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Winning the Battle for Budget

How to write and present a world-beating business case for FM software

Introduction

You’ve got this far - you’ve identified your need for a CAFM and you may have internal permission to proceed with an RFP (Request for Proposal). You may even have been invited to submit a proposal for the funds to the board.

But it’s not enough to present the C-Suite or your finance team with a figure and just expect your choice to be rubber-stamped. In fact, going in under prepared to meet your board of directors could derail all the efforts you’ve gone to so far to get the tools you need.

If you want to win the argument for funding, you’ve got to build a business case. You’ve got to demonstrate that your purchase is required - that it will not just be a cost centre, but will actively cut costs and improve performance and enhance profitability.

FMs are great at what they do - but we know your core competency is not procuring digital solutions, particularly when it impacts other business areas.

This ebook is designed to help you understand and make the best business case for a CAFM- so that everybody in an organisation can see how it answers their needs.

What does the C-Suite really need to hear?

Who do you need to persuade to get the budget for your CAFM software investment - and what do they need to hear?

A field guide to the key players in CAFM procurement

Finance

The finance team want to improve the accuracy of budgeting and the transparency of spending. They will want to know exactly how your proposed CAFM will help you control and report on budget vs spend. They will want to see evidence of how it can drive greater value for money from suppliers. They will also want to know if the system will integrate with their accounting system to improve efficiency and reduce accounting errors.

Board of Directors (BODs)

The BODs have financial and strategic objectives at heart. They want to know that teams are operating in the most frictionless and efficient way possible to deliver the best results for the business. But they are also led by the bottom line. Having a strong vision of the profitability of the business and the return on their investment will be key to their procurement decisions.

IT

IT are key gatekeepers for CAFM procurement. The IT team may not be responsible for directly implementing the CAFM solution you procure but they are responsible for cybersecurity and data protection in your organisation. The rest of the business will depend on them for their professional opinion of the solution on offer. They will want to know whether your supplier has a strong ISMS (information security management strategy), what integrations are supported and that their support SLAs are sound. But they will also want reassurances that implementation and support of the product is not going to drain their budget and be their headache.

Who wants what from a CAFM?

The Board of Directors, the Finance and IT team will all have different agendas:

What overriding aims do these teams have in common?

  • Save money - the company wants to improve profitability - minimising costs and maximising savings is a common driver for every team.
  • Save time - the business wants to save time and streamline operations - they want to find greater efficiency and productivity in everything they do.
  • Reduce risk - the company wants to reduce the risk of business and compliance failure.
  • Improve service - with the use of data, workflow automation and improved collaboration, FM teams and suppliers alike will be able to monitor their SLA performance transparently to ensure the best possible service is upheld.
  • Support strategy - they need tools to support the strategic objectives of the business - the end of silos, digital transformation, the drive for continuous improvement and the key to future business growth.

Read the full FM Guide: Building a Business case

Learn how to write and present a world-beating business case for FM software

What are the obstacles in your way?

CAFM solutions can be expensive and many businesses have attempted to implement them before, and failed. The research shows over and again that CAFM implementations fail because:

  • They were not properly defined.
  • There were too complicated.
  • Training is too challenging.
  • The uptake of the solution has been slow.

How to write a successful business case for CAFM?

“A memorable presentation transforms “numbers on a page” into something more tangible. It becomes a business opportunity that we’re grasping, a problem we’re resolving, a step forward for the company.”

6 of the best writing tips for a successful business case

1. Lead with the need

Write for your specific audience and the priorities we’ve listed above. But don’t just provide a ‘laundry list’ of features that the business needs to acquire. Make it very clear what’s at stake for each team, how your proposed solution can answer identified business challenges, and the benefits it will bring to the business as a whole.

2. Be clear & concise

Be clear in your writing - spell out exactly what the business will be getting for its money. Don’t hide your message behind too much FM jargon. Speak to the needs of the business as a whole.

3. Tell a great story

Make sure there’s a clear structure to your proposal. Turn it into a compelling narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end. Explain the problem, the potential solution, the risks to the business of not acting, and share your vision of a more efficient and profitable future with the more effective digital FM tools.

4. Use industry figures/trends to make your case

5. Use imagery

Charts, tables and screenshots are going to make your document more interesting and compelling. And a screen shot or two of your proposed CAFM solution (ideally populated with your data) will definitely help the BoD envisage what the proposed system will do for them.

6. Demonstrate expected savings

This is the most important element of all, you need the figures to calculate the potential savings resulting from your solution. Your CAFM supplier should be able to help you access this information and present the best case to the board.

What does a powerful business case for a CAFM look like?

A powerful business case tells a story that speaks to the emotions of your audience as well as their business instincts. The BODs want to know that your solution will help them in the pursuit of excellence and build their reputation across the industry. But it needs to be a formal document backed up with real evidence to answer identifiable commercial objectives.

1. Executive summary

4. Describe the benefits the solution will bring

A deep dive into the benefits that the solution will bring the business. Both the hard and soft benefits of the CAFM solution are relevant here. But as always, lead with the need and speak to your BOD audience’s priorities.

Through implementing a CAFM we can save time and money, while reducing risk and improving performance.

  • Workflow management
  • Supply chain management
  • Cost control
  • Asset management
  • Compliance risk management
  • Business intelligence
  • Systems support & integration

5. Risks

Remind your readers about the ongoing risk that a fragmented FM function poses in a changing world.

If the business does not act now to correct these issues, we risk:

  • Inefficiency - in the way we manage work orders, communications, data, priorities and reporting.
  • Compliance risk - prevent H&S risks to our colleagues and customers, avoiding fines and regulatory sanction
  • Missed SLAs - we need to avoid H&S issues and unplanned downtime to protect our revenue and brand experience.

6. Savings analysis

HOW MUCH COULD YOUR BUSINESS SAVE?

The procurement of a CAFM system is not always driven by cost cutting but also by the need to improve performance, reduce risk and other ‘soft benefits’.

7. Timelines

How long will the solution take to define, design and configure for your business?

8. Summary

What do you need the reader to take away from this document?

In this proposal we have laid out the objectives, costs, timelines of a proposed CAFM implementation together with details of the savings we expect from it.

This CAFM will control business risk, but open up new opportunities for innovation and revenue growth.