Answer
How long does it take to automate a business process?
A single, well-scoped business process takes about two weeks from start to running. A connected set of three to six processes takes four to eight weeks. Delays almost never come from the build — they come from access to systems and from nobody internally owning the decisions.
- One process
- ~2 weeks
- Three to six processes
- 4 – 8 weeks
- Time needed from your team
- A few hours total
- Biggest cause of delay
- Waiting on system access
What the two weeks contain
- Days 1–2: measure the baseline and agree the scope in writing
- Days 3–9: build and test against real cases
- Days 10–12: deploy into the tools you already use
- Days 13–14: run it live, measure again, hand over
What causes delays
- Credentials and API access taking longer to arrange than the build itself
- No single person able to make decisions about the process
- Discovering mid-build that the process has undocumented exceptions
- Scope growing once people see it working
How to make it faster
Sort out access before day one, nominate one decision-maker, and resist adding to the scope until the first version is live. A second automation is quicker to add later than it is to bolt on mid-build.
Related
How much does business process automation cost?
In the UK, automating a single business process costs roughly £1,500 to £6,500, and most SMEs spend £5,000 to £30,000 on their first automation project. Ongoing maintenance runs £500 to £3,000 a month. Cost is driven far more by how many systems have to talk to each other than by how clever the automation is.
Read→Which business processes should you automate first?
Automate the process that is repetitive, rule-based, high in volume, and stable. All four have to be true. The most common good first candidates are invoicing and payment chasing, moving data between systems, and first-response to enquiries — because they happen constantly, follow clear rules, and rarely change.
Read→How do you measure ROI on automation?
Record the baseline before anything is built — hours spent, volume handled, error rate — then measure the same things afterwards. Without a before, there is no credible after. Return is the annual value of the time and errors removed, minus the build cost and any ongoing maintenance.
Read