Business process automation sounds like something big companies with an IT department do. In practice it's usually the opposite: it has the most impact where one person retypes the same data from one place to another every week. This post breaks down what such a tool costs, how to work out whether it pays off, and when the honest answer is that it doesn't.
How much does business process automation cost: the short answer
The range is €300 to €10,000, and that's not dodging the question but the real width of what the term covers. A script that takes one repeating job off your hands is at the bottom. A system that runs a whole part of the business is at the top. Most projects end up between €800 and €3,000.
The price is fixed and agreed before work starts. The breakdown by level is on the automation pricing page.
Internal tool pricing by level
A script that takes one job off your hands: €300 – €800
One clearly bounded task that repeats. No interface, no database: it runs, does the job, done.
Real examples: reading data from a drawing and writing out a finished document, assembling a report from several Excel sheets, converting an export from one system into the format another system accepts.
The document generator for a land surveying office is in this group: a condominium survey report that used to be put together by hand now comes out in about ten seconds.
An internal tool with a database and an interface: €800 – €3,000
When the data has to live somewhere and several people enter and look at it. This is where admin panels, records, real-time status overviews and simple CRMs come in.
What's included:
- A database and an interface shaped around how you work.
- User accounts and access levels.
- Entering, searching and exporting data.
- Reports that put themselves together.
- Connections to your existing systems where possible.
A system that runs part of the business: €3,000 – €10,000
Several connected modules, integration with outside systems, processing that has to be reliable because delivery to your customers depends on it. Orders, stock, staff scheduling, billing.
The Start-List Generator for athletics meets is an example of more complex logic in a small package: sorting athletes into age categories, heats and lanes, with the rule that clubmates don't run next to each other. What used to be three days of work now takes three minutes.
How to work out whether it pays off
The maths is simpler than it looks. You need three numbers:
- How many hours a month the job takes.
- What that hour is worth: the wage of the person doing it, or the revenue that time could have brought in.
- What the tool costs.
If someone spends three hours a week retyping orders, that's twelve hours a month. At €15 an hour that's €180 a month, or €2,160 a year. A €1,200 tool pays for itself in a little over six months, and after that the saving stays.
The other half of the maths is harder to measure, but you feel it: retyping by hand makes mistakes. An error in an order or an invoice costs more than the hour that was spent.
When it doesn't pay off
The honest side of the same maths:
- The job is rare. Something done twice a year doesn't need a tool.
- The process is still changing. If the way you work changes every two months, the tool is built on sand. Settle the process first.
- There's an off-the-shelf tool that covers 90% and costs little. There's no point building what you can buy for €10 a month.
If your case is one of these three, I'll tell you so on the first call.
A custom internal tool or off-the-shelf SaaS
Ready-made products are quicker to start with and cheaper for the first few months. They break on two things: per-user pricing and what they don't do.
A subscription of €12 per user per month for eight people is €1,152 a year, every year, and it grows as the team grows. A custom tool is paid for once.
The second thing is more awkward: an off-the-shelf system has its own way of working and you adapt to it. When your process differs from what the product expected, the fix is usually an extra spreadsheet on the side, and you're back where you started.
A more detailed comparison is in internal tools or another SaaS subscription.
You own the code, no subscription
The code I write is yours. No per-user fees, no monthly subscription for the tool itself, no situation where your data is locked in with a vendor. If tomorrow you want someone else to maintain it, they get the repository and carry on.
That's no small thing: an internal tool often becomes the place where everything the company knows about its own work lives. Something like that shouldn't belong to someone else.
What makes a project more expensive
- Integrating with existing systems that don't have a decent way to connect.
- Data that isn't tidy: before anything is automated, what exists has to be cleaned up.
- Several roles with different permissions, because each one brings its own checks.
- Requirements discovered along the way. That's why the first conversation always goes into detail: it's cheaper to ask than to redo.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to move off Excel?
Not necessarily. Excel is a good tool while one person uses it and while it doesn't break. When the same sheet passes through several hands and breaking it stops the work, it's time for something else. More on that in when an Excel sheet becomes a burden.
How long does it take to build?
A simple script one to two weeks. A tool with a database and an interface three to six weeks. Larger systems two to four months.
What if we need a change later?
Small changes within the support period are included in the price. After that it's done by agreement, and since the code is yours, you're not tied to me.
Does the tool work without the internet?
It depends. Some tools are desktop applications that run locally, others are web interfaces. It's decided by where the work actually happens.
How to get a concrete figure
Tell me which job repeats and how much time it takes. From that it's fairly quick to see whether building makes sense and what it would cost.
Describe your case or see what I've built.