Everyone says AI saves time in your administration. But how much time does it really save?
Instead of vague promises, we show you concretely. In this article we calculate exactly how many hours you win back each month when you use an AI assistant in combination with Exact Online.
The figures are based on what we see daily with SME companies and accountancy firms that automate their administration with our connector. And even when we calculate conservatively, you often earn the connector back within half a working day.
For this calculation example we take a typical SME scenario:
The difference lies mainly in how you work.
Manual means: logging in, navigating, setting filters, exporting a report and opening Excel. With AI you simply ask a question. For example: "Which invoices are still open at Van der Berg?" Within a few seconds you have the answer. No menus, no exports, no Excel.
Many administrative tasks come back every day. Below is an overview of the most common ones.
| Task | Frequency | Manual | With AI | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checking outstanding items | 1x per day | 5 min | 15 sec | 4.75 min |
| Looking up client data | 5x per day | 2 min | 10 sec | 9.2 min |
| Checking payments | 1x per day | 3 min | 15 sec | 2.75 min |
| Daily total | 18 min | ~ 1 min | ~ 17 min |
For comparison: manually you log in to Exact Online, navigate to accounts receivable, set filters and wait for the overview to load. With AI you simply ask the question and get an answer within seconds.
Curious how big that difference is in practice? In our article on manual vs. AI reporting we show step by step how AI speeds up the process.
Reports and overviews traditionally take a lot of time too.
| Task | Frequency | Manual | With AI | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounts receivable overview | 1x per week | 10 min | 15 sec | 9.75 min |
| Creating a revenue overview | 1x per week | 15 min | 20 sec | 14.87 min |
| Accounts payable overview | 1x per week | 8 min | 15 sec | 7.75 min |
| Weekly total | 33 min | ~ 1 min | ~ 32 min |
You notice the difference most with reports. Manually you export data to Excel and create a pivot table. With AI you ask: "Give me the top 10 clients by revenue this month." The overview appears immediately.
The larger administrative tasks become considerably faster.
| Task | Frequency | Manual | With AI | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAT preparation | 1x per month | 45 min | 3 min | 42 min |
| Profit and loss statement | 1x per month | 20 min | 30 sec | 19.5 min |
| Client analyses | 2x per month | 15 min | 30 sec | 14.5 min |
| Creating invoices | 10x per month | 40 min | 1 min | 39 min |
| Monthly total | 120 min | 5 min | 115 min |
VAT preparation in particular delivers a lot of time savings. AI checks the preliminary return, flags discrepancies and automatically detects missing entries. What previously took three quarters of an hour is now sorted in a few minutes.
How much time do you actually win back when you add it all up?
| Category | Saving per week | Saving per month |
|---|---|---|
| Daily tasks | 85 min | 340 min (5.7 hours) |
| Weekly tasks | 32 min | 128 min (2.1 hours) |
| Monthly tasks | -- | 131 min (2.2 hours) |
| Total | ~ 10 hours per month |
That is more than a full working day that you win back every month.
Time savings mean directly more productivity and lower costs.
| Costs | Essentials | Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Base subscription | €29 per month | €79 per month |
| Extra administration | From €15 per month | From €25 per month |
| Setup | Free | Free |
| Saving | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Hours saved | ~ 10 hours | ~ 120 hours |
| Value (85 euro per hour) | €850 | €10,200 |
| Connector costs | €29 to €79 | €348 to €948 |
| Net saving | €771 to €821 | €9,252 to €9,852 |
Scenario 1: Freelance bookkeeper with 3 clients
With the Essentials subscription you pay €29 per month, plus 2 extra administrations at €15, totalling €59 per month. Thanks to AI you save around 25 hours per month, worth €2,125. That means a return of no less than 36x your investment!
Scenario 2: Accountancy firm with 15 clients
Here you pay €29 base + 14 extra administrations at €12 (volume discount from 11 administrations), totalling €197 per month. With AI you save about 120 hours per month, a value of €10,200. You earn the investment back in less than 2 hours.
In both scenarios the connector pays for itself within half a working day. More time for your clients, your team and growth, while your administration largely runs automatically.
With multiple administrations the saving grows faster than the costs, thanks to our volume discount. As soon as you reach the next tier, the lower rate applies retroactively to all your extra administrations. This way you benefit from economies of scale straight away.
| Number of administrations | Saving per month | Costs (Essentials) | Net saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 hours (€850) | €29 | €821 |
| 5 | 40 hours (€3,400) | €89 (1 + 4 x €15) | €3,311 |
| 10 | 85 hours (€7,225) | €164 (1 + 9 x €15) | €7,061 |
| 25 | 200 hours (€17,000) | €317 (1 + 24 x €12) | €16,683 |
From 11 administrations you pay €12 per extra administration instead of €15. This lower rate then applies to all extra administrations.
Besides measurable time savings, AI in your administration also delivers:
Want to know how to get started right away? In our step-by-step guide you have the connector up and running within 2 minutes.
Do the maths yourself. Start 30 days free →