Key takeaways
- Use contribution after direct job costs, not top-line revenue, when valuing recovered work
- Baseline current performance before assigning any benefit to software
- Count total software and implementation cost and use low, base, and high scenarios
- Treat faster collection as cash-flow improvement unless the software also reduces bad debt or labor
Software ROI is not the number of features multiplied by optimism. It is the measurable economic change after the system is adopted, minus everything required to operate it. Build the baseline first, separate revenue from contribution and cash timing, and show low, base, and high cases so the owner can see which assumption drives the decision.
Step 1: record the current baseline
| Area | Baseline | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Lead handling | Leads, meaningful response time, contact, estimate, booking | Timestamped lead and activity records |
| Office work | Hours spent entering, copying, reconciling, reminding, reporting | Two-week time sample by role |
| Operations | Conflicts, reschedules, missing scope, avoidable return work | Job exceptions with stated causes |
| Capacity | Available crew hours or days and billable use | Schedule, time, and completed-job records |
| Cash | Amount due, collected, aging, payment labor, bad debt | Invoices, payments, refunds, aging report |
| Technology | Current subscriptions, usage, contractors, support | Bills and internal ownership hours |
Step 2: calculate benefits without double counting
| Benefit | Conservative formula | Guardrail |
|---|---|---|
| Recovered opportunities | Additional booked jobs × average contribution per completed job | Use contribution after direct costs, not quoted revenue |
| Administrative capacity | Hours actually redeployed × loaded hourly cost | Do not count saved minutes that remain unusable fragments |
| Avoided schedule leakage | Avoided documented incidents × average incremental cost | Exclude normal variability and unsupported blame |
| Capacity improvement | Additional completed work within existing paid capacity × contribution | Do not also count the same jobs as recovered leads |
| Tool consolidation | Canceled tool and maintenance costs | Count only contracts that will actually end |
| Collection improvement | Reduced bad debt + reduced collection labor | Faster payment alone is mainly timing, not new revenue |
Step 3: count all costs
Bring forward the twelve-month total from the moving-software cost worksheet. Include subscription, required add-ons, usage, incremental transaction costs, implementation, migration, training, integrations, internal administration, retained tools, and contingency. Do not subtract old tools until cancellation is planned.
Illustrative example
The following is arithmetic, not a Reelow promise or industry benchmark. Suppose a company documents $12,000 in annual recovered contribution, $7,200 in redeployable office capacity, and $2,400 in tools that will actually be canceled. Total modeled benefit is $21,600. If first-year total cost is $9,000, net benefit is $12,600 and ROI is $12,600 ÷ $9,000 = 140%. Change any input to your own measured figure.
| Input | Illustrative amount | Owner's evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Recovered contribution | $12,000 | Completed jobs and direct-cost model |
| Redeployed office capacity | $7,200 | Measured hours, loaded cost, and new use |
| Canceled tools | $2,400 | Actual contracts ending |
| First-year total cost | $9,000 | Current quote and implementation plan |
| Net benefit | $12,600 | Benefit minus cost |
| ROI | 140% | Net benefit divided by cost |
Step 4: run sensitivity cases
| Case | Benefit assumption | Cost assumption | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Only directly observed improvements; delayed adoption | Full quoted cost plus contingency | Tests downside and cash risk |
| Base | Pilot result applied to realistic eligible volume | Expected twelve-month total cost | Primary planning case |
| High | Strong but still explainable adoption | Expected cost with peak usage | Shows upside without becoming the commitment |
If the purchase only works in the high case, it is not yet a dependable business case. Identify a smaller pilot, negotiate cost, remove speculative benefits, or stop.
Step 5: measure after launch
Building a Reelow business case
Reelow is designed to connect lead management, inventory-based estimates, booking, scheduling, dispatch, mobile crew work, payments, and reporting. That connection can create value when it removes a measured handoff problem. Start with the KPI definitions, run the demo scenario, and use current pricing. If your baseline is already strong, adoption is unlikely, or a required workflow is not supported, the projected return should be lower—or the company should not buy yet.