When organizations think about workflow automation, they often focus on convenience or modernization. But the real value lies in measurable, defensible ROI. Approvals—spanning procurement, finance, HR, legal, operations, and compliance—are among the most resource-intensive processes inside any enterprise. The cumulative delays, manual routing, follow-ups, and administrative effort create organizational drag that scales with volume.
Evia Sign’s ROI methodology brings financial rigor to what has historically been a “soft” value proposition, offering a clear, conservative, and auditable framework to quantify the operational and economic impact of digital approvals.
Below, we break down the methodology—and why it’s engineered to satisfy CFOs, procurement teams, and digital-transformation leaders alike.
Why Approvals Are One of the Most Expensive Manual Processes
Every organization relies on approvals to manage controls, compliance, spend, and risk. But traditional manual workflows create bottlenecks at scale:
- Chasing approvers wastes administrative time
- Manual routing causes delays and errors
- Paper or email-based workflows slow financial close
- Queues form when approvers are unavailable
- Procurement and vendor onboarding slow down
- Contract execution delays revenue recognition
Digital approvals eliminate these friction points—and the ROI model behind Evia Sign quantifies exactly how.
The Core Efficiency Assumption: A Conservative 30% Reduction in Approval Effort
The Evia Sign ROI model is intentionally conservative. It assumes a 30% reduction in approval effort, supported by:
- Industry automation benchmarks showing 20–50% manual reduction
- McKinsey research indicating up to 60% administrative time savings
- Gartner reporting 35–70% process acceleration
- Customer deployments showing 25–45% reduced approval friction
By anchoring to a cautious 30%, the model provides CFO-grade credibility rather than inflated projections.
The Key Inputs Your Enterprise Needs
To calculate ROI, the framework uses four simple, universally available inputs:
- Approvals per month
- Average time spent per approval (minutes)
- Fully loaded hourly labor cost
- Annual cost of an e-signature solution
These parameters drive all productivity and financial calculations.
How the Evia Sign ROI Formula Works
The model translates time savings into labor value, cycle-time acceleration, and FTE capacity reclamation using transparent formulas.
1. Minutes Saved per Approval
MinutesSaved = ApprovalTime × 0.30
2. Total Minutes Saved Monthly
TotalMinutesSaved = ApprovalsPerMonth × MinutesSaved
3. Workdays Saved Monthly & Annually
WorkDaysPerMonth = TotalMinutesSaved ÷ (60 × 8)WorkDaysPerYear = WorkDaysPerMonth × 12
4. Hours Saved Annually
HoursSaved = WorkDaysPerYear × 8
5. Annual Productivity Value
ProductivityValue = HoursSaved × FullyLoadedHourlyCost
6. Cost per Approval
CostPerApproval = AnnualSolutionCost ÷ (ApprovalsPerMonth × 12)
7. FTE Capacity Recovered
FTERecovered = WorkDaysPerYear ÷ 260
(260 = standard annual enterprise workdays)
This clarity is why finance teams trust it.
Sensitivity Scenarios: Stress-Testing the ROI
The model assesses three efficiency outcomes to ensure defensibility under scrutiny:
| Scenario | Efficiency Gain | Business Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 10% | Modest but positive ROI |
| Expected | 30% | Strong value, measurable FTE recovery |
| High Efficiency | 45% | Maximum throughput and multiple FTEs in capacity |
Even at just 10%, the solution still produces a positive ROI.
The Hidden Power: Approval Cycle-Time Acceleration
While labor savings matter, cycle-time reduction often yields more business value:
- 25–60% faster approvals
- Shorter procurement cycles → earlier vendor onboarding
- Faster contract signatures → accelerated revenue
- Reduced lag time between approval stages
- More reliable SLA performance
- Smoother financial close processes
These gains directly impact organizational speed, vendor satisfaction, and revenue timelines.
How Enterprises Redeploy Reclaimed Capacity
Recovered hours aren’t just “soft savings.” Teams use them to:
- Eliminate backlogs
- Improve service levels
- Respond faster to vendors and employees
- Reduce overtime and burnout
- Increase throughput without adding headcount
- Shift staff toward higher-value analysis and insight
This creates both operational and financial leverage.
Realistic Adoption Timeline for Full ROI
Evia Sign assumes a conservative ramp:
- Months 1–2: Setup, pilot users
- Months 3–6: Cross-team adoption, visible efficiency gains
- Months 6–12: Full optimization, peak ROI
Most organizations hit peak value within 3–4 months.
What’s NOT Included (But Adds Even More Value)
To keep the model conservative, several high-value benefits are excluded:
- Compliance improvements
- Auditability gains
- Reduced rework or document errors
- Vendor satisfaction improvements
- Reduced risk exposure
- Avoided costs from delays
- Environmental and paper savings
This means the calculated ROI is actually understated.
Industry Benchmarks That Validate the Model
- 20–60% manual workflow reduction
- 35–70% faster document turnaround
- 40–80% less follow-up workload
- 60–90% fewer manual handoffs
Together, these reinforce the reliability of the assumed efficiency gains.
Example Enterprise Scenario (Real Math, Real Results)
A department with:
- 8,000 approvals/month
- 6 minutes per approval
- $58 fully loaded hourly cost
- $19,200 annual Evia Sign investment
Realizes:
- 2,880 hours saved per year
- $167,040 annual productivity value
- 1.1 FTEs of capacity recovered
- ~40% faster approval cycle times
- $147,840 net annual benefit after software cost
This is the type of financial clarity CFOs expect.
What Makes This ROI Framework Enterprise-Grade?
This isn’t a back-of-the-napkin calculator.
It includes:
- Transparent math formulas
- Conservative assumptions
- Sensitivity analysis
- Cycle-time modeling
- Benchmarked data
- Clear adoption timelines
- Exclusions to maintain credibility
- Audit-ready documentation
It’s designed to withstand executive scrutiny and support procurement justification.
Conclusion: A Strategic, Defensible ROI Model for the Modern Enterprise
The Evia Sign ROI methodology provides more than a cost-savings estimate—it delivers a comprehensive, financially rigorous framework for evaluating digital approval transformation. With conservative assumptions, proven formulas, and enterprise-scale analytics, it equips stakeholders across Finance, Operations, Procurement, and Digital Transformation to make confident, data-driven decisions.
Want to calculate the ROI for your own team?
👉 Try our Evia Sign ROI calculator yourself at enadoc.com/eviasign
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