The verdict in three sentences
A business process automation project for a London SME costs between 6,000 and 20,000 EUR depending on the number of flows and integration complexity. Budget an iPaaS subscription of 50 to 500 EUR/month (Make, n8n) and a recurring gain of 10 to 25 hours per week on manual tasks. Return on investment usually lands between 4 and 8 months once three critical processes are automated.
What automation costs in 2026
Price depends mostly on the number of scenarios (workflows) and connector complexity. A simple flow (automatic dunning email) ships in a few days; multi-account bank reconciliation needs custom work.
| Scope | Automated scenarios | Project price (EUR) | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | 1 to 2 flows (dunning, alerts) | 6,000 – 9,000 | 2 weeks |
| Standard | 3 to 5 flows (entry, exports, notifs) | 10,000 – 15,000 | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Advanced | 6 to 10 flows + reconciliation | 16,000 – 20,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Bespoke | Scripts + internal APIs | 20,000+ | 8 weeks+ |
On top of the project budget sits the recurring cost of the orchestration platform.
| Platform | 2026 subscription (EUR/month) | Model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make (ex-Integromat) | 50 – 300 | Per operations | Multi-SaaS SMEs |
| n8n self-hosted | 20 – 120 (server) | Unlimited self-host | Data control / GDPR |
| n8n Cloud | 60 – 500 | Per executions | Teams without DevOps |
| Zapier | 70 – 450 | Per tasks | Simple consumer flows |
The 5 processes to automate first
Not all flows are equal. Here is the 2026 order-of-magnitude time recovered per process for a 15-to-50-employee SME.
| Process | Hours/week saved | Complexity | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer dunning (invoices) | 4 – 8 | Low | 1 |
| Quote entry → CRM/accounting | 3 – 6 | Medium | 2 |
| Bank reconciliation | 3 – 5 | High | 3 |
| Weekly automated reporting | 2 – 4 | Medium | 4 |
| Supplier/client onboarding | 2 – 3 | Medium | 5 |
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Mini case study
Claire, CFO of a 38-employee industrial SME in London, spends 18 h/week on dunning and data entry across two assistants. She invests 13,500 EUR to automate 4 flows, plus 180 EUR/month of iPaaS. Measured gain is 16 h/week, roughly 760 h/year. Valued at a loaded 28 EUR/h, that is 21,280 EUR/year saved. ROI reached in ≈ 8 months, then about 19,000 EUR/year of recurring net value.
FAQ
What is the minimum budget to start seriously? Budget 6,000 EUR for a first scope of 1 to 2 high-impact flows (dunning + alerts). That is enough to prove value before scaling.
Make or n8n: which one? Self-hosted n8n (20 to 120 EUR/month) keeps your data in-house and suits strict GDPR; Make (50 to 300 EUR/month) is faster to wire onto common SaaS. The choice is settled at scoping.
How fast is the ROI? On 3 well-chosen critical processes, break-even is reached in 4 to 8 months, with a gain of 10 to 25 h/week from go-live.
Do I need an in-house developer afterwards? No for maintaining standard scenarios; yes occasionally for custom scripts. Plan a maintenance contract of 150 to 400 EUR/month for changes.
Does automation replace jobs? No: it reallocates 10 to 25 h/week of low-value tasks toward client relationships and steering. None of our SME clients cut a role.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your 3 most time-consuming processes, your stack (CRM, accounting, bank) and an indicative budget between 6,000 and 20,000 EUR. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
