The build quote is only part of an automation's cost. The business also pays to run the workflow, check exceptions, maintain its connections and change it when the process changes.
Compare proposals over an agreed operating period, using your normal workload and a busy-period scenario. Keep cash savings separate from the value of staff time released.
Put the costs into three groups
Setup costs include understanding the process, building, testing, staff handover and any work needed to clean up existing information. Ask what's included in the quote and what would change it.
Recurring cash costs can include automation subscriptions, connected app upgrades, hosting, usage charges and agreed support. An integration may require a different plan in the destination app as well as the automation platform.
Ongoing staff work includes checking outputs, handling exceptions, investigating failures and approving changes. It may not create a new invoice, but it's still part of the process.
List each cost once. If a support agreement already includes routine maintenance, don't also add the same maintenance hours as a separate supplier charge.
Find out what the platform charges for
A “run” and a billable unit aren't necessarily the same thing. Zapier's task guidance explains that successful actions can consume tasks, with different rules for some products and steps. Ask the builder to estimate usage from the proposed workflow, including its branches and recovery route.
Licensing can also depend on the features and execution arrangement. Microsoft's Power Automate licensing FAQ distinguishes standard and premium capabilities and different licence contexts. “We already have Microsoft 365” isn't enough to price an arbitrary flow.
Use the current terms for the actual accounts involved. A low-volume demonstration doesn't establish the monthly cost of the finished process.
A fictional operating calculation
Imagine a business assessing a workflow with an invented setup cost of £2,400. Its assumed monthly running costs are £90 for software, £60 for support and £45 for a required connected-app upgrade. That is £195 a month, or £2,340 a year before any usage overage or tax treatment.
The first year's cash cost in this example is therefore £4,740. These figures are planning arithmetic, not RightCyber prices, market averages or a supplier quote.
Suppose a trial also shows that staff spend ten fewer hours a month on the process after checking and exception handling. At an assumed £25 per hour, that gives £250 a month of staff capacity value. It doesn't automatically mean the business has £250 more cash. Salaries may stay exactly the same.
If the owner uses that capacity value in a business case, £250 minus £195 leaves £55 a month against setup cost. That is a very different proposition from claiming the entire ten hours as a monthly cash saving. The business needs to judge whether the released capacity and other observed improvements justify the investment.
Run the same calculation for a busy month
Ask what happens if request volume doubles. Which charges rise with volume, which remain fixed and which plan limits might interrupt work? Include the cost of checking and resolving the extra exceptions.
Also test the less attractive case: lower volume, more exceptions than expected or a connected service that requires an upgrade. A proposal that only works financially under the most optimistic assumptions deserves a smaller trial before a larger commitment.
Useful non-financial outcomes can still matter. Fewer missed jobs, quicker handoffs or clearer records may be worth paying for. Establish those with evidence rather than inventing a sales uplift to make the spreadsheet balance.
Ask for an operating handover with the quote
Request a short statement of:
- who owns the automation and connected accounts.
- expected usage at normal and peak volume.
- what monitoring and support are included.
- which changes count as new work.
- how charges or limits are checked.
- how you can export the workflow and stop the service.
Then compare proposals against the same assumptions. A larger setup fee with clear operating responsibilities may be more understandable than a smaller quote that leaves every future change undefined.
Choose a review date after the trial. Update the calculation with actual workload, costs and remaining staff time, then keep, change or stop the automation on that evidence.