When companies start talking about automation, one of the first questions that comes up is: What is the Return on Investment (ROI)? It’s a fair question because companies should be determining whether a project is worth what it will cost to implement and sustain; i.e. that the gains outweigh the costs. However, if ROI is the only reason you’re automating, then you’re likely to have your biggest wins left on the table.
What ROI Looks Like in Automation
Most companies use tangible math to quickly calculate automation returns. Below is the common and familiar algorithm used for calculations:
ROI = (Annual Savings – Annual Costs) / Project Costs
Using this algorithm, let’s imagine a business that spends about $50,000 every year on manual data entry. An automation solution comes along with an implementation cost of $30,000, plus $5,000 a year in maintenance.
In year one:
- Savings = $50,000
- Costs = $30,000 (implementation) + $5,000 (maintenance) = $35,000
- Net Benefit = $15,000
- ROI = $15,000 / $35,000 = ~43%
From year two onward, the company only pays $5,000 in maintenance and still saves nearly $50,000 a year. That’s an easy business case to approve—hard numbers, clear payoff.
Trap 1: The Payback Window
Considering our example above, a common trap into which businesses can fall is looking only at short-term ROI. If a leader choose to limit the ROI window to pay back in six months, it shows that the cost is not worth the benefit. However, increasing the window to a 1 year payback seems like a no-brainer. While a project with a three-year recovery window can look less attractive—long-term benefits are much greater. Limiting the payback window tends to favor small, quick-win automations while undervaluing larger, transformative ones. Great leaders don’t just limit projects to those that hit a 6-month ROI. They also look at how automation changes the organization three years down the road—whether it’s reducing risk, making employees more effective, or giving customers a better experience.
Trap 2: Tangible Benefits
Some of the biggest wins don’t show up neatly in a spreadsheet. Take speed to market, for example. If you automate your sales quoting process and cut turnaround from two weeks to two days, your close rate will almost certainly improve. But how do you put a dollar amount on it before you actually try? The same goes for error reduction—yes, fewer mistakes mean less rework and happier customers, but the value depends on how messy those mistakes would have been. Cybersecurity is another one. Automating patching or system checks could prevent a catastrophic data breach, but putting a number on a risk that might have happened is nearly impossible.
We’ve also seen cases where automation makes compliance easier. One manufacturing company automated its reporting process, and while the spreadsheet ROI didn’t look impressive, the real benefit showed up during an audit—smooth sailing with zero findings. That saved time, stress, and potential fines. None of that was captured in the ROI column, but it mattered a lot.
Why ROI Isn’t the Whole Story
If ROI is the only factor you’re considering, you’ll miss out on some of the best opportunities. Automation has a way of creating value in unexpected areas. It can make employees happier by removing tedious, repetitive tasks. It can improve customer satisfaction when things happen faster and with fewer mistakes. It can strengthen compliance and reduce business risk. It can also provide better visibility into how your operations actually work, giving leaders the insight to make smarter decisions. And sometimes, it even sparks innovation—opening doors to new products, services, or ways of engaging with customers that weren’t feasible before.
When management has enough vision to weigh intangible and hard to measure benefits, it can open up great possibilities for improvement.
Key Take Aways
ROI is useful, but it’s not the whole story. Some projects have clear, measurable paybacks. Though, value can be delivered in other ways that don’t neatly fit into a financial model—things like morale, customer trust, resilience, and long-term competitiveness . If you only look at ROI, you risk missing out on these bigger, transformative wins. Leaders who weigh both the tangible and intangible benefits of automation open up new possibilities. They don’t just measure efficiency—they drive resilience, innovation, and competitiveness; the kind of return no spreadsheet can calculate.
At Intellevate Solutions, we help organizations look beyond the numbers. By balancing financial returns with the harder-to-measure benefits, we ensure automation projects deliver maximum impact—not just cost savings. If you’re ready to see the bigger picture of what automation can do, we’d love to help you get there.