Do you know the true cost of each critical process in your business?

The myth of the "estimated cost"

Imagine for a moment that you are the CFO of a growing company. It has three investment proposals on the table, each with promising projections, but only one can move forward this quarter. Use historical ERP data to analyze profitability by line of business, compare margins, review unit costs and estimated times per process. Everything seems in order... until six months later, the results do not arrive. What happened? Was the strategy bad? Has the market changed? Or was the cost with which he made the decision simply never quite real?

Most companies operate with what we might call "habit costs." These are figures that were once calculated, rounded, even approved by audit, but that have not been updated at the pace of business changes. Formulas are inherited, structures are replicated, times are averaged, and it is taken for granted that a process continues to cost the same, even if technology, human talent or demand have changed completely. It's like continuing to navigate with a map from five years ago: some routes may still work, but new paths — and dangers — are off the radar.

What is worrying is that this lack of precision not only affects cost control but also distorts key decisions: from defining the price of a new service, to deciding which processes to outsource, where to invest in automation or how to redesign the operational flow. With no real cost per process, any calculation of profitability, efficiency, or return on investment starts from a fragile foundation. And in an increasingly competitive market, that's a luxury few organizations can afford.

What is the "real cost" of a process?

When we think about the cost of a process, we quickly associate it with the most visible: how much the material costs, how many hours the team dedicates to it, how much is paid in logistics or software to execute it. But the true cost goes far beyond what appears in an Excel sheet. It's like looking at just the tip of an iceberg: the danger—and the potential for savings—is hidden beneath the surface.

The real cost of a process includes not only the tangible inputs, but also everything that is behind it and often goes unnoticed. We are talking about non-productive times waiting for approvals, rework due to errors that were never corrected, waste due to not adjusting a machine properly, or failures that the end customer detects when it is too late. Added to this are factors such as underutilized technology (that system that is paid month by month and no one uses it thoroughly), or highly qualified personnel doing operational tasks due to lack of automation. Each of these elements adds weight to the process, even if it is not always reflected in financial reports.

And the most delicate of all: the opportunity cost. While a team is dedicated to solving repetitive problems or covering inefficiencies, it is failing to do tasks that actually generate value. Every minute invested in a poorly designed process is a minute wasted on innovation, strategy, or continuous improvement. Therefore, knowing the real cost is not only an accounting issue, but a leadership tool. Those who understand this make better decisions and open the way to a more efficient, profitable company prepared to grow.

Are you considering these hidden costs in your processes?

Dimensions that impact the real cost of a critical process

When a company sets out to understand how much it really costs to execute a process, the first temptation is to look only at the direct figures: salaries, materials, technology. But the real cost is like an onion: it has layers that you don't always see, but when they pile up can make the difference between a profitable process and one that quietly drains resources. For those leading finance or quality, understanding which dimensions influence that real cost is key. It is not just about counting dollars, but about discovering inefficiencies, deviations and hidden opportunities. Below, we break down the main dimensions that every CFO or process manager should analyze if they want to optimize their operations with clear and actionable information.

Why don't most companies know this cost?

One day at a steering committee meeting, an operations manager posed a seemingly simple question: "How much does it really cost us to address a customer request from the moment it comes in until it's resolved?" The silence in the room said it all. Each area had a part of the answer: Finance talked about salaries, Technology mentioned licenses, Customer Service pointed to the average service time... but no one could give a total and reliable figure. The reason was not a lack of interest, but something deeper: the company did not have a clear model for calculating cost per process.

In many cases, systems such as ERP or CRM contain a large amount of data, but they are designed more for recording than analyzing. Default configurations rarely include useful segmentations to analyze efficiency by stage, channel, or customer. In addition, the tools are usually managed by departments that work in isolation, with their own indicators, their own objectives... and their own "Hidden Excel". This culture of silos turns every cross-sectional analysis into an edgeless puzzle.

Knowing the real cost of a process is not just a technical task; It's a change of mentality. It requires moving from asking "how much do we spend?" to questioning "how does our value flow?"; stop measuring by area and start measuring by experience. It requires aligning Finance, Technology, Operations, and Quality around a common vision: efficiency from the customer inwards, and not just from the departments upwards. Until that change happens, many companies will continue to make decisions with incomplete data... and wait for results that never come.

How to measure and control the real cost?

Measuring the real cost of a process is not about having more data, but about organizing the right indicators, at the right time, to make better decisions. And the good news is that today there are tools and methodologies that allow us to land that complexity in practical and actionable steps.

One of the most effective is activity-based costing (ABC), which allows you to identify which resources are consumed at each stage of the process and how much value they generate. Added to this is the detailed mapping of processes, not only as a diagram, but with times, roles, systems involved and control points. We map them that way in the tool called EPC.

Within this equation of controlling cost, operational efficiency indicators also come into play, which show everything from productivity to cost per unit processed, including rework rates or cycle times. This data, when visualized in dashboards and hopefully in real time, opens a powerful window for continuous improvement.

All this, of course, is much easier if you have the platforms well configured. Today, technologies that we use in ICX such as HubSpot, MyABCM, Appian, Power BI and some others, allow us to connect the operation with analytics, automate tasks and alerts and even foresee bottlenecks. However, beyond the tools, what matters is the focus: no longer looking at costs as something purely accounting and starting to see them as a strategic source of differentiation. At the end of the day, whoever knows your real cost, knows your business.

From intuition to precision

For years, critical decisions have been made based on estimates, averages, or simple intuitions. But in an environment where every percentage point of efficiency counts, it's not enough to know how much is being spent: you need to understand how, where, and why you're spending on each process. We've seen that the real costs aren't limited to payroll and materials, but expand into rework, downtime, organizational silos, and missed opportunities. All this accumulates in silence, affecting margins, strategic decisions and growth capacity.

The good news is that you don't need to guess any more. Today, there are clear methodologies, accessible technology, and expert talent to help companies measure, visualize, and optimize every link in their critical processes. But the first step isn't taken by the system, it's by leadership: that moment when a CFO, a quality director, or a CEO stops to ask, "How efficient are we really?"

At ICX Consulting we help companies like yours to detect, automate and redesign processes with a strategic focus on efficiency and profitability. If you suspect that some of your processes are consuming more than they should – and you don't have a clear way to test it – now is the best time to start a comprehensive analysis. We help you transform data into decisions, and decisions into concrete results. Let’s talk.