Estimated impact

39
Hours saved / week
$140,100
Annual labour value recovered
1.6–4.0
Months to payback
Year 1 net (after build + infra)
$82,900 – $112,900
Ongoing annual net (year 2+)
$132,900
Validate these numbers with usSee real case studies

Assumptions: 48 working weeks/year, AUD, Australian market rates (including super + on-costs). Build cost range $20,000–$50,000 covers typical multi-workflow AI employee deployments. Ongoing infrastructure ~$600/month (LLM usage, hosting, monitoring). Automation rates are evidence-based averages from production Iverel deployments — actual results vary by task complexity and integration depth.

How this calculator works

We multiply your weekly task volume by minutes-per-task and the automation percentage to get weekly hours recovered. That is multiplied by your loaded hourly cost to produce a weekly dollar figure, then scaled to 48 working weeks per year (Australia standard, after leave and public holidays).

Year-1 net deducts a typical build cost range ($20,000–$50,000 AUD) plus 12 months of infrastructure (~$7,200 AUD/year). Payback is the build-cost divided by monthly savings — typical deployments pay back inside 6–12 months.

Automation percentages default to production averages from Iverel's largest live AI system (60+ workflows, 100+ integrations, running daily). These are conservative for well-scoped workflows and aggressive for novel ones — adjust the slider for your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions — AI Automation ROI

How accurate is this AI automation ROI calculator?

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The calculator uses evidence-based automation rates from real Iverel production deployments (60+ workflows running daily), 2025 Australian labour market rates including on-costs, and typical build and infrastructure ranges from our active engagements. It gives a realistic order-of-magnitude estimate — expect actual results within ±25% of the modelled figure. For a firm number tied to your specific workflows, book a 30-minute discovery call and we will model your scenario directly.

What does "loaded hourly cost" mean, and why is it higher than wages?

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Loaded hourly cost is the true all-in cost of employing someone: base wage + 11.5% superannuation + payroll tax + workers compensation + leave loading + overhead allocation (office, IT, software, management time). In Australia, the loaded rate is typically 1.7–2.1× the quoted hourly wage. A $38/hour operations role costs your business ~$75/hour loaded. Using loaded cost is the correct way to evaluate automation ROI because it reflects the real money you are recovering.

Does this include ongoing AI infrastructure costs?

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Yes. The results panel deducts ~$600 AUD/month for ongoing infrastructure — LLM API usage (Claude, OpenAI), hosting, monitoring, and maintenance — from the ongoing-annual-net figure. Year 1 net also deducts the one-time build cost. Infrastructure costs scale with usage, so high-volume deployments will run higher; we quote a precise ongoing figure during scoping.

Why is the automation percentage less than 100%?

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No well-designed AI system replaces 100% of human work — it handles the routine majority and escalates edge cases to a human. Our defaults reflect what is realistic in production: ~85% of inbound email can be triaged or answered autonomously, ~70% of quotes can be drafted and sent without review, ~90% of invoicing and reconciliation can run hands-off. The remaining human-in-the-loop portion is where AI actually earns trust — by knowing what it does not know.

Do I need to replace staff to get this ROI?

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Not usually. In most Iverel deployments, staff are not replaced — they are freed from repetitive work to focus on higher-value activity (client relationships, strategy, growth). The ROI comes from recovering labour hours that were being spent on tasks that do not require human judgment, not from reducing headcount. Many clients use AI automation to grow 2–3× without hiring.

What size business does this calculator assume?

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The defaults model a small-to-mid business with one or two operations staff and moderate administrative volume (~200 emails/week, 30 quotes/week). Larger businesses scale linearly — double the task volume and the savings approximately double, while build cost grows sub-linearly. Smaller businesses (1–5 staff) can still see strong ROI on narrow-scope AI employees starting at ~$8,000 AUD.

How long does a typical AI automation build take?

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First live workflow in 2–3 weeks. Full multi-workflow deployment in 8–12 weeks, delivered incrementally. The payback clock starts from the first live workflow, not from project start — which is why well-scoped deployments typically pay back within 6–12 months on a build that took ~3 months.

Want a firm quote on your specific scenario?

Book a 30-minute discovery call. We will walk through your current workflows, validate the numbers, and either confirm the ROI or tell you if it does not stack up — before anyone quotes anything.

Book a discovery call