How accurate is this?

Enough to decide whether to look further. The lab uses published benchmarks and what you tell it, and the result is a range rather than a single number.

Why a range and not one number?

A handful of answers cannot support a single figure. The width shows how much still rests on the published benchmarks rather than on a measurement of your own operation.

How does the conversation work?

You describe the job in a sentence, or tap a workflow we already price. Code fills the unambiguous words. A reader can fill an empty later question from the same sentence, and it never writes a dollar figure. The range is calculated from the benchmarks on this page.

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 public. Ask us if you want those sources run on your own volumes, systems and baseline.

Can I use my own figures?

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

ROI Lab: AI ROI & Benchmarks

Size the return before you spend on it.

Pick the work that costs you most. ClAIr sizes it with you one question at a time, from a published benchmark down to your business. Or bring an export and get a written case.

Which job eats the most time?

Four instruments

Benchmark library

Every figure the Lab uses, with its source. A is published research. B is our assumption, with the reasoning. C is our rate card.

TierFigureValueSourceUsed in

ACost to process one invoice, all-in average$9.84Ardent Partners, The State of ePayables 2025, Table 12025Invoices

ACost per invoice, Best-in-Class$2.65Ardent Partners 2025, Table 22025Invoices

BInvoices automation can handle40%–74%Ours, bounded by Ardent's straight-through rates2026Invoices

AAverage cost of an inbound call$7.20ContactBabel, US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide 20262026Calls

ACustomer service issues fully resolved in self-service14%Gartner, survey of 5,728 customers2024Calls

BCalls resolved without a person10%–30%Ours, bounded by Gartner and ContactBabel2026Calls

BAvoided cost per contained call$3.50Ours2026Calls

BAutomatable share of hours, per workflow25–65%Ours, never above McKinsey's ceiling2026Back office

ALoaded hourly cost, office and administrative support$36.73BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 20262026Back office

CPilot: one workflow, about eight weeksfrom $15,000Our rate card2026Payback

How the Lab works

01Size itStart from the published band for your workflow and volume. It is wide on purpose.

02Narrow itEach answer replaces an assumption with a fact about your business, and ClAIr shows you what moved.

03Prove itRun it on your own export, then a pilot measured against the same baseline.

The range is calculated in code from the library above. A model may write what we would do first, and that paragraph is checked against the figures. It does not write the number. A pilot starts at $15,000.

Size the return before you spend on it.

Which job eats the most time?

Benchmark library

How the Lab works

Questions