Even with a seasoned internal procurement team, it is difficult to maintain specific expertise in areas as specialized and complex as software/licensing negotiations. Our Strategic Sourcing provides specialist resources in the area of software procurement to augment our client’s procurement team resources and to enable successful negotiation outcomes. With cost reductions averaging 15-20 percent, this service enables procurement teams to be a true source of value across the enterprise, cutting operating expenses and freeing capital for other initiatives. To eliminate client risk, we refuse compensation unless measurable cost savings are generated. 

Our Strategic Sourcing services are focused in four areas:

• Software procurement and licensing
• Cisco SMARTnet procurement
• IBM Mainframe (System z) software licensing
• IT spend analytics

With software publishers aggressively moving into SaaS models to drive recurring revenue, companies need relevant expertise to navigate the transition from Perpetual License to SaaS models while maximizing value. From software procurement to renewals to mid-agreement renegotiations, our Strategic Sourcing service provides clients with peace of mind knowing they are getting the best possible deal and that terms are optimized and reflective of their specific needs.

Our Strategic Sourcing Team specializes in negotiating agreements for some of the most widely-used software from publishers such as:

• Microsoft
• Oracle
• VMware
• Adobe
• Salesforce.com
• SAP/Ariba
• IBM – Mainframe (System z), distributed and Wintel
• Concur
• Workday
• HP
• Symantec
• McAfee
• BMC
• Citrix
• RedHat
• CA (Computer Associates)
• Industry specific software applications (e.g., Medidata)

Leveraging relationships with deep industry knowledge and experience.

Our Strategic Sourcing is able to combine Cisco procurement expertise with our core Cisco support to deliver unparalleled value and savings. Here’s how it works:

• Clients leverage our core Cisco support solution to transition 20-80 percent of their Cisco-supported assets to us for direct support
• Our Strategic Sourcing service negotiates a Cisco support renewal for the remaining assets.

Combining these solutions is not a requirement: clients can leverage either our core Cisco solution or our Strategic Sourcing capabilities independently.

Laying the groundwork for greater control.

Enabling clients to mature their IT spend processes and to develop robust cost savings pipelines, our IT Procurement Spend Analytics service is designed to provide our clients with greater control over their IT spending by increasing organizational capability via knowledge transfer and in-context market intelligence.

Typically generating immediate cost savings of 8-14 percent, our IT Procurement Spend Analytics service provides:

• Categorization of IT spend by segment, family and supplier
• Focused recommendations on cost savings opportunities by category and vendor
• IT spend calendar by agreement and quarter
• Cost-savings roadmap
• Quantification of potential cost savings by vendor and across time period
• Identification of new qualified suppliers
• Enhanced bid competitiveness
• Up to 50 percent reduction in sourcing cycle times and up to 15 percent reduction in administrative costs
• Increased organizational capability via knowledge transfer and in-context market intelligence

Key components of our IT Procurement Spend Analytics service include:

• On-site collaboration
• IT contract review, audit and spend calendar development
• IT spend categorization
• OEM consolidation recommendations
• Identification of rogue spending with recommendations to eliminate
• Supplier spend aggregation strategies
• Market based analysis of current discount structures
• Both OEM and reseller/distributor negotiation strategies
• Product standardization options
• Evaluation of opportunities to centralize IT procurement activities to create value

Additionally, we provide IT procurement spend analytics consultation to help businesses categorize spending, develop a spend calendar and assess opportunities for cost savings over a multi-year timeframe.

All IT Procurement Spend Analytics projects are structured as refundable engagements. We will refund 100 percent of an IT Procurement Spend Analytics engagement as a credit applied against follow-on Strategic Sourcing work.