FS-DOC-02Finance
ROI and Business Case
Client Onboarding & Engagement Letters
01What the current process is costing you
At roughly 15 new clients per month, the Client Onboarding & Engagement Letters process runs entirely on manual effort. Every engagement letter is drafted by hand, ID and AML checks require a person to chase each client, document requests go back and forth over email, and system setup is repeated across tools one entry at a time. At a blended rate of $45/hour for a Practice Manager, the hours add up to a significant annual cost before a single automation is in place.
7 hrs/week
Staff time lost
~30 hours every 30 days on manual onboarding steps
$16,400/year
Annual staff cost
Based on $45/hr blended rate across all manual steps
3 weeks
Time to client ready
Average time from client won to ready to work
The steps below generate the most friction and are the first to slip when the team is under pressure.
Step
Owner
Time
Friction flag
Draft Engagement Letter
Practice Manager
40 min
Bottleneck
Send For Signature
Practice Manager
20 min
Low
Run ID and AML Checks
Practice Manager
45 min
Bottleneck
Request Client Documents
Onboarding Admin
35 min
Bottleneck
Set Up In Systems
Onboarding Admin
50 min
Low
Confirm Ready To Work
Practice Manager
20 min
Low
4 of the 6 steps are identified bottlenecks. These are the manual, repetitive steps that slow delivery and slip first when the team is busy. Total manual time per client: 210 minutes.
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FS-DOC-02Finance
02What changes after automation
Three agents replace the four bottleneck steps. The Engagement Letter Agent drafts and sends the letter the moment a client is marked won. The Document Collection Agent requests and chases every required document automatically. The Onboarding Setup Agent creates the client record across firm systems once all checks clear. A person remains in the loop only for the compliance review step, which stays with the Practice Manager by design.
250 hrs/year
Hours returned to the team
5 hours per week freed from manual onboarding tasks
$11,700/year
Annual cost saving
Staff cost recovered at $45/hr blended rate
4 days
New time to client ready
Down from 3 weeks; client experience improves immediately
Steps eliminated: 4 out of 6. Steps kept with a person: 2 (compliance review and final confirmation). Tone, timing, and thresholds are all configurable after go-live.
03Before and after comparison
Metric
Before (manual)
After (automated)
Time to client ready
3 weeks
4 days
Onboarding hours per client
7 hrs/client
2 hrs/client
Annual staff cost
$16,400
$4,700
Steps completed without slip
Occasional misses
100% tracked
Staff hours lost per week
7 hrs/week
2 hrs/week
Manual process share
73% manual
Low manual
Client satisfaction
Baseline
+22% (estimated)
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04Tool costs
The Standard build is the recommended option. It uses four tools, two of which are likely already in use at no additional cost to this automation. The one-off build cost covers 64 hours of configuration, agent logic, integration work, and end-to-end QA.
Item
Type
Monthly cost
Annual cost
Already paying?
FullSpec Automation
Orchestration and monitoring
$165
$1,980
Confirm
PandaDoc
Engagement letters
$25
$300
Likely yes
Karbon
Practice management
$0 (included)
$0
Yes
Gmail
Document requests
$0 (included)
$0
Yes
One-off build cost (Standard)
64 hrs configuration and QA
N/A
$4,600
No, one-time
Total (Year 1)
$190/month
$6,880
From Year 2 onward, the one-off build cost does not recur. Ongoing tool spend drops to $2,280/year ($190/month). Karbon and Gmail costs are assumed to be covered by existing subscriptions.
05Net ROI summary
$9,420
Year 1 net saving
$11,700 saved minus $2,280 tool cost (build cost excluded from Year 1 net after payback)
5 months
Payback period
One-off build cost of $4,600 recovered in month 5
Gross annual staff cost saving
$11,700
$11,700
Tool running cost (annual)
$2,280
$2,280
One-off build cost
$4,600
$0
Cumulative saving (2-year)
$14,240
Three-year projected saving: $35,100 gross, approximately $28,360 net after tool costs. All figures use the $45/hr blended rate and 250 hours saved per year as confirmed in the process template.
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06Assumptions log
Every number in this document flows from the assumptions below. Where [YourCompany.com] has confirmed actual figures, those override the defaults. The source column notes whether the value was benchmarked externally, derived from the process template, or estimated internally.
Assumption
Value used
Source
Blended hourly rate (Practice Manager)
$45/hr
Process template
Manual hours lost per week (current state)
7 hrs/week
Process template
Annual hours saved after automation
250 hrs/year
Process template (5 hrs/week x 50 weeks)
New client volume
~15 clients/month
Process template
Time to ready (before)
3 weeks
Process template / benchmark
Time to ready (after)
4 days
Process template / benchmark
Annual staff cost (before)
$16,400/year
Process template
Annual staff cost (after)
$4,700/year
Process template before/after table
Annual cost saving (gross)
$11,700/year
Process template
One-off build cost (Standard)
$4,600
Process template build options
FullSpec Automation monthly cost
$165/month
Process template tooling
PandaDoc monthly cost
$25/month
Process template tooling
Karbon monthly cost
$0 (existing subscription)
Process template tooling
Gmail monthly cost
$0 (existing subscription)
Process template tooling
Payback period
5 months
Process template
Three-year gross saving
$35,100
Process template snapshot
Client satisfaction uplift
+22%
Industry benchmark (KPI data)
Manual process share (before)
73%
Process template benchmark
Savings estimates are based on thousands of completed mapping sessions, benchmarked internally and cross-checked against third-party tools. Entering actual volumes and rates for [YourCompany.com] will refine every figure in this document.
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