The visible cost: entry time
The first item is the easiest to measure: the time spent reading the order, finding the customer, looking up each item, checking prices and validating in the ERP.
The formula: orders per month × minutes per order ÷ 60 × fully loaded hourly cost. The fully loaded hourly cost includes gross salary, employer contributions and workstation costs.
The hidden costs: errors and corrections
A transposed reference or a misread quantity is not spotted straight away. It then costs:
- a repeated picking and an extra delivery;
- a credit note or a return to process;
- customer service time to handle the dispute;
- sometimes, the customer’s trust.
Even at a low error rate, this rework weighs heavily, because each case involves several departments.
The opportunity cost
Every hour spent copying orders is an hour not spent tracking deliveries, following up quotes or advising customers. It is often the largest cost, and the least visible.
A worked example
Example: 40 orders a day, 6 minutes each, 21 working days a month, at a fully loaded cost of €35 an hour. That comes to 840 orders, 84 hours and around €2,940 of data entry every month, before even counting errors.
Replace these assumptions with your own: the result varies considerably depending on the number of lines per order and the variety of formats received.
Calculating your own cost
To get a reliable figure, time a dozen representative orders, from opening the email to validation in the ERP, then apply the formula above. Our ROI calculator does the maths for you and estimates the gain from automation.