Introduction
IR leaders asking for budget to invest in conversational AI need a defensible number for what the status quo costs. Our data request workflows whitepaper, based on 50+ interviews with IR and IE professionals across 19 US states, quantified the ad-hoc request burden by team size. This post is the benchmark table pulled out of the research so you can use it in a cabinet memo or a budget case.
The Headline Benchmarks
| Metric | Benchmark | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity consumed by ad hoc requests | 40 to 60% of team capacity | 50+ IR/IE interviews |
| IR teams facing significant workflow challenges | 91% | 50+ interviews, 19 states |
| Clarification cycles per ad hoc request | 2 to 5 cycles | 50+ interviews |
| IR teams operating with 1 to 3 staff | Over 50% | 50+ interviews |
| Hours reclaimable annually with AI-enabled workflows | 220 to 3,200 hours | 50+ interviews |
Benchmarks by Team Size
| Team size | Peak season capacity impact | Primary challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Small (1 to 3 staff) | 90% | Resource scarcity; doing everything with minimal capacity |
| Medium (4 to 7 staff) | 75% | Process transition; formalizing workflows as team grows |
| Large (8+ staff) | 85% | Scale and complexity; managing breadth across the institution |
Hours Reclaimable
The 220 to 3,200 hours annually reclaimable range comes from the same research. The low end reflects small teams (1 to 3 staff) with lower absolute request volume but the highest proportional capacity drag; the high end reflects large teams (8+ staff) where the absolute hours consumed by repeat questions compound across more analysts. The mid-range, 800 to 1,500 hours, maps to most medium-sized IR offices.
To put that in budget terms: 1,000 reclaimed hours is roughly half an FTE. At a fully loaded IR analyst cost of $80,000 to $120,000 per year, that is $40,000 to $60,000 of capacity redirected from repeat question answering to strategic analysis. Clema publishes at $499 per month, or about $6,000 per year. The math is the budget case.
How to Use These Benchmarks
- Cabinet memo: cite the 40 to 60% capacity figure and your team size to put a number on the ad-hoc request burden. Pair with the 220 to 3,200 reclaimable hours range to size the investment case.
- Budget case: hours reclaimable times your analyst fully loaded cost gives the dollar value of the status quo; set that against the $499 per month published price for the ROI calculation.
- Accreditation: the 2 to 5 clarification cycles per request benchmark is a process-quality signal. AI-enabled intake reduces it to one round, which is a defensible improvement to cite in a self-study.
- Team-size peer comparison: if you run a small IR office (1 to 3 staff), the 90% peak season impact benchmark is the figure that explains why your team feels underwater during IPEDS or accreditation cycles.
See the benchmarks on your team
Book a demo and we will map these benchmarks to your institution size and request volume. Published $499 per month pricing, no implementation fee.
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