What should your first AI workflow automation cost?

A good pilot is scoped around one repetitive task with a clear start, a clear finish and a number you can measure. "Automate operations" is too vague to price. "When a supplier invoice arrives by email, extract the fields, match it to the purchase order and queue it for approval" can be built, tested and measured.

A solid pilot scope document answers these questions:

• Trigger.What starts the workflow: an email, a form, a new file, a calendar event?
• Steps.What the AI does, and what ordinary automation does (moving data between systems usually needs no AI at all).
• Systems.Which apps it reads from and writes to, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, QuickBooks, a CRM or a practice management system.
• Human checkpoint.Where a person reviews or approves before anything goes to a customer or into the books.
• Success measure.Minutes saved per item, items per week, error rate, or response time.
• Done means.Running on real work, with your staff using it, and documentation of how it works.

If you are not sure which workflow to start with, an AI assessment (typically about $3,500 in the market, and quoted under that at Kildaris) ranks candidates by time saved and risk before you spend on a build.

For a single, well-defined workflow, expect a build cost in the low thousands of dollars, with price rising as you add systems, edge cases and approvals. The typical market cost for one workflow, live, is about $5,000, and a Kildaris pilot is quoted as a fixed price under that for the same scope. Cost goes up with:

• More systems to connect, especially older software without a modern API
• Messy inputs, like scanned handwritten forms or ten different invoice layouts
• Compliance needs, such as patient data in a dental or medical office
• Multi-step approvals across departments

The cheapest way to keep a pilot affordable is to say no to the second and third workflow until the first one is working and measured.

Buy when a tool you already pay for does the job, and build when your process is specific to how you work. Many first wins come from features already inside Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, your CRM or your accounting software, switched on and configured properly.

A vendor-neutral build matters because AI models and their pricing change often. Swapping the model behind a workflow should take a configuration change and a round of testing.

Ongoing costs come in two buckets: usage and upkeep. Usage is what you pay the AI provider and any automation platform to run the workflow, and it scales with volume. Upkeep is the time needed to keep the workflow working when a connected app changes its screens, a field is renamed, or a new document layout appears.

Ask for both as monthly estimates based on your real volume. A quote that lists only the build price leaves out the part you pay for every month afterward.

Payback is the build cost divided by the monthly savings after ongoing costs. Monthly savings are hours saved multiplied by a loaded hourly cost. The examples below are illustrations built on these assumptions: a $5,000 build (the typical market cost of a single workflow), $150 a month for usage and upkeep, and staff time valued at the rate shown.

The math is simple on purpose. If a workflow does not pay back within a year using honest numbers, pick a different first workflow. Faster replies to leads or fewer billing errors are real benefits too, so count them as extra upside on top of the hours.

The biggest red flag is a quote with no measurable outcome attached. Watch for these as well:

• No fixed scope.Open-ended hourly billing for a first pilot.
• Platform first.A required annual license before anything is built.
• No human checkpoint.Anything that sends to customers or posts to the books with no review step.
• No ongoing cost estimate.Only the build price, nothing about monthly usage or upkeep.
• Lock-in.The workflow only works with one AI vendor, or you cannot get the code and configuration if you leave.
• No data rules.No answer to where your data goes, which accounts it runs under, and what the AI provider keeps. An AI governance review covers this.
• No owner.Nobody named on your side to approve it and on their side to fix it.

If you have a workflow in mind and want a straight answer on cost and payback, book a free 30-minute call. Bring a rough count of how often the task happens each week.