Scenario 4: Large account, no direct store delivery ROI Study

Section 1

Introduction

This is a documented study, not an estimate. Every recurring task in the order-to-cash cycle was measured across a full year, then re-costed against a platform where the customer places the order.

Activity	Food distribution
Industry	B2B food distribution
Customer service agents	11
B2B customer orders	10,700 per month
Estimated annual revenue	$96,300,000 (at a $750 average order value)
Accounting or ERP system	SAP S/4HANA

This study covers order capture, invoice import from SAP S/4HANA, payments and accounts receivable. Delivery is not part of it. It assumes 50% of order capture moves onto the platform. Payments are automated at 60% (online payment only). Remaining processes are covered by the mobile tools and the accounting integration, at 80% effort optimisation, leaving 20% for exception handling.

The net saving and return on investment below describe steady state, once setup and progressive rollout are complete. Only the payback period reflects the real year-one path, including 3 months of setup and 6 months of progressive rollout.

Section 2

Executive summary

32,100 hManual effort per year, before

19.11Full-time equivalents absorbed

$1,127,321Annual cost of that effort

17,548 hHours released, 10.45 FTE

$467,150Net annual saving

313%Return on investment

4.0 moPayback period

80%Effort automated

Key gains

Fewer errors and less rework, because the data is entered at source.
Faster payment, because the invoice and the payment move together.
Real-time visibility on orders, deliveries and payments.
Better customer experience, because ordering stops depending on reaching a person.

Section 3

Where the 32,100 hours go

With 10,700 orders a month, customers order mainly by phone and email, and the administrative team keys every one of them into SAP S/4HANA by hand. Payments are processed by hand: the team verifies amounts received and updates each invoice in SAP S/4HANA.

Friction points

Errors and rework

Manual order entry into SAP S/4HANA multiplies transcription errors and omissions.

Operational delay

The full cycle from order to payment to receivables depends on the administrative team being available to process it by hand.

No real-time visibility

Without a central system there is no live view of order, delivery and payment status.

Customer experience

Ordering by phone or email costs the buyer time. They have to reach someone, list every item from memory or their own notes, then wait for confirmation. Invoices arrive late and the balance is opaque.

Validated time assumptions

Activity	Time per order
Order creation	8 min
Payment processing	3 min
Accounts receivable	4 min
Total per order	15 min

Reference hourly cost = $59,000 fully loaded salary divided by 1,680 scheduled hours a year (35 h a week across 48 worked weeks) = $35.12/hour.

Current administrative load

Section	Hours / month	Hours / year
Customer orders	1,427	17,120 h
Payments	535	6,420 h
Accounts receivable	713	8,560 h
Total	2,675	32,100 h

That load is the equivalent of 19.11 full-time positions (32,100 hours divided by 1,680 hours per position), costing $1,127,321 a year.

Section 4

What changes, stage by stage

Annual effort falls from 32,100 hours to 14,552 hours. The spine of the change is that the customer places the order, on the branded ordering platform, instead of a person re-keying it.

Customer orders

Before. 17,120 hours a year.

After. 50% of orders are placed by the customer, online or from an order template generated for their delivery day. Customer service agents use WEGOSell to enter the remaining 50% for customers not yet ordering themselves.

Released: 6,848 hours a year. The remaining 10,272 hours cover exception handling and the share of orders not yet converted.

Payments

Before. 6,420 hours a year.

After. WEGOPay automates 60% of payments (online payment only), and applies each payment to its invoice automatically. Reminders and statements go out on their own.

Released: 3,852 hours a year. The remaining 2,568 hours cover exception handling.

Accounts receivable

Before. 8,560 hours a year.

After. Payment reminders and monthly statements are automated on the platform, cutting the manual chase on overdue accounts.

Released: 6,848 hours a year. The remaining 1,712 hours cover exception handling.

Invoicing

Before. Invoices are created in SAP S/4HANA by the administrative team.

After. Invoices synchronise automatically between SAP S/4HANA and the platform, so customers always have their invoice history and can pay online.

Released: no administrative time is claimed here. The benefit sits with the customer, and we do not count it as a saving.

Before and after, side by side

Dimension	Before	After WEGOTRADE
Error risk	High. Manual transcription into SAP S/4HANA and omissions.	Near zero. Data is entered at source by the customer.
Payment delay	Extended by manual collection and late invoice updates.	Shortened by immediate online payment.
Invoice delivery	Manual and deferred.	Automatic and instant, by platform and email.
Payment status	Long manual entry to apply each payment to its invoice in SAP S/4HANA.	Applied automatically for 60% of payments through the two-way SAP S/4HANA integration.
Customer satisfaction	Disputes from entry errors on returns and payments.	Transparency and real-time access to invoices.
Team productivity	Administrative capacity consumed by repetitive entry.	Room to grow volume without adding administrative headcount.

Section 5

The return

Item	Before	After	Gain
Administrative cost	$1,127,321	$511,052	$616,269
Full-time equivalents	19.11	8.66	10.45 released

Hours by section

Section	Before	After	Released
Customer orders	17,120 h	10,272 h	6,848 h
Payments	6,420 h	2,568 h	3,852 h
Accounts receivable	8,560 h	1,712 h	6,848 h
Total	32,100 h	14,552 h	17,548 h

$467,150Net annual saving

313%Return on investment

4.0 moPayback

50%Order capture converted

Benefits not counted above

Shorter payment delays and stronger cash flow.
Fewer bad debts, through automated receivables follow-up.
Materially fewer invoicing errors, and less rework behind them.
Real-time visibility on orders and payments.
Higher customer retention, because the service is more reliable.

Section 6

Where this leaves you

Today this operation spends $1,127,321 a year on administrative work that produces no margin and no customer value. Automating it releases 17,548 hours, which is 10.45 full-time equivalents, for a net $467,150 a year and a 313% return. Payback lands at 4.0 months once 3 months of setup and 6 months of progressive rollout is accounted for.

Next steps

Validation call. We check the assumptions against your operation and adjust the model.
Tailored demonstration. The platform shown against your workflow, not a generic tour.
Detailed proposal. A full offer and an implementation schedule.

Run these numbers on my operation

Method

1Effort measured task by task across a full year, at a $750 average order value. Automation is modelled at 80%, leaving 20% for exception handling.
2Hourly cost of $35.12 = $59,000 fully loaded salary divided by 1,680 scheduled hours (1,680 is 35 h a week across 48 worked weeks, which is the schedule a real position works, not a full calendar year).
3One of five documented scenarios covering $3.9M to $192.6M in revenue. Payback across all five runs from 4.0 to 7.9 months. See the full 2026 playbook.