What AI automation is worth to your EBITDA.

SECTIONS01 / 05

01Overview→02Calculator→03Method→04Sources→05Questions→

Home AI Commerce Governance Back office ROI Insights Work

BOOK A CALL →

24H REPLY · FROM A PRINCIPAL

WE BUILD IT AND WE RUN IT

0101 / 05

ROI calculator

What AI automation is worth to your EBITDA

Enter three numbers, get a range and a payback period. Every benchmark behind it is published further down.

Last updated 6 September 2026Where every number comes from →

0202 / 05

Every number is tagged

A — published researchB — our assumptionC — our rate card

Step 1 of 3Your volumes

Industry

Invoices per month

$9.84 average, $2.65 best-in-class · Ardent Partners 2025

Inbound calls per month

15–20% resolved without a person, at $3.50 avoided per call

Annual revenue — optional

Used for one sanity-check line. Never part of the calculation.

Step 2 of 3Narrow the range

Narrow the range

0 of 4 answered

Your range starts wide because we are guessing at these. Each answer tightens it.

01How do suppliers send invoices?

Mostly structured — EDI or e-invoiceA mixMostly PDF or paper

02Are calls mostly the same few questions?

Yes, largely repeatSome repeatNo, varied

03Have you automated any of this already?

No, all manualPartlyLargely automated

04Does anyone track how long invoice approval takes?

Yes, measuredRoughlyNo

Clear

Step 3 of 3Your result

Result locked. Enter your details to see the numbers.

Preview · unlocks when you submit

Expected cost reduction

$•••,••• — $•••,•••

per year

Range widthWidest — nothing answered

ConservativeDashed edge — before your answersOptimistic

Invoice processing$•••,••• — $•••,•••Call handling$•••,••• — $•••,•••Payback••• — ••• months

Both figures are cost you stop paying, so both reach EBITDA. Each benchmark is already net of what it costs to run the automation.

0303 / 05

Method

How it is calculated

Invoice processing. Annual invoice volume, times the gap between the average cost per invoice and the best-in-class cost, times the share automation can handle in your industry.

Call handling. Annual call volume, times the share resolved without a person, times the cost avoided on each of those calls.

Payback. The pilot fee divided by the monthly saving. The fast end uses the optimistic figure, the slow end the conservative one.

0404 / 05

Reference

Where every number comes from

A — published research

Cost per invoice, all-in average$9.84Ardent Partners, State of ePayables2025

Cost per invoice, best-in-class (top 20%)$2.65Ardent Partners, State of ePayables2025

Average cost of an inbound call$7.20ContactBabel, US Decision-Makers' Guide2026

Issues fully resolved in self-service14%Gartner, survey of 5,728 customers2024

B — our assumptions

Avoided cost per contained call$3.50Under half the loaded cost of a staff-handled call. Containment removes the handling time, not the whole cost of running a contact function.

Calls resolved without a person10–30%Measured across every call that arrives, bounded by Gartner's 14% full self-service resolution and ContactBabel's 18% of chats handled without a person. Vendor figures of 50 to 90% cover a filtered set of simple calls.

Invoices automation can handle40–74%Depends how many suppliers send structured documents. Paper-heavy industries sit at the bottom.

A pilot from $15,000 is the figure payback is measured against — one workflow, about eight weeks. Scope moves it, so a larger or more entangled process costs more. Payback is never shown as shorter than the build, because nothing saves money before it runs.

0505 / 05

FAQ

Questions

How accurate is this?

Enough to decide whether to look further. Three numbers and published benchmarks give you a range.

Why a range and not one number?

Three self-reported figures cannot support a single answer. The width shows how much rests on the benchmarks.

What do the four extra questions change?

Each one replaces a guess, so the range gets narrower. Answers can narrow it downward as well as upward.

What does “resolved without a person” mean?

The call finishes without staff involvement. Our figure covers every call that arrives, including difficult ones.

My result is low. Is it broken?

No. Below a few hundred invoices a month the pilot fee often takes more than a year to earn back.

Which industries does this cover?

Manufacturing, insurance, healthcare, distribution and logistics, professional services. Industry changes two of the benchmarks.

Do I have to give my email?

Only for the result. Every benchmark, source and method note on this page stays free.

Can I use my own figures?

Yes. Bring your measured cost per invoice to the call and we will run the model against it.