Analysis: How to evaluate your PM platform against operational pain

Over time expectations change when it comes your tech so it’s natural to ask whether your platform is still fit for purpose? This piece isn’t about selling tools—it’s a simple way to decide if you have a pain worth solving now.

The real decision isn’t ‘which platform?’—it’s ‘do we have pain and can it be solved?’

In property management a periodic sense-check makes good leadership sense. What felt right for your agency several years ago may not fit today—but switching tech for the sake of change rarely ends well. The first step is clarity: is meaningful pain emerging your team needs to address, or are you better off readjusting to what you already have?

“The first question property managers and principals should ask is: what are the specific pain points I want to address right now?” — Rohith George, COO

If you can’t articulate a single, compelling reason to move, staying put is often the smarter choice. Enforcing change without a problem statement your team believes in creates disruption without progress.

Step 1: Name the pain (not the product)

On one page, write the one thing that most frustrates your agency today. Keep it problem-centric—avoid naming vendors or solutions.

• What breaks? (Describe the exact moment.)

• Who feels it first? (Owner, renter/tenant, PM, accounts, BDM, principal.)

• How often? (Daily, weekly, end-of-month, onboarding, peak seasons.)

• What does it cost? (Hours, errors, churn, write-offs, stress.)

If you can’t produce 3–4 clear sentences here, you may not have a switch-worthy problem—yet.

Step 2: Locate the pain (five domains)

Use these domains to decide where the pain lives. Stay with symptoms and impact—no solutions.

• Efficiency & workload — Where do manual loops or double-entry chew time? How many hours per 100 properties per week disappear into reconciliations, arrears, or maintenance follow-ups?

• Team wellbeing & recruitment — Is the job harder than it should be? Do you rely on a shrinking pool of specialists to hold complex processes together? How long until a new PM is fully productive?

• Owner & renter experience — Where does the experience feel opaque or slow? Which questions flood your inbox because answers aren’t surfaced clearly?

• Growth & BDM effectiveness — Do BDMs spend time explaining workarounds instead of your service value? Where does friction slow onboarding a new landlord?

• Risk, compliance & reputation — Where are the “near misses”? Which tasks carry outsized consequences if they go wrong?

Step 3: Put numbers to it (a quick, honest score)

For your top 2–3 pains, score each 1–5 on Impact (How big are the consequences?), Frequency (How often does it occur?), and Strategic importance (Does fixing it unlock this year’s goals?).

• Impact (How big are the consequences?)

• Frequency (How often does it occur?)

• Strategic importance (Does fixing it unlock this year’s goals?)

Multiply for a Pain Score (3–75): 3–15 = Irritation—optimise current processes first; 16–40 = Material—run a tightly scoped diagnostic; 41–75 = Significant—change is likely warranted. The aim isn’t perfect maths; it’s clarity.

Step 4: Weigh the cost of standing still

Switching carries risk. So does inertia. List the silent costs if nothing changes for 6–12 months:

• PM hours lost per 100 properties

• Time to onboard a new PM

• Owner/renter escalations and response times

• End-of-month crunch (hours, stress, error rate)

• Rework (how often is work done twice?)

• Opportunities the BDM can’t chase due to internal friction

If these numbers are uncomfortable and trending the wrong way, you likely have a pain worth solving.

Step 5: Pressure-test your assumptions about change

Leaders carry wise caution—and sometimes untested assumptions:

• “Change will break us.” What already breaks today, and how often?

• “We don’t have time.” What’s the weekly time cost of the status quo?

• “What if we end up in the same place?” What two measures would prove the pain has reduced (hours saved, error rate, satisfaction)?

If you can’t define success before you change, you’re not ready to change.

Step 6: A two-week diagnostic (no commitments, just clarity)

• Shadow one PM for a day; note every manual loop and duplicate step.

• Map one core process “as is” (arrears, maintenance, or end-of-month).

• Count the hand-offs, clicks, and checks.

• Write a one-page summary: Problem → Where it lives → How big it is → What “good” looks like (two measures).

If the one-pager doesn’t reveal a clear, high-score pain, defer the switch.

Decision rule (print this)

This protects your team from change theatre. If you can name that pain and those measures, you’ve earned the right to explore options—with purpose.

If we cannot name one compelling pain and two ways to measure improvement, we will not switch platforms this quarter.

Quick self-check (score 0–3 each)

• End-of-month creates avoidable stress and rework.

• We rely on a few people’s “tribal knowledge” to keep things moving.

• Duplicate entry or manual reconciliations are routine.

• BDMs frequently explain internal workarounds to win a landlord.

• Owner/renter queries bunch up because information isn’t surfaced clearly.

• Onboarding a new PM takes longer than it should.

• We’ve had compliance “near misses” in the last 12 months.

• The same issues appear at every team meeting.

0–4: Tidy up current processes first • 5–8: Run the two-week diagnostic • 9–24: You likely have a switch-worthy pain—define it clearly, then explore options.

Final word

Change for its own sake rarely yields the right outcomes. Change in service of a clearly defined pain—owned by the people who feel it—often does. If you can describe the problem simply and agree how you’ll measure “better”, you’ll make the right call, including the call not to switch.

If you’d value a second set of eyes on your pain statement—or a neutral pressure-test of your scoring—the Managed team can facilitate that discussion with your leadership group.

Learn more here