Do the Cost Savings of AI Justify its Expense?

by Matt Manning • Oct 2026

It’s not just the cost of the AI software license fees but the substantial software development cost of building custom processes around an AI platform that make these projects so expensive and risky. Then there are the additional labor costs of quality control personnel required for the many edge cases from AI processes that require resolution.

So not only do you need to test an AI platform to see if its features meet your needs (clarity, response times, etc.) but you also need to design and build a proof-of-concept process to prove that the total cost your new process is lower and that it will perform as well or better than human resources in terms of speed and accuracy.

Once you are familiar with the platform and have fine-tuned the process you will have the metrics to answer these questions:

Minimum size: At what volume of calling is the expense of the AI software recouped? At what volume of calling is the expense of the custom software development also recouped? At what point do you make an acceptable ROI on those total software expenses?
Complexity: What are the strengths, weaknesses, and functional limits of the platform’s performance? What are the strengths, weaknesses, and functional limits of the custom software processes you build internally around the platform? How do you reduce risk and QA expense by keeping processes simple?
Schedule: How much time is saved on the calling part of the process? How much time is saved on the process overall including the QA?

Our R&D determined that we needed to prepare for the ‘machine-to-machine’ future when automation will replace human operators completely. We found that by anticipating this trend, we could derive a solid ROI from our investment in AI calling right now.

See our full findings in our White Paper “What AI Calling Processes Make Possible”.

Information Evolution can help you speed your processes, realize DataOps cost savings, and improve your data's depth and quality. Reach out to us to learn more about the value our managed data services can provide.