Unproductive meetings, endless email ping-pong, time-consuming searches for internal information – the list of reasons for wasted time and inefficiency in projects is long. It's only logical to consider combating these time-wasters with project management software. And in fact, it’s possible to clearly calculate in three steps whether investing in a PM tool is truly worth it.
Time wasters slow down teams, delay projects, and ultimately cost money. Reflect on your daily work routine and observe where tasks, workflows, or processes are inefficient. Create a list and assign a weight to each time-waster.
Here’s what that might look like:
| TIME WASTERS | HOURS PER WEEK |
| Email ping-pong with internal & external stakeholders | 5h |
| Project meetings (e.g. daily stand-ups, weekly check-ins) | 4h |
| Coordinating team tasks | 4h |
| Checking progress of project tasks | 3h |
| Gathering project status information | 3h |
| Searching for the latest document versions | 2h |
| Creating project status reports | 3h |
| Total | 19h |
With multiple concurrent projects, lost time quickly adds up – potentially exceeding half of a full-time employee’s weekly hours. No company can afford to have someone spending 50% of their time on inefficiencies.
Such an estimate shines a spotlight on weaknesses in project planning, communication, and information flow.
There’s an overwhelming number of PM tools out there. Comparison sites claim to highlight the best software, and you could easily spend countless hours searching for the perfect fit. Your list of time-wasters helps identify which features you actually need to work efficiently and effectively again. Take each time-waster and match it with the appropriate functionality a project management software should offer.
For example:
| TIME WASTERS | FUNCTIONALITY IN PM SOFTWARE |
| Email ping-pong with internal & external stakeholders | Integration wiht email tools to turn emails into tasks, track time and store emails and attachments as documents |
| Project meetings (e.g. daily stand-ups, weekly check-ins) | Real-time project dashboards with responsibilities, planned vs. actual effort/budget, task and project statuses, progress, work load etc. |
| Coordinating team tasks | Task lists and Kanban boards with resource assignment, effort estimation, integration with Gantt timelines |
| Checking progress of project tasks | Overview of tasks filtered and sorted by status, due dates, resources |
| Gathering project status information | Define project status as Proposed, Started, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled |
| Searching for the latest document versions | Document management in the tool or integration with DMS like Microsoft SharePoint or local file store |
| Creating project status reports | Built-in project reporting with templates |
You can expand this list with additional features and use checklists to conduct a more thorough evaluation of various PM tools. But to address your most urgent pain points around time-wasting and inefficiency, it’s enough to focus on the core functions.
Once you've found the right PM software for your team, you can calculate its ROI based on the cost of the software, the estimated time saved, the team size, and their average gross annual salary.
The Return on Investment (ROI) shows how profitable an investment is. Here's the basic formula for calculation:
(profit/total capital)*100= ROI in %
For software used across the entire company, it’s harder to determine precise values, since you’ll need to include estimates such as efficiency gains, fewer errors, and increased team motivation.
The interactive InLoox ROI calculator makes this easier. It helps you calculate your potential cost savings in euros by using the following criteria:
Try it now and see your potential savings!
