t cht lk
in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a new
approach is required.
Make no mistake, SAM is a significant exercise
to undertake especially if the organisation
has never had any real control of what was
happening in its IT environment.
What makes executives especially nervous is
the daunting process doing so from scratch
will entail. Implementing SAM takes a
concerted effort and resources which many
businesses feel they can rather spend on
things that deliver more strategic value, at
least from a perception level.
“
SAM MUST BE
VIEWED AS
SOMETHING
OTHER THAN A
COMPLIANCE
EXERCISE.
The reality is that those who have not yet
gone through a SAM exercise will inevitably
either get burnt during an audit process or
reach a stage where their software does
not deliver the value required to enable
organisational growth.
Changing mindset
The onus is also on partners to approach
how they position SAM differently.
Companies do not want to have a
compliance discussion unless they have
fallen foul of the regulator. In this case,
they will automatically be turning to a
SAM approach.
Instead, businesses must be made to
understand how embracing SAM will enable
them to deliver on strategy, become more
agile, and get visibility on the solutions they
have at their disposal.
By its nature, this visibility will result in
improved compliance as there will be a
better understanding of what is currently
installed. In doing so, the business will have
better cost optimisation and control over
the solutions its employees use and can also
more effectively manage risk.
Overcoming obstacles
This all points to enabling strategy and
delivering value. For this to happen, it is
imperative for the organisation to start
taking SAM seriously.
One of the biggest problems in not going the
SAM route is that eventually software will
reach their end of support stage. And while
some might argue that all that is required
is buying new solutions, it turns into an
expensive exercise, especially if the software
was not used to its full potential before.
This will see the organisation then sitting
with a similar kind of solution where it
invested heavily and is only leveraging 10%
of its capacity.
Furthermore, many software providers
often change product names and features
on an almost annual basis. Just keeping
track of this becomes a full-time job never
mind an embattled IT department trying to
keep the lights on.
This is where a SAM partner becomes
an indispensable ally to help companies
understand the solutions they currently have,
but more importantly, what will be required
for the business to grow.
Service provider considerations
Nicole Oliveira, Software Services Business
Unit Lead at Altron Karabina
into how software can empower them to
reach their company goals.
Having a trusted partner becomes essential
as they would have to understand where the
business wants to go and how it needs to
evolve from a software perspective to reach
that point.
SAM integration For example, if the company is transitioning
to the cloud, the partner will be able to
bring an understanding of what software
is required and tweak it as the organisation
needs change.
However, SAM does not operate in
isolation of what is happening in the
rest of the business. So, by integrating a
SAM approach into the broader company
strategy, decision-makers will get visibility Additionally, the partner will also ensure that
the existing investments the business has
made into software will not be wasted but
can be applied to enable the solutions to still
deliver future value.
68
INTELLIGENTCIO
When selecting a partner to assist the
company on the SAM journey, choose one
that shows interest in understanding the
business. This extends beyond the strategy,
but also includes the customer pain points
as well as where the organisational strategy
is heading.
It is about delivering the most value
possible using software as the tools to do
so. A partner must be invested in where the
business is headed and then plugging SAM
into that to facilitate this journey. Working
with a partner that understands the nuances
of the cloud must be prioritised.
These service providers will have the tools in
place to optimise the potential productivity
gains to be generated by moving to the
cloud and maximise the use of the software
that has been purchased. When SAM
becomes entrenched in the business, it
will enable everything from migration to
modernisation, right-sizing to consolidation.
A cloud service provider is about more than
just selling products but optimising solutions.
www.intelligentcio.com