What does manual work cost you?
No budget has a line called 'copy and paste', and yet you pay for it every month. Enter the salary and the people in each area, select what your team repeats, and we tell you what it costs each year and how much of it can be removed. Amounts are in Mexican pesos (MXN).
- Free
- One salary per area
- Email only at the end
How the numbers are built
A figure about operating costs is only useful if the reader can take it apart. These are the four steps and the assumptions behind each one. If one doesn't fit your company, you can change it.
Step 1 of 4
Each area has its own cost
A single average skews the result up and down at the same time, so each area has its own salary and its own cost per hour.
- Each area's gross monthly salary, in Mexican pesos (MXN), is multiplied by a factor of 1.4 for Mexican payroll costs: social security (IMSS), the mandatory year-end bonus (aguinaldo), paid vacation and the vacation premium.
- The result is divided by 173 hours a month, which is a 40-hour work week spread over the month.
- An hour of sales and an hour of support don't cost the same, and the same task costs a different amount depending on who does it.
Step 2 of 4
How many hours it takes
Within each area, each task is counted on its own: the people in the area times the hours each of them spends on it every week.
- Hours are an average per person, so a task that only two out of six people do is entered as the average for the area.
- A year has 48 working weeks: 52 minus vacation and public holidays.
- Counting task by task avoids a round number that nobody believes, and shows which task weighs the most.
Step 3 of 4
What can be removed
Not all manual work goes away. Each task comes with an estimate of how much of it can be automated, and you decide the final value.
- Three levels: a little (30%), a good part (60%) and nearly all (85%).
- The suggestion comes from what we have automated for real clients, not from a market figure.
- Lower it for tasks where your team adds judgment and not only typing.
Step 4 of 4
The hours, counted in people
This is the number that makes sense in a management meeting. People argue about a yearly cost; a full-time job spent copying data needs no explanation.
- The hours for the year are divided by 2,076, which is what one person works in a year.
- It doesn't mean you have too many people: these hours are spread across several people, who then go back to their real work.
- The whole calculation runs in your browser. What gets saved is the scenario you had when you clicked "Calculate the cost".
What repeats in each area
They come from reviewing how sales, marketing, service and administration teams work: these are the tasks that show up again and again. The percentage is our estimate of how much can be automated. In the calculator, you set it.
Sales
The people who prospect, quote and close. Manual work costs the most here, because every hour of data entry is an hour not spent with a customer.
- Tasks
- 4
- Hours/week
- 11
- Can be automated
- 69%
Enter and update CRM data
Typing in what already exists somewhere else: the details from an email, a business card from a trade show, the deal stage after a call.
Nearly all can be removed85%4 h/week per person to start
Follow up one by one
Writing the usual email with a different name, and remembering who is due today so that nobody is forgotten.
A good part can be removed60%3 h/week per person to start
Prepare quotes and proposals
Opening the last one, changing the name and the prices, and checking twice that nothing from the previous customer is left.
A good part can be removed60%2 h/week per person to start
Gather information before a meeting
Searching email, chat and the shared folder to piece together what was discussed with this customer and what was agreed.
A good part can be removed60%2 h/week per person to start
Marketing
The people who create demand and measure it. They carry the work of exporting, reconciling and exporting again, which is the least visible work and the most repeated.
- Tasks
- 4
- Hours/week
- 10
- Can be automated
- 78%
Build reports by hand
Exporting from two or three platforms, pasting into a spreadsheet, fixing the numbers that don't match, and doing it all again the next month.
Nearly all can be removed85%3 h/week per person to start
Review and assign incoming leads
Reading each request, looking up the company it comes from, deciding if it is worth pursuing and telling the right person to handle it.
Nearly all can be removed85%2 h/week per person to start
Clean lists and segments before each send
Exporting, removing duplicates, filling in empty fields and rebuilding the list because the last one no longer works.
Nearly all can be removed85%2 h/week per person to start
Adapt and publish the same content on each channel
Rewriting the same message for email, social media and the website, and publishing it by hand on each one.
A good part can be removed60%3 h/week per person to start
Support and customer success
The people who serve customers who already bought. Their workload grows with the customer base, so what is handled by hand today stops keeping up when the number of customers doubles.
- Tasks
- 4
- Hours/week
- 11
- Can be automated
- 67%
Answer the same questions again and again
Prices, delivery times, what is included and what is not: the same answer, written again because it isn't stored anywhere easy to find.
A good part can be removed60%4 h/week per person to start
Log and sort incoming requests
Opening the case, tagging it, deciding what type it is and telling the person who should handle it.
Nearly all can be removed85%3 h/week per person to start
Check each customer account one by one
Going into each account, looking at what they use and what they stopped using, and noting by hand who might leave.
A good part can be removed60%2 h/week per person to start
Pass cases and context to another area
Copying the history into an email or another system so that sales or product can understand what it is about.
A good part can be removed60%2 h/week per person to start
Administration and collections
The people who invoice, reconcile and collect. This area has the most repetitive, rule-bound tasks in the company, and a mistake here costs a canceled invoice or a payment nobody followed up on.
- Tasks
- 4
- Hours/week
- 11
- Can be automated
- 74%
Issue electronic invoices
Retyping into the e-invoicing system what was already in the quote, getting the invoice validated, saving the files and emailing each one separately.
Nearly all can be removed85%3 h/week per person to start
Match payments to the bank statement
Downloading the bank statement, matching each deposit to its invoice and chasing the one that arrived without a reference.
A good part can be removed60%3 h/week per person to start
Chase overdue payments
Checking who owes and since when, writing the usual reminder and writing it again two weeks later.
Nearly all can be removed85%3 h/week per person to start
Put together the monthly package for accounting
Collecting receipts, payment records and spreadsheets every month, and answering the emails about what is missing.
A good part can be removed60%2 h/week per person to start
Questions about the calculator
How is the cost of manual work calculated?
Area by area. Within each area, the number of people is multiplied by the hours each of them spends on each task per week, and the result by 48 weeks a year. Those hours are valued at the area's cost per hour, which is its gross monthly salary multiplied by 1.4 and divided by 173 hours a month.
Why does it ask for a salary per area instead of one salary?
Because a sales rep, a marketer, a support agent and the person who handles invoicing don't cost the same. With a single average, the same task is overvalued in one area and undervalued in another. Separating them also shows where manual work hurts the most, which is not always where most of the hours go.
What assumptions does the calculator use?
All amounts are in Mexican pesos (MXN), and the starting salaries are typical of Mexico. The cost per hour applies a factor of 1.4 for Mexican payroll costs: social security (IMSS), the mandatory year-end bonus (aguinaldo), paid vacation and the vacation premium. A 40-hour work week equals 173 hours a month, and a year has 48 working weeks after vacation and public holidays. They are all shown in the result. If your team is paid in another currency, convert the salaries to MXN, and if your benefits cost more or less, adjust the salaries until the cost per hour matches yours.
Where do the automation percentages come from?
From automations we have built in real projects, not from a published study. That is why they are only a suggestion, and you can change them task by task until the final number is yours.
Are the numbers I enter saved?
Yes. When you click "Calculate the cost", your scenario is sent with your email: the salaries, the people and the tasks of each area. It is stored in our CRM, so we can write to you about your case instead of sending a generic message. The result can't be edited. If you want to try other numbers, you start over, and that second scenario is sent too.
How much of this cost can I realistically recover in the first year?
Less than the total the calculator shows. An automation takes time to build, the team takes time to trust it, and there are always unusual cases that are still handled by hand. Treat the recoverable hours as the most you can aim for, and focus the first year on the top two or three tasks.
What do I do with the result?
The result sorts the tasks into high, medium and low priority by how much they weigh in money and in hours. The high band holds about 50% of the problem. Start with the first task in that band that also has a high saving: that is where the same implementation effort gives back the most hours. If you want to review it with us, the "Book a meeting" button carries your figures to the contact form, so you don't have to type them again.
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