word or phrase for an inconsequential object or activity

Question

TLDR
Looking for a word or phrase for something that causes no change or has no impact (be it positive or negative) on a situation.

I NEED MORE
I'm using the word "asset" in reference to something advantageous or beneficial for an organization, although not in a financial context. My intent is to shed light on something incorrectly perceived as an asset that is, in actuality, something that is at best inconsequential.

WOW YOU'RE OVERTHINKING IT
It's a sensitive matter so I don't want to go so far as to call the offending element a "liability". Doing so might sour the audience to my adjoining proposal. Plus, their "thing" isn't actively debilitating or disadvantageous - it just isn't beneficial.

Everyone knows what an asset is. How do you say something isn't an asset without calling it a liability? There's gotta be some middle ground in there somewhere, right?

Example sentence:

"The website, in its current form is _________ (or is a _______). It should be an an asset that actively grows your business."

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Consider calling it an overhead to match your finance-derived terms asset and liability.

overhead noun 1 (usually overheads) An overhead cost or expense. ‘overheads, such as lighting, equipment, and any little extras, are paid for out of a centralized fund’ - ODO

That definition references adjective definition 3 on the same page:

(of a cost or expense) incurred in the upkeep or running of a plant, premises, or business and not attributable to individual products or items.

On a commercial flight, for example, an extra pilot or two is an asset, but five extra pilots is just overhead.

Here are a couple of examples from the internet:

• HR Is Just Overhead? - ere.net

• Myth: IT is an overhead with no competitive advantage - KPMG

Answer 2

I think it would be easier to guess what kind of word you wanted with a sample sentence but as it is I'd suggest.

It has a neutral effect. Or perhaps: it is a neutral element.

neutral

not causing or reflecting a change in something: It is believed that the new tax law will be revenue neutral.

Answer 3

Perhaps you can call it an embellishment - something nice to have but not necessarily serving as an asset.

The website, in its current form is an embellishment. It should be an an asset that actively grows your business."

ODO:

embellishment NOUN
1 A decorative detail or feature added to something to make it more attractive.

‘While these were practical necessities, in the hands of English craftsmen they were often transformed into decorative embellishments.’

Answer 4

• This activity will not bear or yield any fruit.
• This activity will not fructify.
• This activity will not prove productive or fruitful.

  One of these might work.

An asset is expected to provide a return of some kind. If it does not it is not productive or fruitful.

Merriam Webster says this about fructify:

The word also expanded to encompass a figurative sense of "fruit," and it is now more frequently used to refer to the giving forth of something in profit from something else (such as dividends from an investment).

fructify