AI TRANSFORMATION

Business process automation ROI: measurement and evidence

Jul 20264 min read Sekar VAI Transformation

Key takeaways

The 248% ROI figure comes from a Microsoft-commissioned Forrester composite that assumes both Power Automate and Power Apps.
Forrester states that organisations should use their own estimates rather than assume the composite return.
Finance, accounting and procurement surveys show demand for better workflows. They do not measure automation ROI.

Operations leaders review process evidence before selecting what to automate

Business process automation ROI depends on the process baseline, exception rate, adoption, platform cost and how saved capacity is used. The strongest public financial example in this review is a commissioned composite study, so its assumptions must travel with every number.

What the Power Automate study measured

Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine Power Automate in July 2024. Forrester interviewed seven representatives from six companies and modelled a composite organisation with 30,000 employees and $10 billion in annual revenue.

The composite deploys both Power Automate and Power Apps. Forrester states that Power Apps is required to receive the full extent of the modelled benefits.

Composite result	Modelled finding	Assumption boundary
Three-year financial return	248% ROI, $39.85 million net present value and payback in less than six months.	$55.93 million in benefits against $16.08 million in costs for the composite organisation.
High-impact RPA use cases	200 hours per affected employee each year, or about 10%, producing $13.2 million in three-year time savings.	Forrester model assumptions include the share of employees affected, a $40 hourly rate, 50% productivity recapture and a 20% risk adjustment.
Extended automation using Power Apps and Power Automate	250 hours per year for selected high-impact users and 10 hours for medium-impact users, producing $31.3 million in modelled labour savings.	Benefits depend on both products, growing adoption and successful redeployment of saved time.

Forrester explicitly makes no assumption about the ROI another organisation will receive. The study offers a modelling framework, not a general BPA benchmark.

Inputs for an automation ROI model

Input	Evidence to collect
Current process	Volume, handling time, waiting time, error and rework rates, exceptions and control effort.
Target workflow	Steps automated, human decision points, completion rate and failure path.
Total cost	Licensing, implementation, integration, data work, controls, training and ongoing support.
Value capture	Capacity actually redeployed, avoided cost, cycle-time improvement and service outcome.

Measure the result after stabilisation against the original baseline. Hours technically saved do not become financial value unless the organisation can use that capacity.

Automation intent is not realised return

Deloitte's fourth-quarter 2023 CFO Signals survey had 124 participants. The specific plans and expectations item below had 122 responses. It measured stated intentions for 2024, not completed automation programmes.

Forward-looking response	Share of CFOs	Scope
Expected to embed more automation or digital technologies into operations in 2024	80%	Plan reported in late 2023.
Planned to use automation or digital technologies to free people for higher-value activities	81%	Intention, not a measured productivity or ROI result.

Where organisations report workflow pressure

Source	Finding	How to read it
Financial Cents, 2024	63% of surveyed accounting firms named workflow as a major challenge in 2023.	Vendor-run survey of accounting firms, many of them small or remote practices. It identifies workflow pressure, not ROI.
Zip, 2023 Trends in B2B Purchasing	35.6% of 1,056 US-based finance and accounting leaders listed automating purchasing and procurement processes as a priority for the coming year.	Vendor survey of finance and accounting professionals at director level and above across company sizes. It measures stated priority and intention, not automation adoption, ROI or realised value.
Amazon Business, 2024	Roughly 44% of procurement decision-makers cited efficiency and process complexity as primary challenges.	Survey of more than 3,000 buyers, procurement decision-makers and senior leaders across seven countries. It measures challenges, not automation return.

These surveys can help identify where to investigate. They cannot rank processes by value without internal volume, cost and exception evidence.