Let's talk about low hanging fruit..
I recently found out that the air filter for my car that I typically buy at Canadian Tire for $20 can be purchased at a car dealership in Saskatoon for $5. Ugh - I know that’s not a big ticket item, but c’mon!! Why the big mark-up, C-Tire??!
If you’re like this budget-conscious-CPA, you also don't like to over pay for stuff, big or small.
And, friend, I can say with confidence that if you’re running your biz and not using AI, you are most likely overpaying to operate your biz.
Psst - if this is you, you’re in good (bad?) company. A May 2025 article from The Economist said that less than 10% of US-based companies use AI to produce goods and services.
So, your biz might look like this:
Your admin staff manually schedules (and reschedules) appointments
Now, I know that it’s nice for your clients to have someone to call and chit chat about the weather before rescheduling their appointment for the third time
COST WITHOUT AI: This probably takes .2 and .1hrs here and there, but that quickly adds up in a work day; assume conservatively 1.5hrs / day spent scheduling x 200 work days / year x $35 / hr = $10,500
But when you see this is costing you (conservatively) $10k / year, does it really make sense? What if instead you had online booking and clients had this link to do their own re-scheduling?
COST WITH AI: let’s assume .1hrs / day for any clients who have issues with online booking plus monthly cost of $50 for online booking software → (.1hr / day x 200 days per year x $35 / hr) + (12 x $50) = $1,300
POTENTIAL SAVINGS: $9,200
You're spending hours drafting emails to clients from scratch to respond to their ‘quick questions’
And I know that you like to put a personal touch on your client communications - after all, you pride yourself on providing high-touch, tailored service to your clients.
COST WITHOUT AI: Let’s assume you spend 1hr / day on this (you know it’s more, but let’s start there..) 1hr / day spent drafting emails x 200 days / year x $200 / hr rate = $40,000
What if, instead, you could prompt AI to draft an email (without identifying details) and you spent 3mins editing the draft before clicking ‘send’?
COST WITH AI: let’s assume you spend 12 mins / day reviewing email drafts - .2hrs x 200 days x $200/hr = $8,000
POTENTIAL SAVINGS: $32,000 (BELIEVE ME, THIS IS REAL. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING.)
Your HR person / consultant is spearheading a complicated, detailed, manual compensation review
This review comes complete with massive spreadsheets that go until column AX detailing every person’s hours, comp, recovery and utilization rates
They estimate the total comp review will take them about 45hrs, spread over 6-ish weeks - aka it’s very labour intensive
COST WITHOUT AI: estimated 45hrs x $60/hr = $2,700
But by leveraging AI, you can analyze data quickly for pay gaps, benchmarks and do scenario modelling to show budget impacts of salary increases or total rewards package changes. The kind of complicated financial modelling scenario work that previously took 5hrs+++ to build from scratch can legit be done in 3 mins by AI.
COST WITH AI: let’s assume $60/hr x 15hrs = $900
POTENTIAL SAVINGS: $1,800
Friend, none of this stuff is groundbreaking. It's literally the lowest of low hanging fruit.
And I just laid out a way for your business to conservatively save $43,000 / year, but here’s why I know you probably won’t make any changes… you’re just like 90% of businesses out there.
As in, you aren’t resisting AI because it’s expensive or complicated.
You are smart and you have resources.
You run a professional services firm, after all.
You’re avoiding AI because of fear, inertia and some normal human roadblocks, a la:
“If it’s not broken, why fix it?”
You think it’s only for bigger firms
Change feels harder than inefficiency
No one owns the project
You don’t trust the tech
When you hire me and Elanne for management consulting, we come in and help you streamline and update your systems and processes - reimagining things like client intake and scheduling, task and project management workflow, meeting cadence and agendas, and org chart and role clarity etc etc.
What does that mean?
We use non-scary tech (including AI) to help you get work out the door more quickly and more efficiently while keeping your admin costs to a minimum.
Let's demystify tech together and help you become part of the 10% of professional services firms in your industry that utilizes AI today.
>>> Book a virtual call here and let’s chat about it. https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=17968464&appointmentType=67912755
Here's to saving you $43k,
Tanya