Automation
When automation actually pays: a cost model for UAE operations
3 July 2026
Not every manual process is worth automating. Here is the arithmetic we use with clients before scoping a build.
The question is never "can this be automated" — almost anything can. The question is whether the payback period is shorter than the shelf life of the process.
We model four inputs: hours consumed per week, fully loaded hourly cost, error rate and the cost of each error, and expected process lifetime. A process that eats six hours a week at moderate cost usually pays back a mid-sized automation within a year.
What kills projects is the fifth, unmodelled input: how often the process itself changes. Automating a workflow that is redesigned every quarter means rebuilding every quarter.