Contract Price and Terms
We negotiate the price and business terms associated with IT projects, software purchases, and cloud subscriptions. Since we negotiate dozens of IT contracts each year and have first-hand experience with many of the potential problems downstream, our clients hire us to leverage this expertise and supplement the legal review.
We offer a systematic approach to achieving the best price available based on your size and situation. This takes into account the solution’s total cost of ownership, not just the initial subscription or license fee. You’ll know whether you’re getting a fair deal when we compare your software quote to the benchmark formulas we’ve developed over the past 20 years.
Experience Negotiating with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft
We’ve negotiated many times with the market leaders such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Infor, Epicor, Workday, etc. This enables us to quickly get to the heart of the matter and reduce the number of iterations in the negotiation cycle.
A good contract is one that anticipates potential problems. In our experience the best measure of a successful negotiation, beyond the best price, is whether the agreement provides a framework for a quick and fair resolution of the problems you might encounter. This is usually evident within the first year as most projects hit a bump in the road sometime within the first twelve to eighteen months.
IT Service Provider Contract Expertise
Likewise, we’ve negotiated the Master Services Agreement (MSA) and Statement of Work (SOW) for hundreds of implementation projects with system integrators of all sizes. If the standard contract language is skewed in favor of the IT provider, we know what to look for and can introduce new provisions which provide a more fair and balanced agreement.
How to Negotiate the Agreement
The negotiation process is executed in a firm but collaborative style. Contract negotiations are the gateway to your implementation, so it is important not to damage your relationship before even getting started. Our intention is to negotiate and finalize the necessary business terms in a manner that aligns both parties’ expectations and establishes the foundation for a successful long-term relationship.
Getting Approval to Sign Contracts
What if you’ve selected a new application for ERP, CRM, Ecommerce, etc.; but you’re having trouble getting final approval to sign contracts? It’s difficult to field questions like:
- Are we getting a fair price?
- What risks are involved with this commitment?
- Will we have leverage to negotiate changes in the future?
- How will we deal with change orders and the current unknowns?
- What questions should we be asking?
We can answer these questions for you. Subsequently if and when an issue crops up, we can quickly sort out a solution based on the negotiated contract terms. This is all part of our full-service negotiation lifecycle.
Results
Previous clients have said things like: “When the implementation went over budget we were so relieved to have the extra protections baked into our contract…literally that saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Likewise, the corresponding vendors tell us “You were really really tough, but fair.”
