---
title: "Hiring an AI back office assistant: what does it save vs staff?"
description: "An AI back office assistant costs from €149 per month at Van Borg Agency, against an average €3,800 in wage costs for an in-house back office employee."
url: https://vanborg.com/en/blog/ai-back-office-assistant-cost-vs-staff
locale: en
type: article
published: 2026-09-02
author: "Nicolaas Sterenborg"
tags: [ai-back-office, pricing, staff-costs, admin]
---

# Hiring an AI back office assistant: what does it save vs staff?

## What does an AI back office assistant cost?

An AI back office assistant costs €295 to €595 one-off setup and **€149 to €349 per month** per module at Van Borg Agency: email, receipts and invoices, leads into your CRM, reminders or chasing unpaid invoices. An in-house back office employee, for comparison, costs an employer upwards of €3,800 per month in wages and overhead.

The rent covers everything: hosting, AI usage, the connection to your own inbox, accounting package and calendar, and ongoing development. You rent exactly the modules you need, and add more once there's room.

## What does an in-house back office employee cost?

A back office employee in the Netherlands earns on average **€2,840 gross per month**, with a range of €2,415 to €3,270 ([Werkzoeken.nl](https://www.werkzoeken.nl/salaris/backoffice-medewerker/)). On top of that comes 30 to 40% in employer costs: social security contributions, pension and holiday pay ([Ondernemen met Personeel](https://www.ondernemenmetpersoneel.nl/orienteren/personeelskosten/werkgeverslasten-berekenen-2026)).

Add the average of 35%, and you're paying roughly **€3,830 per month** as an employer for one back office employee, excluding a workstation, a laptop and the time it takes to train someone in. A module at Van Borg Agency at €349 per month is less than a tenth of that cost, and you're not locked into a contract anywhere.

## What does an AI back office assistant actually do?

Six modules, which you rent separately or together and which all connect to your own systems instead of a separate platform:

- **Email assistant** (€395 setup, €249/mo): reads your inbox, answers the recurring questions from your own knowledge base and drafts the rest.
- **Admin agent** (€495 setup, €349/mo): reads receipts and purchase invoices and books them into Exact, e-Boekhouden, Moneybird and comparable packages.
- **Lead connector** (€295 setup, €149/mo): every enquiry through your site, phone, WhatsApp or a form lands complete in your CRM or calendar.
- **Reminder agent** (€295 setup, €149/mo): sends confirmations and reminders, and picks up a cancellation with a new proposal.
- **Receivables agent** (€295 setup, €149/mo): chases outstanding invoices with a friendly reminder on day 3, 14 and 30.
- **Follow-up agent** (€595 setup, €299/mo): calls out on its own to chase quotes and reminders, with a real conversation instead of a message.

More on how the modules work together is on [the AI back office page](https://vanborg.com/en/services/backoffice), including the calculator for your own combination.

## Does the AI back office fully replace my employee?

Usually not, and that's deliberate. The agent books nothing it isn't sure about: an entry it can't place gets queued with a question attached rather than guessed. You and your bookkeeper keep checking, and the tax return stays human work.

What does change: the recurring work that now sits waiting or gets caught up on in the evening is processed within a day. At businesses that can't find or afford a back office employee, the agent fills exactly that gap.

## When does it pay off, and how fast does it go live?

Every module goes live within 1 to 2 weeks, with a check step before anything goes out automatically. It pays off quickly: missing 3 to 4 hours of admin per week for lack of time already means one module at €149 to €349 per month pays for itself against an employee's hourly rate, or worse, your own evening hours.

Not sure which module pays off most? We map it in the [free AI workflow scan](https://vanborg.com/en/contact) of 30 to 45 minutes, or work out your own combination on the [pricing page](https://vanborg.com/en/pricing).