AI ROI calculator - Put one AI workflow into business-case math.
Estimate the hours reclaimed, rework avoided, complexity and confidence for one AI workflow, and the first step that fits. The estimate uses your numbers, not our prices.
What kind of AI surface?
Pick the closest workflow. Defaults shift by category, then you can tune the numbers.
Annual business case
$285,300
This is the estimated value of reclaimed time and avoidable rework. It is not ESARC pricing.
Recommended first step
Pilot or MVP sprint- Hours reclaimed
- 1,794 hrs
- Opportunity cost
- $269,100
- Rework savings
- $16,200
- Implementation complexity
- Medium-high
- Confidence
- 74%
How the math works
- Manual load
- 20 hrs/week x 3 people x 50 weeks
- 3,000 hrs/year
- Effective coverage
- 65% target coverage adjusted for sensitive risk
- 60%
- Time value
- 1,794 reclaimed hrs x $150/hr
- $269,100
- Rework reduction
- 8% current rework x 45% reduction assumption
- $16,200
Why this first step
The business case is concrete enough to pick one workflow and ship it at a fixed price, with evals in place.
Related ESARC work
Workflow coverage
Model the AI surface you are actually considering.
Voice agent
Inbound or outbound calls, qualification, booking, handoff, call review, and quality monitoring.
RAG / internal search
Grounded answers over documents, tickets, notes, customer records, or regulated knowledge bases.
Support triage
Classify, route, summarize, draft replies, and keep human support teams focused on hard cases.
Internal ops agent
Back-office workflows where the agent reads, checks, updates systems, and leaves an audit trail.
Eval harness
Regression tests, traces, replay tools, and release gates for an AI system already in motion.
Document workflow
Drafting, extraction, review, document assembly, structured outputs, and source-grounded checks.
Legacy AI modernization
Replace brittle prompt chains or prototypes with typed tools, evals, observability, and handoff.
Transparent math
The model separates time, rework, opportunity cost, and risk.
Baseline annual workflow hours
hours per week x people affected x 50 working weeks
This estimates the yearly operating load around the workflow before automation.
Direct time savings
baseline hours x effective automation coverage
Effective coverage keeps the estimate conservative by reducing target coverage for sensitive, regulated, or frontier-risk workflows.
Rework reduction
baseline hours x error/rework rate x workflow reduction assumption
This separates avoided correction loops from direct time savings.
Opportunity cost
direct time savings x loaded hourly cost
This values reclaimed time using your internal loaded cost, not ESARC rates.
Risk and confidence adjustment
workflow complexity + risk profile + observable assumptions
Higher-risk workflows reduce effective coverage and confidence while increasing implementation complexity.
Calculator FAQ
What the estimate can and cannot tell you.
How accurate is the ROI calculator?
It is a directional business-case model. Accuracy depends on how well you know current weekly hours, affected headcount, loaded labor cost, rework rate, and realistic automation coverage.
Can I share a calculator scenario with my team?
Yes. The calculator keeps the workflow and assumptions in the URL query string, so a copied link restores the same scenario without a login or stored account state.
Does the estimate include what ESARC charges?
No. The estimate uses your numbers, not our prices. Our prices are on the services page: a $2,500 discovery week, fixed-price sprints and monthly retainers.
When should we talk to ESARC?
Talk to ESARC when the value looks material, the workflow touches real customers or regulated operations, or your team needs evals, observability, and a production rollout plan before building.
Tell us what you want to build.
A partner reads every message. We reply within one business day.