---
title: "One-page cost reduction proposal (without breaking operations)"
slug: propuesta-reduccion-costos
lang: en
situation: operar
format: plantilla
minutes: 20
updated: 2026-10-19
---

# One-page cost reduction proposal (without breaking operations)

> For managers asked to "cut costs with AI" who have to present something that survives a COO's questions.

## When to use it

- You were asked for a savings number and still do not know where it will come from.
- Someone proposes to "automate a process with AI" and nobody has written down what breaks if it is cut.
- You made a cut last year and the cost reappeared in another area under another name.

## The sheet

| # | Field | What to write | Illustrative example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline cost | What the process costs today, per month, and how you measured it. | "Processing supplier invoices: 3 people at 60% of their time, plus the current system." |
| 2 | Lever | What changes exactly: tool, step removed, who stops doing what. | "AI extracts the invoice data; one person validates the exceptions." |
| 3 | Savings in three parts | Real cash: the budget line that goes down. Freed capacity: free hours and what they are used for. Cost that only moves: what reappears in another area, at the client or in review. | "Cash: an old license is cancelled. Capacity: 40 h/month moved to collections. Moves: 8 h/month of review in accounting." |
| 4 | What breaks if we cut | What stops happening, who notices first and how soon. | "Oddly formatted invoices get stuck; the supplier notices within a week." |
| 5 | Owner | One named person who answers for the number. | "Marta, head of accounts payable." |
| 6 | Date | When it starts and when it is measured. | "Starts 3 November; measured 1 February." |
| 7 | How we will know in 90 days | One before number, one after number and who pulls it. | "Cost per invoice processed; finance pulls it from the system." |

The four questions a COO asks:

1. Is it cash or is it capacity? Which budget line goes down, and in which month?
2. What stops happening if we cut this, and who notices first?
3. Where does the cost that does not disappear move to?
4. How will we know in 90 days that it worked, and who measures it?

## How to fill it in 20 minutes

1. Start with the baseline cost using a real figure, even an estimate marked as such. Without a baseline there are no savings; there is a wish.
2. Describe the lever in one sentence. If you need three paragraphs, you do not yet know what you are changing.
3. Split the savings into the three parts. Be honest about the third: almost every cut moves something somewhere else.
4. Write what breaks before anyone asks. It is the row that earns you credibility.
5. Add a name, a date and the 90-day measure. A proposal with no owner gets approved and nothing happens.
6. The most common mistake: adding freed capacity as if it were cash. Forty free hours lower no budget until someone decides what they are used for.

## The line that is almost always missing

The third part of the savings: the cost that only moves. The AI that extracts data creates review hours in accounting; the removed step comes back as client queries. If that line is left empty, the COO will find it, and the whole proposal loses credibility, not just that row.

## If this becomes a big decision

If the proposal touches people, contracts or a client-facing process and carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure it. They do not replace a formal financial review.

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Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution.
This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.