We only build it
if it pays for itself.
Most agencies sell you the thing they happen to make. We start with the work that is eating your admin hours, put real numbers against it, and tell you when the answer is no. The calculator below runs on published German labour cost data, not on figures we invented.
Consulting, not a catalogue
We start with your processes and goals, then choose the tools. Nothing is sold before the problem is understood.
One system
AI, automation, marketing and the website are built to work together, wired into the tools you already run.
Operators, not just builders
Built by people who ran supply chains, products and a P&L before they built software. We have signed the budget we are now asking you for.
An honest no
If automating a process would not pay for itself, we say so on the first call. That is cheaper for both of us than finding out in month six.
The work that should not need a person.
Process automation
The repeating work between your systems: quotes, orders, handovers, reminders, reporting. Built on n8n and wired into what you already run.
AI where it earns its place
Drafting, classifying, extracting and summarising, applied to a named process with a number attached. Not a chatbot for its own sake.
Systems and integration
Your ERP, CRM and mailbox have never been introduced to each other. We do that first, because automation on top of disconnected systems just moves the mess faster.
Lead handling that does not drop
Routing, qualifying and following up automatically, so an enquiry at 19:00 on a Friday is still answered.
Websites that feed the system
Hand coded, fast, EU hosted, and connected to the automation behind it rather than sitting on its own.
Found and cited
Structured so Google can index you and so ChatGPT and Perplexity can quote you by name.
Does automation pay off in your company?
Built on Destatis labour cost data and the IAB substitution potential for German office work. Two of the inputs are deliberately conservative, and the result is allowed to come out negative.
When the investment turns into money
Cumulative cash position, month by month. Below the line you are still paying the build back. Above it, the automation is money in the bank.
How this is calculated, and where the numbers come from
The calculation
employer cost per person = gross salary x 1.29
capacity freed (FTE) = people x IAB potential x realisation factor
cash relevant FTE = capacity freed x conversion share
gross benefit = cash relevant FTE x employer cost + extra revenue
net value per year = gross benefit - running cost
ROI first year = (net value - one off cost) / (one off cost + running cost)
payback = one off cost / (net value / 12)
Where the figures come from
- The 1.29 factor. The Federal Statistical Office puts non-wage labour costs at 29 euros per 100 euros of gross earnings, unchanged since 2022. Employer social contributions alone are 21.15 percent of gross.
- The salary default. German Sachbearbeiter salaries cluster between roughly 48,000 and 52,000 euros gross per year across the major salary databases. We default to 50,000.
- The substitution potential. The IAB, the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency, publishes how far the tasks within an occupation could technically be handled by machines: 60 percent for office and secretarial occupations, 57 percent for business organisation and HR, above 40 percent for commercial and business service occupations.
- The realisation factor, and why it matters. The IAB figure is the technical ceiling for tasks, not a forecast of hours saved. Controlled studies of actual deployments come out far lower: about 15 percent more issues resolved per hour for customer support agents, around 40 percent less time on specific writing tasks, and broad workforce surveys report roughly 5 percent of total working hours saved. We therefore default to realising 30 percent of the technical potential, and you can move it.
The honest part
Freed time is not automatically money. It becomes money when you avoid a hire, leave a departing colleague unreplaced, or stop paying overtime. If the work simply gets redistributed, you have bought capacity and a calmer team, which is worth having but does not show up in the P&L. That is why the conversion share is an input you control rather than an assumption we bury. Set it to zero and the calculator will correctly tell you the project does not pay for itself in cash.
Sources
- Statistisches Bundesamt, labour costs per hour worked, 2025
- Statistisches Bundesamt, Arbeits- und Lohnnebenkosten
- IAB Substituierbarkeitspotenzial, methodology
- StepStone, Sachbearbeiter salary data
- Brynjolfsson, Li and Raymond, Generative AI at Work, Quarterly Journal of Economics
This is an estimate for a first conversation, not a quotation and not a forecast. Your own numbers will differ, which is what the call is for.