- Most of the return comes from time people spend searching for information, which surveys put at around a quarter of the working week.
- Work it out with five numbers: people, hours saved, hourly cost, working weeks and the price of the tool.
- Be conservative. If the sums only work with optimistic numbers, wait.
- Then count the things that do not fit in a worksheet: fewer mistakes, faster new starters, and knowledge that stays when people leave.
Every AI tool promises to save time. Very few tell you how to check. Here is a simple way to work it out for your own company, in a few minutes, with numbers you already know.
Where the return comes from
For a tool that answers questions from your company's records, most of the return is time not spent searching: for the right document, the latest version, or the colleague who knows.
of their time, teams say, is spent just searching for answers
Atlassian, State of Teams 2025 ↗a week lost waiting for information from colleagues, or recreating what already exists
Panopto and YouGov, 2018 ↗Atlassian's figure comes from a survey of 12,000 knowledge workers. Panopto's comes from a survey of 1,001 adults in the United States. You do not need to believe either figure. The worksheet below starts from a much smaller number.
The AI ROI worksheet
| Line | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | People who will use it | 25 |
| B | Hours each person saves a week | 1 |
| C | Hourly cost of their time, including employer costs | CAD 45 |
| D | Working weeks a year | 46 |
| E | Yearly price of the tool for all of them | CAD 9,750 |
Time saved a year = A × B × C × D. In the example: 25 × 1 × 45 × 46 = CAD 51,750.
Return = time saved a year ÷ E. In the example: 51,750 ÷ 9,750 = about 5 times the price of the tool.
The example price is AskNeil's Reef plan, paid annually, for 25 people. Change any number below and the result updates.
Prices exclude applicable taxes. Minimum 10 people. Your figures stay on this page and are not sent anywhere.
Two ways to sharpen your estimate:
- Ask three people how long they spent last week looking for a document, a version or an answer from a colleague.
- Measure it after you start. Check again after the first few months, using the same questions.
What the worksheet leaves out
Some of the return does not fit neatly into a formula, but it is often the largest part.
Fewer mistakes. A quote sent from last year's price list, a procedure followed from an old version, a contract renewed because nobody saw the notice date. One avoided mistake can be worth more than a year of the tool.
Faster new starters. New employees typically take months to reach full performance, and much of that time goes on finding out where things are and how they are done. Answers from day one shorten that.
Knowledge that stays. When an experienced person leaves, what they knew is mostly still in your records. If those records can be searched in plain words, the next person starts with the history, not from nothing.
Less interruption. Every question a new person does not need to ask is one less interruption for your most experienced people.
When it is not worth it
In short
Work out the return with five numbers and a conservative estimate of time saved. If it pays for itself at an hour a week, the rest is a bonus: fewer mistakes, faster new starters, and knowledge that stays when people leave. See our pricing page for every plan.