When you’re buying a house, it’s important to understand your purchase contract, the title to the house and all other legal documents, to ensure that your interests are protected. Hiring
a real estate attorney to help you through the legal maze and
advise you on each of these contracts will ensure that you are
being treated fairly and getting the most from your purchase.
Likewise, in the world of software contracts, it is critical to understand vendor licensing metrics, your software license entitlements and actual usage so that you are in a position of power in contract negotiations and audits. This knowledge will enable you to optimize your software contracts and get the most for your money. Like the real estate attorney, Siwel Contract Advisory Services can step in and help.
In recent years, software contracts and licenses have seen a significant increase in complexity, largely due to:
- Rapid adoption of virtualization
- Vendor-directed changes to licensing metrics
- Continuous change to software bundles and suites
- Significant increase in compliance audits
Software contracts often account for as much as 30% of total IT costs…
… so renewing an enterprise contract has a major impact on your IT budget. Pricing, entitlements, compliance requirements, metrics and all other terms and conditions are established during these contract negotiations. Yet, most companies enter these negotiations with a lack of knowledge about their own historical deployments, contract entitlements and future license requirements, as well as what is happening outside their walls – current licensing trends, changes to software suites, bundles, maintenance costs and shifting metrics caused by technological innovations. Failure to negotiate an effective, “right-sized” contract can leave companies exposed to unnecessary compliance risk.
Closing the SAM Knowledge Gap
The life cycle of a software license consists of a series of internal events that generate valuable data, which must be captured and stored as these events occur to be fully prepared for future contract negotiations, compliance reviews, true-ups and audits. Not having a system in place to capture this transactional data makes it very difficult for a company to fully understand their software inventory, deployments and entitlements. This puts the company at unnecessary risk. An experienced third-party expert is necessary to help construct an accurate picture and ensure you are prepared. Siwel Contract Advisory Services can help close the knowledge gap.
CAS Sub-Practice Areas:
Contract Negotiation Services
Guidance, strategy and direction to ensure that contracts are aligned and “right-sized” to minimize risk.
- Ensure alignment of contract with business requirements and technology roadmap
- Advise on beneficial T&Cs the client may not be aware of
- Analyze contract revisions, cost implications and potential risk during negotiations, recommend alternatives
- Optimize value, maximize flexibility and benefits of contract
Value: Save up to 25% on contract renewal cost
Audit Preparation and Response
Avoid or significantly reduce retroactive license and maintenance costs resulting from an adverse audit outcome.
- Collect and analyze deployment data
- Reconcile deployments to entitlements to determine risk exposure
- Prepare documents to refute audit findings
- Provide negotiation strategies and assistance through resolution
Value: Reduce total audit expense by 30%-70%
Contract and License Optimization
Analysis and recommendations to maximize license utilization.
- Gather and reconcile current deployments and entitlements
- Conduct analysis to determine optimal use of each license
- Assess the impact of new technologies and initiatives
Value: Reduce the overall cost of licenses and maintenance by 25%-40%
Do you need Siwel Contract Advisory Services? Some questions to consider:
- Do you currently use any IT asset management tools?
- Which software contracts do you have coming up for renewal over the next 12 months?
- Are you “up to speed” on the changing licensing metrics of your major software vendors?
- Do you de-commission licenses when you retire hardware, and harvest licenses for new hardware?
- Have you received notice of an upcoming audit or a request for a compliance review?
- Has a recent vendor audit concluded with unsatisfactory (and costly) results?
- Have you assessed the impact of virtualization, SaaS and cloud computing on software compliance?
Why Siwel?
Siwel helps organizations deal with the new and significant realities of IT Asset Management and has been designing and implementing successful ITAM solutions for Fortune 50 through middle market companies since 1998. Through this experience, the Siwel team has learned that to be successful, your ITAM program must combine real-time and accurate business intelligence with business analytics that enable your organization to make important strategic and financial decisions. Whether you engage Siwel to advise on a contract or audit issue, to identify gaps, risks and opportunities for cost-savings in your current ITAM program, to develop a comprehensive new program for you to run, or to manage your entire ITAM program in the cloud, your organization will benefit from real-time and accurate data that is analyzed and interpreted by the foremost experts in their field.