Watch an operational queue fall behind, then watch it not
This is a working model of one process over one working month, not a video and not a set of claims. Both lanes receive the same work. One needs a person for every item; the other handles most of them on arrival. Press run and compare the two queues.
- Identical work, both lanes
- The same arrival rate goes into each lane for one working month. The only difference is who or what handles each item.
- Rework is modelled, not ignored
- Every error consumes more capacity than getting it right first time. That is the mechanism that makes a staffed-for-the-volume team fall behind anyway.
- Automation pays to run
- The automated lane carries a monthly run cost before it is compared to anything, so it is never presented as free.
- Test the hiring instinct
- Add people to the manual team mid-run. The queue responds — and so does the bill. Both numbers are on screen.
A shared services team keying supplier invoices into an ERP. Fourteen people, and the queue still grows.
Add extra people. Capacity is now 45.9/hr against 58/hr arriving — still a deficit of 12.1 every working hour. Keeping pace by hand takes about 18 people, because rework eats 22% of the raw capacity.
0
invoices waiting
Queue drain: caught up
Capacity 45.9/hr against 58/hr arriving — a deficit of 12.1 items every working hour.
- Handled
- 0
- Cost to date
- $0
0
invoices waiting
Queue drain: caught up
88% of arrivals need no human touch. Only genuine exceptions reach the 4-person review queue.
- Handled
- 0
- Cost to date
- $0
Queue size over the modelled month
invoices waiting at the end of each working hourAn illustration, not a measurement. The arrival rate, staffing, error rate and run cost in this scenario are modelled assumptions chosen to reflect a real engagement, and no client figures are shown. The arithmetic mirrors the ROI calculator, including charging the automated lane for the cost of running it.
A model is not a measurement
The volumes, staffing and error rates here are modelled assumptions chosen to reflect real engagements, and no client figures are shown. Your arrival rate, your exception share and your rework cost are the three numbers that decide whether the picture changes — an assessment measures all three before anyone commits to a build.
Bring us the process you already know is costing too much
Thirty minutes with an engineer is usually enough to tell whether it is worth automating, roughly what it would save, and whether the payback is inside a window your finance team will accept. If the answer is no, we will say so on the call.