Service enquiries, ready for the CRM
A fictional technical-services company moves email enquiries into a shared CRM. Copying, routing and drafting happen in separate tools. A coordinator has to reconstruct context before replying.
- Proposed workflow
- Validate fields · Check duplicates · Draft for review · Update the CRM
- Human control
- A sales coordinator approves external messages and handles missing information.
Human effort per month
Hours · review included57.5% less human effort under these assumptions. This is not cash savings.
Workload mix
- Complete fields70%
- Missing context20%
- Duplicate candidates10%
Assumed distribution, not measured activity.
Inspect the data, calculation and pilot decision
| Input or calculated measure | Illustrative value |
|---|---|
| Monthly in-scope volume | 1,200 enquiries |
| Before: human minutes per item | 8 |
| Proposed: human minutes per item | 3 |
| Additional operating hours per month | 8 |
| Baseline human hours per month | 160 |
| Proposed human hours per month | 68 |
| Net capacity change per month | 92 hours |
| Illustrative pilot window | 4 weeks; not a delivery commitment |
| Assumed mix: Complete fields | 840 items |
| Assumed mix: Missing context | 240 items |
| Assumed mix: Duplicate candidates | 120 items |
Calculation: 1,200 × 8 ÷ 60 = 160 baseline hours. Proposed: 1,200 × 3 ÷ 60 + 8 operating hours = 68 hours.
Pilot decision: Can each enquiry reach the correct owner without duplicate records, with review time included?
Limit: Capacity released is useful only if it can be redeployed. This model does not assume higher sales.
Fictional worked example. Future human handling includes review, exceptions and corrections; operating hours are additional. Compare the same workload before drawing a conclusion.