Report Automation in Hours and Euros, or Finance Will Never Fund the Second One
Automation benefits have a strict hierarchy — revenue captured, then mistakes removed, then hours saved. Reporting only the weakest of the three is why AI budgets stall after the first project.
Cyril BelloirFinancial StrategistThe three-line format
Per automation, per month: hours returned multiplied by loaded hourly cost gives gross benefit. Subtract run cost — model usage, hosting, licences — and maintenance hours. That is net. One row per automation, one spreadsheet, reviewed quarterly.
Model cost routing becomes a real profit-and-loss line once you are past pilot. Cheap fast models handle classification and extraction, which is the bulk of volume, and premium models handle judgment steps only. A deliberate split typically cuts run cost five to ten times against running everything on the flagship model.
Split hours into two honest columns
Eliminated, meaning headcount or overtime actually changed. And redeployed, meaning the person now does something else you can name. Hours that are neither are slack, and calling slack a saving is how you lose the finance director.
For anything revenue-touching, measure cycle time and leak rate instead of hours. Response time to an inbound enquiry maps to conversion far more tightly than admin hours map to cost. And track error rate before and after — mistakes removed is the most under-claimed benefit and the one boards find most credible.
The metric to stop reporting
Number of tasks automated, or workflows deployed. It is a vanity count and finance knows it.
Open a spreadsheet and fill one row for an automation already running: hours returned, run cost, maintenance hours, net. If you cannot fill it, you do not know whether it is an asset or a liability.
Former CFO of Europe's fastest-growing facility management group, with more than 60 due diligence processes completed.
Meet the team →Questions we get asked
What is the weakest way to justify an automation project?
Hours saved — yet it is what every vendor leads with. Saved hours get absorbed into the working day unless a manager actively reassigns them. Lead with captured revenue and eliminated errors instead.
How do I control the running cost of AI automation?
Route by task. Cheap fast models handle classification and extraction, which is most of the volume; premium models handle judgment steps only. A deliberate split typically cuts run cost by five to ten times.
How should automation benefits be reported to a board?
One row per automation, monthly: hours returned at loaded cost, minus run cost and maintenance hours, equals net. Separate eliminated hours from redeployed hours, and never report a count of workflows deployed.
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