I felt the need for SaaS management and conducted research to find the right SaaS management platform for my organization. After applying for a demo, meeting directly with a sales representative, listening to explanations, and comparing prices, I decided to introduce POPs (POPs). What's the next step? It's about drawing up a plan to get approval for the purchase of a SaaS Management Platform (SMP) from the CFO.

According to a survey by CFO magazine in early 2023, 84% said they expect to be more involved in developing technology strategies than in 2022. Here, more than one-third expected to be significantly more involved.

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Gartner lowered its forecast for IT budgets within the organization for 2023, but still expects the average IT budget of a company to increase in the 4.5% range. In particular, the software budget is expected to increase by approximately 9%.

In this article, I'd like to share tips for drafting a draft to get final approval from decision makers to implement SMP within an organization.

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What CFOs want to know and need to know

First, in order to write a good purchase plan, you must be able to fully consider and answer the following 5 points.

1. Is there a budget for the SaaS management platform within the organization? Or will it be included in the budget?

2. Why does an organization need a SaaS management platform?

3. How does a SaaS management platform directly or indirectly match the company's strategy?

4. Why should SMP be implemented right away?

5. What happens if my organization doesn't invest in an SMP?

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1. Is there a budget for the SaaS management platform within the organization? Or will it be included in the budget?

If your organization has a budget for a SaaS management platform, you can include that in your purchase plan. SMP is a critical enterprise IT infrastructure, and automation of SaaS management is essential for efficient operations. If this quarter's budget doesn't include a SaaS management platform, we need to carefully review it internally so we can include it in the next quarter's budget.

2. Why does an organization need a SaaS management platform?

There are many reasons to adopt a SaaS management platform. Some organizations use SMP to ITize business processes by automating simple service operations or user lifecycle management, while others adopt SMP to improve visibility into the 130 SaaS apps used on average within the organization. Additionally, some organizations are adopting SMP to improve SaaS spend management and enhance security. In order for an SMP purchase proposal to be approved, it is necessary to understand and communicate how much the technology can help the organization.

3. How does a SaaS management platform directly or indirectly match the company's strategy?

Every organization buys new IT products to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance security. It's also helpful to find out what aspects our organization is currently focusing more on. Before writing a draft, you should identify the organization's financial and strategic goals and highlight how a SaaS management platform can support those goals.

4. Why should SMP be implemented right away?

SaaS has become an essential element for tasks such as Google Workspace (GWS), Slack (Slack), Notion (Notion), Asana (Asana), Salesforce (Salesforce), and Figma (Figma). Managing the growth of SaaS without SMP requires hiring IT talent that is more expensive, difficult to obtain, and difficult to maintain. It's a good idea to identify and draft the short- and long-term benefits of adopting a SaaS management platform.

5. What happens if my organization doesn't invest in an SMP?

If you hesitate to adopt a SaaS management platform, work efficiency within the organization may decrease and management costs may increase. You should explain not only the costs that are immediately visible, such as the cost of an SMP subscription, but also the costs that are not visible. There are costs that are not immediately visible, such as excessive stress on IT personnel due to SaaS management tasks, negative employee experience within the organization, security issues due to improper offboarding, hiring IT personnel, and licensing unused SaaS apps. When drafting, be prepared so that the CFO can fully understand the content.

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If you would like more information about the introduction of POPs (POPs), please feel free to contact the PopSteam team:)