Client Name/Size/Sector:

• Company Name Confidential
• $15+ Billion Annual Revenue
• 5K+ Employees
• Financial Services

Supplier:

• Salesforce

Engagement Type:

• Client engaged “The Negotiator Guru” (firm) to deliver IT Strategic Sourcing Advisory Services to a specific business unit.  

Problem:

• While the client had a centralized procurement department (good thing), there was very little support from the IT department. In other words, the IT department operated independently and did not trust the client’s procurement department.  
• The client did not have a centralized spend visibility tool  
• Note: The client had SAP as their primary ERP system but was not able to accurately identify spend across regions as a result of poor reporting from the tool.  
• The client’s IT spend is broken between global and regional budgets depending on the application.  

Activities:

• Identified current state contracts across the globe
• Identified both influencing and decision-making stakeholders within IT and the Business Units that utilized similar software packages.  
• Coordinated global business units and stakeholder meetings to discuss opportunity, gather feedback, and drive results.
• Utilized proprietary tools, templates, and techniques to assign global roles & responsibilities, action items, and negotiation tactics in the interest of speaking from one voice.  

Results:

• Client Savings: $13 Million
• Negotiated the agreement down from $25 Million to $12 Million for a 3-year contract.
• Even though the firm was retained to focus only on a specific business unit, we identified cost savings opportunities that benefited multiple business units across the organization.  ​

Microsoft Engagement Overview:
Fortune 50 Company  

One of our Fortune 50 clients engaged use to advise on a high-stakes negotiation with Microsoft. The client had a large contract with Microsoft which we were able to both 1) negotiate a large technology uplift while also 2) produce a $5 million in net savings.  

Key Activities

We utilized our 4-step IT Software Negotiation Process to successfully engage with the client:  

• Identified current state contracts and client-based obligations
• Developed a risk profile of current state contract language against enterprise project plan timelines and dependencies
• Utilized our proprietary decision-matrix framework to drive C-Level decision making
• Advised client on key dependencies to consider throughout the project

• Directly provided hands-on support/representation throughout the entire negotiation and contracting process
  
  

The Results

(not comprehensive)  

• $5 Million cost savings and $10.7 Million cost avoidance over contract term
• Significant technology uplift providing access to the most advanced digital capabilities
• Uniquely engaged and supported the company’s cybercrime resilience strategy

• Enabled Device Modern Management allowing for additional endpoint security
• Negotiated a client specific license structure enabling the client to be highly flexible of their utilization of the platform

One of our recent clients was a biopharmaceutical company with $5B+ in annual revenue. The client had a large software contract with one of the industry leading providers. The original agreement was charged on a “case volume” basis which was leading to rapid growth in costs beyond our client's budget.  

‍We helped the client renegotiate the agreement with their software vendor by:

• Changing the cost lever from which the client was billed from “case volume” to “seat-based licenses”
• Setting rates on a “should cost” basis due to The Negotiator Guru’s extensive experience in the IT Sourcing industry
  • We decided that 35% was an acceptable margin for a software provider to be charging the client. Previously, the software vendor had been charging a 200% margin.
• Handling the entire renegotiation process

​The end result:    

$52.3M+ in savings over 5 years