The assessment

  1. Home
  2. The assessment

What does that process actually cost you a year? The assessment tells you the real number.

Every expensive process has a number — labour, waste, rework, chasing. Most owners can name the process but not the number. The assessment is a small, fixed-price engagement that measures it, maps the process, and gives you a deployment proposal you can act on — with us or without us.

What you get

  • A measured baseline — what the process actually costs now
  • A process map
  • A data and integration assessment
  • A security review
  • Acceptance criteria — what “working” will mean, defined before anything is built
  • A value classification
  • A deployment proposal

What it costs

A fixed price, quoted after a 30-minute conversation. The price depends on the complexity of the process, it’s agreed before we start, and it’s credited against implementation if you go ahead with us.

Most assessments fall between $5,000 and $12,000 plus GST, depending on process complexity. We confirm the fixed amount before work begins.

The build is priced separately, in the deployment proposal the assessment produces — alongside the go-live date and the monthly fee — so you see the whole commitment before you agree to any of it. If the numbers don’t stack up, the proposal says so, and everything the assessment produced is still yours.

Managed operation starts from $2,500 per month plus GST. The final fixed fee reflects the agreed value, operating scope, and support requirements — and it begins only after the acceptance test passes.

Who qualifies

Businesses with a process costing at least $10,000 a month in labour and waste — quoting, scheduling, compliance packs, reporting, invoicing and debtor chasing, inbound triage. If your most expensive process is under that line, automation probably doesn’t pay for itself yet, and we’ll tell you so.

Not sure what yours costs? That’s normal — it’s the number the assessment measures. Describe the work and roughly how many people touch it, and we’ll tell you whether it looks worth measuring.

What happens next

You get a dated proposal carrying the acceptance criteria and the full data-flow map. It’s yours to act on, with us or without us. If you build with us, the acceptance test we agreed is what any ongoing fee waits on.

Why not wait?

The process costs you money right now — waiting is already on the P&L. The assessment is small, fixed-price, and tells you the real number whether or not you ever build.

Questions buyers ask

What if we could just do this with ChatGPT?
You could try — the tools are cheap. But tools aren’t operations, and AI on individuals’ computers is spreadsheet sprawl all over again: everyone running their own version of the process, nobody seeing the whole. The fee buys one centrally managed and monitored automation, with someone accountable for it running: supported, patched, and fixed when a third-party API changes underneath it. That someone isn’t you.
Doesn't AI make things up?
Most of your process won’t run on AI at all. The predictable steps run as fixed, tested software — the same result every time. AI does only the work that genuinely needs judgment, and its output passes checks before anything leaves the system.
You're a small firm. Can you support this?
We’ve operated critical infrastructure for a decade: a major Australian university’s identity system, 780,000+ accounts without downtime, and platforms in production at some of Australia’s largest mining operations. Small and senior is why the price works.
What about our data?
Your premises, an Australian-based cloud, or our managed environment. Your business data is hosted in Australia, and we document exactly which services touch it — you’ll see the full data-flow map in your proposal.
Will we be locked in?
No. The service is reviewed annually against real outcomes, and your data, configuration, and process logic are exportable. After the twelve-month minimum, notice is 60 days rolling. We re-earn the fee every year.
Why pay an ongoing fee rather than buy the automation once?
Because the fee is the operation, not the software: hosting, monitoring, incident response with defined severities and response targets, connector maintenance when third-party systems change, model evaluation, security updates, a workflow change allowance, backup and recovery — and a named person accountable for it running. Buying once would leave all of that with you.
How long does a build take?
Most suitable builds are scoped in weeks rather than open-ended programs. Every proposal includes a committed go-live date and names the client dependencies.
How much of my team's time will this take?
The assessment needs the people who actually run the process, briefly — the point is to measure reality, not to occupy your staff. Client dependencies are named in the proposal with dates, so you know the effort before you commit.
What systems can you work with?
The assessment includes a data and integration review of your actual systems — that’s where “can you work with X?” gets answered for your specific stack, before any build commitment exists.
Does this replace employees?
Sometimes — and we say which, in writing, before pricing. Automation removes tasks, not roles: chasing, retyping, re-keying. Freed hours are classified honestly: counted as cost removed only if payroll actually falls, counted as capacity gained only when they go to named, better work, and not counted at all if they have nowhere to go. Your proposal states which applies, and includes a plain-language note for your team about what changes and what doesn’t.
What happens when our process changes?
The managed-service fee includes a defined workflow change allowance — processes change, and operating them through change is the service.
What happens if something goes wrong?
Incidents have defined severities and response targets, exceptions route to people, and every action is logged. That’s what the monthly fee buys.
What happens if we stop working with Elry?
After the twelve-month minimum the agreement rolls with 60 days’ notice, and exit is transparent by design: your data, configuration, and process logic are exportable. We re-earn the fee every year.
Are you insured?
Yes — professional and cyber insurance sit behind the engagement, and the security review in every assessment documents the arrangements that matter for your risk profile.

Thinking about what a process actually costs you?

The assessment is small, fixed-price, and tells you the real number — whether or not you ever build.

Describe the process

Worth a 30-minute conversation.