The Hiring Equation
A good customer support person in Sydney costs you $60K-$80K per year. That's salary, taxes, benefits, training, onboarding.
A good AI agent costs you $500-$2,000 per month to build and run.
The Math
Here's an illustrative comparison based on typical Sydney support salaries and Spriq's own build-and-run costs — one AI agent vs one support hire:
- Hiring: $70,000/year
- AI agent: $12,000/year
- Savings: $58,000/year
But That's Not the Whole Story
One AI agent can handle 10x the volume of inquiries compared to one human.
An AI agent works 24/7. A human works 8 hours.
An AI agent handles 50+ conversations simultaneously. A human handles one.
When to Hire vs Automate
Hire when:
- You need creativity and judgment
- The work is highly nuanced
- Relationship-building matters
- You have low volume
Automate when:
- The work is repetitive
- You have high volume
- Consistency matters
- Speed matters
The Best Approach
Hybrid. Use AI for first contact. Use humans for complex issues. This gives you scale and quality.
What We See
Most of our clients deploy AI agents and redeploy the salary budget elsewhere. Customer support becomes a profit center instead of a cost center.