business
What is ROI (Return on Investment)?
A measure of the financial return gained relative to the cost of an investment, expressed as a percentage.
In plain English
ROI is the fundamental metric for justifying any business investment, including automation. If an automation tool costs $200/month but saves your team 20 hours of work per month at $50/hour, the ROI is 400% — a clear win. Calculating the ROI of automation involves estimating time saved, errors reduced, and revenue gains, then comparing that to the cost of the tool and setup time. Most well-implemented business automations pay for themselves within weeks or months.