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Calculate the ROI of Speak

This ROI calculator is a culmination of years of working with 150K plus individuals and teams.

How does the ROI Calculator calculate?

ROI Calculator Methodology

The Speak AI ROI Calculator estimates time and cost savings by comparing traditional manual workflows to AI-assisted transcription and analysis. Assumptions are transparent and grounded in common professional practices.

Manual Workflow Assumptions

Turning recorded audio or video into actionable insights typically involves two labor-intensive steps:

  • Manual transcription: Approximately 4 hours of human work per 1 hour of recorded media. This includes playback, typing, proofreading, and formatting.
  • Manual analysis and reporting: Thematic coding, summarization, and insight extraction commonly require 2 to 8 hours of work per recorded hour depending on complexity. For standardized estimation, the calculator uses a 4-hour average.

Total manual baseline: 8 labor hours per recorded hour for research-heavy projects.

Speak AI Workflow Assumptions

  • AI transcription delivers text in minutes with minimal review.
  • AI analysis uses custom prompts, frameworks, and visualizations to automate coding and summaries.
  • Human oversight averages 0.3 hours per recorded hour, a 95% reduction from the manual baseline for research-heavy work.

Wage and Cost Benchmarks

Labor rates reflect typical blended costs for professionals. Use cases determine the most credible baseline and hourly rate.

Use CaseHourly RateManual HoursAI HoursTime SavedCost Saved / Hour
Research, focus groups, academic$758.00.396%~$137
Enterprise meetings and internal summaries$502.00.385%~$85
Marketing, content, SEO$603.00.390%~$105
Recruiting and HR interviews$604.00.392%~$120

Professional Transcription Benchmark (Optional)

If you use outsourced transcription, market rates commonly average $120 per recorded hour. Speak AI can replace or supplement this cost, increasing total savings on top of internal labor reduction.

Calculation Summary

The calculator applies these formulas to your recorded hours:

Total cost saved = (Manual hours − AI hours) × Hourly rate × Total recorded hours
Time saved (%) = (Manual hours − AI hours) ÷ Manual hours × 100

In typical deployments, customers achieve 85–96% reductions in time and 75% or more reductions in labor costs while improving accuracy, consistency, and scalability.

Disclaimer

Results are estimates based on standardized assumptions and common workflows. Actual savings vary by project scope, team rates, and process maturity. You can adjust rates and assumptions to match your organization for a tailored projection.

Text Analysis ROI Methodology

This model estimates time and cost savings by comparing a manual coding workflow to an AI-assisted workflow for text-only data such as transcripts, notes, documents, and combined master transcripts.

Manual Workflow Benchmarks

For rigorous qualitative work, analysts do more than read. They code, synthesize, and extract evidence. A practical way to express this effort is minutes per 100 words:

  • Reading for analysis: 100 to 200 words per minute when skimming, but for coding and careful extraction, teams effectively operate nearer 100 words per minute.
  • Coding and synthesis effort: commonly adds 1 to 2 minutes per 100 words on top of careful reading.
  • Standardized manual baseline used for ROI: 3.0 minutes per 100 words for research-heavy projects.

AI-Assisted Workflow Assumption

  • Automated processing: AI summarizes, clusters topics, detects entities, and drafts findings.
  • Human oversight: reviewers validate, adjust labels, and export. For ROI, we use 0.3 minutes per 100 words as a blended oversight average.
  • Net reduction vs. manual baseline: 3.0 → 0.3 minutes per 100 words for research-heavy work – approximately 90 percent time reduction.

Use Case Bands and Wage Assumptions

Choose the band that best matches your work. The calculator will apply these by default, and you can override values as needed.

Use caseHourly rateManual minutes per 100 wordsAI minutes per 100 wordsTime saved
Research, focus groups, academic$753.00.390%
Enterprise meetings and internal notes$501.50.380%
Marketing, content, SEO$602.00.385%
Recruiting and HR interviews$602.50.388%

Formulas

Minutes saved per 100 words = Manual min/100w − AI min/100w
Time saved percent = (Manual − AI) ÷ Manual × 100

Cost per minute = Hourly rate ÷ 60
Cost saved per word = (Minutes saved per 100 words ÷ 100) × Cost per minute
Total cost saved = Cost saved per word × Total words

Worked Example – Research Use Case

  • Manual: 3.0 minutes per 100 words
  • AI: 0.3 minutes per 100 words
  • Minutes saved per 100 words: 2.7
  • Hourly rate: $75 – cost per minute: $1.25
  • Cost saved per word: (2.7 ÷ 100) × $1.25 = $0.03375
  • For 100,000 words: ~$3,375 saved and ~45 hours returned to the team

Alternate Baseline – Public Wage Reference

If you prefer a conservative public benchmark, use $33.87 per hour for analyst labor:

  • Cost per minute: $33.87 ÷ 60 = $0.5645
  • Manual baseline: 3.0 minutes per 100 words
  • Cost per word: (3.0 ÷ 100) × $0.5645 = $0.0169
  • This public-rate option keeps ROI conservative while remaining credible.

Notes and Limitations

  • Complexity varies. Topic novelty, domain difficulty, and deliverable rigor can increase manual minutes per 100 words.
  • AI oversight minutes reflect efficient prompt frameworks. Longer editorial cycles will reduce savings.
  • You can adjust hourly rates and minutes per 100 words in the calculator to match your organization.

Disclaimer

Figures are estimates based on standardized assumptions and real-world customer patterns. Actual results vary by team structure, workflows, and quality thresholds.

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