When companies invest in automation, they expect clear payoffs: more efficiency, fewer errors, faster fulfillment. But quantifying that return can be challenging, especially in back-office functions like sales order processing.
Unlike sales or marketing, where ROI is tied to revenue growth, the return from order automation is more operational—and often spread across multiple departments. That’s why measuring the right metrics is essential.
If you can’t prove value, automation stays underfunded. If you can, it becomes a competitive advantage.
In this context, ROI isn’t just financial—it’s about cost savings, risk reduction, process scalability, and customer satisfaction. Some benefits are direct and easy to measure (like time saved). Others, like improved data integrity or employee satisfaction, are indirect but just as critical.
That’s why a well-rounded ROI model includes hard costs, soft costs, and strategic impact.
Let’s break down the metrics that provide the clearest window into ROI:
Before automation, how many hours did your team spend rekeying orders each week? After automation, how many of those hours were eliminated?
This is the most immediate and tangible ROI metric—and often the most eye-opening.
📌 Example:
15 orders/day × 10 min/order × 5 days/week = 12.5 hours/week saved
Multiply that across your team, and the numbers scale fast.
Automation drastically reduces typos, SKU mismatches, pricing errors, and other data issues caused by manual entry. Fewer errors means fewer returns, credits, and complaints.
Track the % of orders requiring correction or rework before and after automation.
📌 Benchmark:
Best-in-class companies report <1% error rates with automation, compared to 3–5% manually.
This measures how many orders are processed successfully on the first try—no human touch, no rerouting.
It’s a great KPI for measuring how “touchless” your system really is.
📌 Formula:
First Pass Yield = (Total Orders – Exceptions) / Total Orders × 100%
Cycle time refers to how long it takes from order receipt to ERP submission. Automation compresses this dramatically.
Track average order cycle times pre- and post-automation to show throughput gains.
📌 Goal:
Many Conexiom customers cut cycle times by 50–80% within 90 days.
Fewer touches mean lower costs per order. If your team needs less time and fewer resources to process each order, your cost-to-serve improves.
This is especially critical in high-volume distribution environments.
📌 Pro tip:
Pair cost-to-serve with gross margin by account to identify which customers are most profitable post-automation.
Time spent on low-value work like rekeying leads to burnout and turnover. Automation reduces workload friction and helps employees focus on higher-impact, more strategic tasks.
Track qualitative feedback or use pulse surveys before and after automation.
Are fewer orders being returned or escalated due to errors? Are service levels improving?
This is a strong indicator of both operational health and customer satisfaction.
📌 Pro tip:
Ask your customer support team how many tickets they close that relate to incorrect orders—and watch that number drop.
Before you launch automation, it’s critical to document a pre-automation baseline. This sets a benchmark for all future comparisons.
Capture:
Order volume
Avg. processing time per order
Error rates
Number of FTEs involved in order processing
Exception handling workload
Order-related escalations or delays
Even a 3-month baseline provides enough insight to start quantifying improvements.
After implementation, track metrics monthly for the first 6 months, then quarterly after stabilization.
Visualize improvements with dashboards that connect automation performance to business outcomes. This helps secure future buy-in from executives and ensures continuous optimization.
For many operations leaders, ROI isn’t just about reporting—it’s about storytelling. You need to show that automation isn’t just saving time; it’s enabling scale, resilience, and better customer outcomes.
Link automation results to:
Increased OTIF
Sales enablement
Better planning and forecasting
Competitive differentiation
Automation may start in ops—but the impact is enterprise-wide.
If you want to win support for automation, you have to prove its impact. Measuring ROI isn’t just about calculating costs saved—it’s about showing the strategic value of doing more with less.
Order automation isn’t a one-time fix—it’s a long-term investment in speed, accuracy, and agility. And with the right metrics, you can prove it.
CTA:
Want help building your ROI case? Download our free Order Automation ROI Worksheet or speak with a Conexiom expert about your metrics.