Vague quotes, fuzzy promises, prices that range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of euros. You asked for a quote to "automate your business" and walked away with three proposals anywhere from €800 to €40,000. Welcome to the club. Here — finally — are concrete numbers, clear "starting from" prices, and a real client case so you know exactly what to expect.
Why nobody gives you a clear price
The problem isn't that providers want to rip you off. The problem is that "automate" means nothing until you've discussed what you're automating, for whom, connected to what, and at what pace. A FAQ chatbot on a brochure site has nothing in common with a platform that links your point of sale, your stock management, and your customer database.
This article is an attempt to put all the cards on the table. I'm going to give you:
- The 3 concrete cost lines you actually pay — no more, no less.
- Real "starting from" prices, with a real client case with figures.
- The mistakes that inflate the bill without adding anything in return.
No mystical pricing grid, no trick tables. Just what we see every day with our SME clients.
Market price ranges: 3 levels of automation
Before we talk about how we price things, let's set the scene. On the market, the word "automation" covers three very different worlds — and that's exactly what explains prices ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of euros. Here are the ballpark figures we come across.
Level 1: no-code
Level 2: custom chatbot
Level 3: transformation
Level 1 — No-code automations (€500 — €2,000/year)
Connections between your existing tools (email → CRM → invoice), automatic reminders and follow-ups, smart qualification forms. Typical tools: Make, Zapier, n8n (self-hosted). Real cost: tool subscription (€50–200/month) + a one-time setup (€300–800).
Level 2 — Custom chatbot or assistant (€3,000 — €10,000)
A chatbot on your website that answers frequently asked questions, an internal assistant trained on your documents, automatic prospect qualification. What affects the price: the number of pages/documents to integrate, integration with your CRM or ERP, and multilingual support (FR/NL in Belgium = +30%).
Level 3 — Process transformation (€15,000 — €50,000+)
Full redesign of a critical business process, deep integration with ERP, accounting, or production, training and change management. For whom: SMEs with 20+ employees and complex, repetitive, high-value processes.
Recommended budget by SME size
| SME size | First project | Annual budget |
|---|---|---|
| 1–5 people | €800 — €2,000 | €600 — €1,500/year |
| 5–20 people | €2,000 — €5,000 | €1,500 — €4,000/year |
| 20–50 people | €5,000 — €15,000 | €3,000 — €8,000/year |
The 3 things you actually pay for
Whatever the size of the project, the invoice comes down to three lines.
The diagnosis
A half-hour conversation, in person or by video call. We look at your week, list what's eating your time, and hand you a roadmap ranked by gain / effort.
With us, it's free and no commitment. You leave with the document even if we don't end up working together. It saves everyone from wasting time on a shaky project.
The setup (one-off)
This is the "we build your system" part. Developing the automations, connecting your existing tools (CRM, accounting, point of sale, calendar…), configuration, testing in real conditions, training your teams.
It's a one-time payment, due on delivery. It covers the human work: design, integration, training.
The subscription (monthly)
This is what keeps the solution alive once it's delivered: hosting, maintenance, updates, support by email or phone. Because a tool that isn't maintained or backed up is a ticking time bomb — and certainly not a saving.
The monthly subscription also includes the ability to evolve the tool without starting a full project from scratch.
Real figures: what does it start from
Here are the ballpark figures we see with our Belgian SME clients. These are starting from prices — they can go up depending on complexity, but never come down without cutting corners on quality.
Level 1: simple automation (2–3 connected tools, all included)
Level 2: turnkey platform (dashboard, mobile app, integrations)
Level 3: AI agents & deep transformations (after free diagnosis)
Level 1 — Simple automation
Connection between 2 to 3 tools you already use: client follow-ups, appointment confirmations, CRM/billing sync. From €249/month excl. VAT, all included. Deployed in 2 to 3 weeks, no heavy installation.
Level 2 — Turnkey platform
A solution that centralises multiple processes: dashboard, stock tracking, automatic reminders, dedicated mobile app, internal algorithm. Setup from €990 excl. VAT (one-off) + subscription from €149/month excl. VAT, all included. Deployed in 3 to 5 weeks · hosting, maintenance, updates, and support included.
Level 3 — AI agents & deep transformations
AI agents that qualify your leads, process your invoices, or drive a complete business process connected to your ERP. Custom quote after free diagnosis. Too many variables for an honest "starting from" — we always price before you commit.
Training & IT support
Additional services, always scoped with a quote after the diagnosis:
- Training (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Prompt Engineering, everyday AI…): from a half-day, by video call or on-site.
- IT support (preventive maintenance, helpline, monitoring, cybersecurity): monthly flat fee or per intervention, depending on your needs.
A real case: 8 modules for a Belgian SME
Let's talk real numbers. One of our clients — a Belgian SME combining production and direct sales — wanted to stop juggling five tools, get their traceability in order, and finally know in real time what was happening across their different workshops.
Here's what we deployed, in the form of an integrated digital platform:
- A management dashboard (sales, orders, customers, stock) in real time, web and mobile.
- Automatic data extraction from their point-of-sale software, with no manual re-entry.
- Stock tracking with low-threshold alerts.
- Operational resource monitoring with IoT sensors and automatic alerts.
- Automatic supplier reminders via WhatsApp and email.
- A regulatory compliance mobile app (digital signature, PDF archiving, history).
- A pricing algorithm that automatically assigns each business client to the right tier based on their monthly volume.
- Employee time-tracking software (smartphone or physical terminal).
The price, line by line:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Setup (all-inclusive flat fee) | €990 excl. VAT · one-off |
| Monthly subscription (hosting, maintenance, support) | €149 / month excl. VAT |
| Commitment | 3-month minimum, then month-to-month |
What it concretely replaces
Before, the business owner spent several hours a week copy-pasting figures from the till into a spreadsheet, chasing suppliers from memory, and filling in compliance forms by hand. All of this now happens automatically, in the background. He checks his dashboard in the morning, approves, and moves on.
The monthly subscription was paid off within a few weeks — solely from the administrative management time recovered. The rest (fewer stock errors, better traceability, fairer pricing for business clients) is a bonus.
The real ROI: what automation gives back
Providers love talking about "workflow optimisation". It sounds nice, but it doesn't pay salaries. Here's what we actually look at with our clients, after a few months:
- Time. 5 to 10 hours a week recovered from tasks nobody enjoyed doing — follow-ups, re-entry, checks. Those are the hours you reinvest in sales, product, and clients.
- Peace of mind. No more missed follow-ups, no more files left hanging, no more business clients under-billed because their volume changed and nobody noticed. The tool watches, you decide.
- Margin. Fewer human errors = fewer disputes, fewer credit notes, less dead stock. Rarely spectacular, always measurable.
- Consistency. Your teams stop doing the same work twice with slightly different data. Everyone looks at the same number.
The 3 mistakes that needlessly inflate the bill
We've seen enough failed automation projects — our own before we learned, those of peers, those we're asked to rescue — to identify three traps that come up every time.
1. Automating a poorly defined process
If your manual process is fuzzy, automation will make it fuzzy at scale. And it will cost twice as much to fix afterwards.
2. Buying a more powerful tool "just in case"
There are platforms at €2,000/month that do, for a 5-person SME, exactly what a €50/month tool would do just as well. The "just in case" feature is expensive, and you'll never use it.
3. Cutting corners on training
This is the most expensive mistake of all. An automation your teams don't understand is one they'll work around. And an automation that gets worked around is a paid tool that does nothing.
How we work at LTC Group
Our rule fits in one sentence: we never quote anything until we understand what you're trying to do.
In practice, that means:
- A free, no-commitment 30-minute diagnosis. With our AI diagnosis, we break down your week, identify the 2 to 3 tasks costing you the most time, and hand you a roadmap ranked by gain and effort.
- A clear, line-by-line quote. Setup, subscription, training, support — everything is separated, dated, and fixed before we start.
- Delivery in 2 to 5 weeks. Depending on scope, validated with you in real conditions before going live.
- Ongoing support until you're autonomous. It's not for you to depend on us — it's for us to make you independent.