Map work across applications
A team queries an ERP, exports a spreadsheet, classifies documents in another service and updates a task board. An opportunity exists when the same data is repeatedly copied and checked. Map the complete process from input to accepted outcome, including systems, owners and waiting points.
A consolidation candidate is a demonstrably replaceable capability or step. An agent can query an order and coordinate issues without replacing the ERP that maintains the official record. In engineering, it can prepare project-data checks without replacing CAD. This distinction helps reduce overlap while preserving essential capabilities.
Create a brief for each application and contract
Record used capabilities, active users, purchased licenses, cost, renewal, notice period, integrations, stored data and owner. Include rare but essential functions, such as audit exports or historical lookups. An infrequently used license may support an important obligation.
The FinOps Foundation recommends combining license, contract, usage and cost information and involving engineering, finance and procurement ahead of renewal. Use this inventory to distinguish actual expense reductions, avoided future costs and merely redistributed work. Removing access today does not guarantee a lower bill under an annual commitment.
Compare current TCO with the complete target scenario
For the current scenario, total subscriptions, infrastructure not already included, integrations, maintenance, support and operating expenses genuinely attributable to the process. For the agent scenario, include Zild, API consumption, retained applications, human review, observability, storage and integration maintenance. Record implementation, training, migration and contractual exit costs separately.
Avoid double counting: do not add managed infrastructure again if the plan includes it; removing one capability from a bundle may not reduce its price. Freed hours represent potential capacity. Count them as cash savings only when finance validates an actual expense change.
Include parallel operation in the calculation
Synthetic example unrelated to vendor prices: current operations cost BRL 8,000 per month. The steady-state target costs BRL 5,000 per month, including retained applications. Implementation costs BRL 18,000. During a two-month transition, combined operating costs are BRL 10,000 per month.
Over 12 months, the current scenario costs BRL 96,000. Transition costs BRL 18,000 + 2 × BRL 10,000 + 10 × BRL 5,000 = BRL 88,000. Period cash savings are BRL 8,000. Investment recovery occurs during month ten: after the first two months, BRL 22,000 remains to recover at BRL 3,000 monthly savings. Ignoring parallel operation would overstate returns.
Prove equivalence before retiring a tool
Choose representative cases and run current and proposed workflows on identical inputs. Include exceptions, outages, users with different permissions and changed data. Compare correct outcomes, time, rework, traceability, cost and human effort. Record acceptance criteria before reviewing results.
Also validate history export and recovery, retention obligations, reports used by other departments and continuity when the agent fails. Define rollback. A functioning conversational interface does not prove that every previous application capability has been replaced. Retirement requires acceptance from process, data and contract owners.
Use a shared foundation and track actual savings
Zild’s proposition is to connect people, processes, tools and agents on a shared foundation. Start with a high-friction administrative step: checking procurement documents, coordinating delivery exceptions or preparing engineering information. Reuse validated connectors and permissions when the new scope allows.
The site’s economics calculator helps compare recurring costs and implementation. It does not model a monthly transition curve: for scenarios like this example, build monthly cash flows and reconcile them with invoices. Review API usage, quality and subscriptions actually reduced. Expand when observed savings and operating continuity justify the next process.
Methodological reference
- FinOps Foundation — Licensing & SaaS Checked on
Build an assessment using your numbers
Gather this information to scope the work with Zild. During the conversation, we assess integrations, owners and how to measure outcomes.
- A financial process and its owners
- Current costs, volume and review time
- The correct outcome and approval limits
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