ROI figures for workflow automation are notoriously unreliable. Vendors quote numbers like '300% ROI in the first year' — calculated in a way that wouldn't survive a CFO's scrutiny. This article goes through each component separately and gives you realistic ranges based on what we see in practice with European SMEs.
The Direct Cost Savings
Staff time recovered: calculate hours per week on the process being automated, multiply by fully-loaded hourly cost, multiply by 52. For a process consuming 10 hours/week at €45/hour fully-loaded, that's €23,400 per year. Important: recovered time only generates ROI if redirected to something productive.
Error reduction: manual processes have error rates. A conservative estimate is that error costs equal 20–30% of the staff time cost. For a €23,400 annual time cost, that's an additional €4,700–€7,000.
Speed improvements: lead follow-up speed within five minutes of an inbound inquiry produces dramatically higher conversion rates than response time within an hour. If automation reduces response time from hours to seconds, the value is in the conversion improvement.
The Indirect Value
Scalability without proportional hiring: when a process is automated, you can grow volume without growing headcount. Operational consistency: automated processes don't have bad days. Management attention freed: time a senior manager spends supervising repetitive work is time not spent on strategy and business development.
The Cost Side
Implementation cost for a focused n8n workflow project: €8,000–€25,000. Projects involving Bubble and Supabase integration add €5,000–€15,000. Ongoing infrastructure: n8n self-hosted €50–€200/month, Supabase €25–€100/month, Bubble €29–€349/month. Total annual infrastructure: €1,200–€7,200.
A Worked Example
A professional services firm automates client onboarding and monthly reporting. Time saved: 15 hours/week. Fully-loaded cost: €50/hour. Annual time saving: €39,000. Error reduction: €6,000. Total annual saving: €45,000. Implementation: €18,000. Annual infrastructure: €3,600. Year 1 net return: €23,400. Year 2: €41,400. Payback period: approximately 5 months.
When Automation ROI Is Negative
Automating a process about to change. Automating a low-volume process. Building before mapping — automation built without fully mapped process logic requires rework. Recovered time not redeployed. A good automation partner will tell you when the ROI case doesn't hold.
