SAM Charter: C-Suite Cheat Sheet

By Rory Canavan

I created the SAM Charter C-Suite Cheat-Sheet because of requests for help to justify SAM/ ITAM in a business case. In step with ISO 19770-1, I have looked to guide you to what best practice might look like.

I’ve taken the top 3 CxO roles and devised compelling reasons why Senior Management should prioritise your business case.  It may not seem like it now, but this is your own personal version of Shark Tank.

You need to create a compelling story why the business needs to invest in a practice that it believes IT “is already doing”.  This is the first place to start that story:  SAM/ ITAM is not merely an IT issue. This discipline goes as far as the IT goes in your organisation, don’t forget to make this point crystal clear!

Better business cases will seek to pitch SAM/ ITAM in a strategic light; the audience is not just thinking about the here and now, they have plans and programs that will easily be running many years into the future.  Don’t be focusing on the band aids that SAM/ ITAM can offer, rather think of the long-term IT and organisation health benefits SAM/ ITAM can bestow.

SAM Charter C-Suite Cheat-Sheet:  The C-level Roles

I have created default reasons that would compel the CEO, CFO and CIO to part with their budget.  If you can appeal to multiple people on the board, then you have the potential to secure greater fiscal buy-in at a Senior Level from more than one budget.

A final observation worth noting (without wishing to copy the entire whitepaper in this blog!). C-Suite members are human and so have egos and ambitions along with the rest of us.  They have taken these positions not merely because no one else stepped forward, but rather because they believed they were the best people for those vacancies.  They want to leave their own impressions on the organisation they are working for.

So ask them this:

Do they want to be remembered for keeping the lights on, or making the lights shine?

(Good SAM/ ITAM will give that to them)

Please head over to our whitepapers page where you can download a copy of the C-Suite Cheat-Sheet for free.