How much time does AI save? (Real numbers)

Every AI vendor throws percentages around. "80% time savings." "10× faster." But nobody tells you how many hours per week that means for a business your size. We do — with real numbers from real projects.

How we measure time savings

Before we build anything, we measure. We ask: how many hours per week go into this process? Who does it? What's the average hourly rate? After implementation, we measure again. That's how we know exactly what the savings are — not as a marketing claim, but as fact on paper.

Three concrete cases

A webshop with 8 employees had one employee busy full-time every day with customer queries. After implementing an AI chatbot, the system handles 70% of all questions automatically. The employee now has time for complex customer situations that really need attention.

An installation company made an average of 12 quotes per week. Each quote took 45 minutes. The quote agent reads the request, looks up the right materials and generates a draft. The technician reviews and sends in 5 minutes. Savings: 8 hours per week — a full working day.

A technical wholesale company received 45 order emails per day. Each email took 4 minutes to process. That's 3 hours per day, 15 hours per week. The AI agent reads the email, recognises products and quantities, and places the order directly in the ERP.

When is it NOT worth it?

We're honest: not every process lends itself to automation. AI makes little sense when:

• The process takes less than 2 hours per week — ROI is too small
• Every situation is unique with little repetition
• Quality requirements are so high that human oversight is always needed
• The process will change next month due to a larger IT project

From hours to euros

An average office worker in SME costs €40–€55 per hour (including employer costs). 5 hours per week savings is €200–€275 per week, €10,000–€14,000 per year. An automation costing €4,500 pays itself back in 4–5 months. Year 2 onwards is pure profit.