What does it cost to automate a business?
Let me give you the answer right away: automating a single task usually runs between 15,000 and 75,000 NOK to set up. But that is not the number that matters most. The one that matters most is the one you never get an invoice for, namely all the hours people spend on things they do not really need to do by hand.
Two numbers, not one
When someone asks what automation costs, they often think of just one thing. There are really two: what it costs to build, which is a one-off, and what it costs to run each month.
Always ask for both. If you only get one number, you do not have the full cost picture.
What you actually pay
To automate one concrete task, like moving data between two systems or sending the same emails automatically, you are usually looking at 15,000 to 75,000 NOK to set up. Running it costs anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand a month.
Bigger jobs, like connecting several systems or building a live dashboard, usually cost more, but you almost never need to start big.
The sum people forget
If someone spends half a day a week on reporting, that adds up to about six weeks a year. Take the hours your team spends on repeating tasks, multiply by what an hour costs you, and you have a solid starting point for what automation should be measured against.
But here is what most people forget: those hours do not disappear, they move. When someone is freed from the manual job, that time goes to work that actually creates value, like customers, sales, or building the business. That is when the whole picture changes. You do not just save a cost, you get people doing what they are genuinely good at.
An example: a solution at 40,000 NOK that saves you a day a week is often paid back before summer. And that is before we have even counted the value of everything the team got done instead.
The most expensive mistake
The most expensive automation is the one you did not really need, where something complex got built instead of something simple. The second most expensive is the one you never got started on, while the hours kept disappearing.
That is why we never start by building. We start with a survey that works out where the gains actually are, and what they are worth, before anyone starts making a solution. Then you pay for something you know has value, not for something you guessed might be useful down the line.
Want to know where your own easy wins are?
A survey shows you exactly what is worth automating in your business, what it costs and what it saves, before you spend a single krone building anything. The first call is free and no-obligation.
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