Capital budget planners are almost always disappointed by the high percentage of non-discretionary expense to total guidance. These compulsory investments, which often grow in number and cost year over year, just get rubber-stamped with minimal due diligence.
When expenses are mandate driven, it’s understandable to overlook any potential benefit that may come with implementation. However, a portion of CapEx maintenance cost for some projects may end up delivering measurable benefit. Here are just a few examples:
| Mandated Initiative | Potential Benefit |
| Regulatory Compliance | Delivery before competition attracts new clients |
| Asset Replacement | Cutting edge technology increases efficiency |
| Enhancements in a keep-the-lights-on project | Improved client satisfaction & reduce churn risk |
Identifying, capturing and measuring benefit for non-discretionary spend is easier when the task is part of a standard process. It almost becomes effortless if the task is baked into the early stages of project analysis.
One of many distinctive, and included features of Inpensa, directly addresses this opportunity. Inpensa users choose from client-configurable scorecard values and weighting, to calculate a benefit value for projects. That value, along with score details, can be used to assign a percentage of mandated expense to discretionary spend.
If your planning process has room for enrichment, you are encouraged to evaluate the many outstanding features of an Inpensa implementation.
