Skip to main content

Is saving hours of manual editing every week really just a soft ROI — or is it the clearest HARD return a newsroom can measure?

In the modern newsroom, time is not just money—it’s momentum. Every minute a reporter or editor spends correcting grammar, fixing formatting, or hunting down style inconsistencies is a minute lost on reporting, analysis, or breaking the next big story. So when a tool or workflow claims to “save time,” is that merely a soft benefit, or can those minutes translate directly into measurable, hard returns?

Time saved = Money earned

Let’s do the math: If one editor spends 5 hours a week on manual copy edits, that’s more than 250 hours a year. Multiply that by the number of editors in your newsroom and the cost quickly escalates—especially when those hours come with salary, benefits and opportunity costs. Replacing even a fraction of that labor with intelligent automation and real-time proofing transforms abstract “efficiency” into real dollars saved.

What makes ROI hard?

A hard ROI is one you can quantify. With Tansa’s advanced integration into corporate editing platforms, we provide measurable reductions in editing time, headline revisions and missed style errors. These aren’t just anecdotes—they’re backed by user analytics that show improvements in speed, quality and consistency across thousands of stories. Editors can handle more copy. Writers get feedback instantly. Deadlines are met with less stress.

Beyond time: The compound effect

What’s often overlooked is how small time savings stack up. One minute saved per article across hundreds of stories becomes days of labor saved each month. That time can be redirected toward investigative work, deeper reporting or training—investments that generate their own value. Plus, fewer mistakes making it to print or online means fewer corrections, retractions and reputational risks.

Soft? Only in name.

Efficiency doesn’t just feel good—it pays off. In newsrooms under pressure to do more with less, AI-enhanced tools like Tansa offer a clear, undeniable return. So the next time someone calls time savings a soft ROI, ask them: what’s harder than reclaiming the one resource you can’t get back?

© 2025 Tansa Systems AS — All Rights Reserved.