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The SmartSpend™ blog is a resource to help readers save money on IT and Telecom purchases, brought to you by NPI’s consultants and vendor-specific subject matter experts.

The Latest IT Sourcing News

 

  • 3 Tips for Saving on Your Oracle ULA NPI 09.29.23

    Oracle's Unlimited Licensing Agreements (ULAs) have long been a staple for larger enterprises looking to navigate their relationship with the tech giant. The allure of such agreements is undeniable: a seemingly unending use of Oracle's vast software library. But it comes at a cost—steep annual fees that typically increase over time. Often, these fees have been counterbalanced by a protective umbrella against Oracle’s progressively more frequent software license audits.

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  • Preparing for SAP’s 2024 Support Fee Increase NPI 09.27.23

    SAP has long held a significant and relatively conservative presence in the enterprise IT landscape. The vendor’s more recent push to the cloud (and resulting solutions and programs like S/4HANA Cloud and Rise with SAP) have revealed new agility – a positive for their customers’ fast-changing technology ecosystems. However, the vendor’s recent support fee increase has raised eyebrows and concerns.

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  • Microsoft Windows Server Licensing Changes Unlock Potential Savings NPI 09.26.23

    In October 2022, Microsoft quietly introduced key amendments to licensing requirements for Windows Server/CIS. These changes were a conscious deviation from Microsoft’s stringent approach to licensing products in cloud and virtualized environments. At the time, Microsoft had been criticized by enterprise customers for its lack of flexible licensing policies.

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  • Is Zoom’s One Platform Worth the Cost? NPI 09.22.23

    A little over a year ago, Zoom announced the Zoom One platform. Essentially, it bundles together options for team chat, phone, whiteboard, meetings, and other Zoom services into a single solution. Currently, Zoom offers six types of bundles that range from least to most robust. They include Basic, Pro, Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus.

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  • Understanding Tenant-Wide Services for M365 NPI 09.11.23

    Microsoft’s increasingly broad portfolio of SaaS offerings can be overwhelming for many customers. They range from productivity products like Office 365 E3 and E5 to advanced security and compliance products like M365 E5 Security to the M365 E5 eDiscovery & Audit products. The sheer quantity of products isn’t the only factor – there are various versions of each (E3, E5, Standard, Enterprise, Premium, and more) to consider.

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  • What is SaaS Management and How Can It Save You Money? NPI 08.30.23

    With some form of cloud adoption and digital transformation touching every industry, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. Today, managing every phase of the SaaS lifecycle is challenging. From procurement and onboarding, to integration and training, to security and compliance, to usage and cost optimization

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  • How to Prepare for Your Next Adobe Renewal NPI 07.24.23

    Negotiating a fair deal with Adobe can be tough, especially given how pervasive its products are in the enterprise. But is it impossible? Certainly not. These Adobe negotiation insights will help you formulate a go-forward strategy.

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  • Tech M&A Fallout: How Large Enterprises Can Minimize the Cost and Compliance Risks NPI 07.11.23

    Globally speaking, M&A activity has been lackluster throughout 2023. Q1 2023 saw a global deal volume of $559 billion, one of the lowest quarterly volumes in the last 10 years. But there are bright spots – like tech M&A. In the tech sector, cautious optimism has been the prevailing sentiment with a 20% increase in deal volume and a 40% increase in average deal size according to PwC. Leading PE firms with large tech portfolios also remain active.

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  • Microsoft Intune Suite Licensing: What’s New? NPI 06.30.23

    Microsoft announced an overhaul of its endpoint management products during Microsoft Ignite 2022 including the introduction of a new family of products. While Microsoft introduced Microsoft Intune as the new name for all endpoint management-related products, the name itself is not new. The cloud-based endpoint management platform has been known as Microsoft Intune since it was rebranded from Windows Intune in 2014.

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  • A Mid-Year Checklist for Enterprise Telecom Cost Reduction NPI 06.15.23

    As we approach the mid-year mark, many procurement leaders have been tasked with getting rid of cost waste across the IT ecosystem. This is not a byproduct of any sort of widespread slashing of enterprise IT budgets (most enterprises will spend more, not less, in 2023). Rather, it’s a cautious response to the current business climate, and a doubling-down on good IT budget hygiene.

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  • How to Mitigate the Cost Risks of IT Vendor Lock-in NPI 05.24.23

    IT vendor lock-in – should companies fight it or embrace it? Historically, IT procurement best practices have suggested companies should push back against vendor lock-in. Competition provides buy-side leverage. But the reality is IT vendor lock-in is virtually impossible to avoid in the current enterprise IT landscape – especially with mega vendors that power critical business operations.

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  • 5 Questions to Ask to Reduce Software Renewal Costs NPI 05.18.23

    As enterprise software costs spike, many IT procurement organizations are feeling new pressure from executive stakeholders to reassess and rein in spend. This is especially true for organizations that are also balancing transformation priorities. We’re frequently asked questions like: Where can we reduce IT spend without affecting “X” initiatives? How can we spend less without causing business or technical disruption? Are IT cost-cutting initiatives worth it in the long run?

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  • Fortifying Your IT Budget: Proactive Strategies to Minimize Software License Audit Risks NPI 05.17.23

    As economic headwinds gained strength in 2022, many IT and procurement organizations mobilized to execute IT cost optimization exercises that would reduce spend, deliver hard-dollar savings, and establish a more efficient run rate for 2023 IT operations. Now, as we speed towards the second half of 2023, it’s clear these budgets are under attack from an unanticipated adversary: software license audits. And the cost risk is quite grave.

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  • Understanding Microsoft Step-Up Licenses and When to Purchase Them NPI 04.19.23

    What happens when you’ve purchased a lower edition Microsoft license type and then decide you want to upgrade to the higher edition? If you’re a long-time enterprise Microsoft customer, you’ve probably run into this scenario before. Fortunately (at least in some cases) Microsoft has a SKU ready to help – the Microsoft Step-Up license.

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  • IT Procurement in a Changing Landscape: How NPI’s IT Purchase Data Can Guide Your Strategy NPI 04.12.23

    In 2022, NPI analyzed over $25 billion in IT purchases made by large enterprises. What does that data tell us about where we’re heading in 2023? Economically speaking, the trend of volatility that shaped much of 2022 is still defining the market as we enter the second quarter of 2023. During this time, most enterprise IT leaders have enacted a more conservative approach to IT spend management.

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  • Microsoft Server and Cloud Enrollment: Is Microsoft SCE Right for Me? NPI 03.31.23

    At first glance, Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Enrollment is simply another contractual licensing agreement from Microsoft with a three-year term, just like the Enterprise Agreement and Enterprise Subscription Agreement. Indeed, it is often established as a “companion” agreement with the EA and EAS. But a closer look shows that it is a much more versatile licensing vehicle.

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  • Akamai Takes on a New Frontier: Cloud Computing NPI 03.29.23

    Akamai, widely known for its content delivery network (CDN) and security offerings, recently made a surprising announcement. The company is entering the world of cloud computing with the launch of Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform.

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  • Qualtrics Acquisition: Two Essential Actions Customers Should Take NPI 03.24.23

    Recent news of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse has taken center stage and drowned out other significant moves in the market. One example is the $12.5 billion acquisition of Qualtrics by Silver Lake and CPP Investments. Qualtrics is a customer and employee experience management company that offers a cloud-based...

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  • How to Neutralize Verizon’s Economic Adjustment Charge NPI 03.10.23

    Wireless carriers have always been a fan of add-on fees and charges – it’s a tried-and-true revenue stream outside of their normal customer rates. But over the past several months, we are seeing the list and scope of these fees growing for enterprise customers. One example is Verizon’s “Economic Adjustment Charge.”

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  • Oracle Java License Change Will Have Major Cost Implications NPI 02.16.23

    A change to Java licensing rules could have major cost implications for Oracle customers of all sizes. Oracle recently announced a new pricing model for Java SE subscriptions. The Employee for Java SE Universal Subscription replaces the Named User Plus Licensing and Processor licenses (user and server licensing, respectively) and is based on the customer’s number of employees.

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  • Important Advice for Customers Making the Switch from ECC to S/4HANA NPI 02.07.23

    The pressure for SAP customers to convert from ECC, its legacy ERP platform, to S/4HANA looms large in 2023. Despite the fact that mainstream support for ECC ends in 2027, most customers are struggling to make the switch. Recent data indicates 69% of ECC clients have not yet licensed S/4HANA. That’s a concerning number as the window to begin making changes grows surprisingly short.

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  • 2023 Tablet Pricing Trends NPI 01.18.23

    While some anticipate PC and tablet sales to continue to decline in 2023, much of that decline is expected to stabilize by 2024. That could have something to do with growing adoption of tablet and tablet PC configurations as business-standard devices by enterprise customers. NPI data reflects this trend as we see more of our clients adopt (and refresh) these kinds of devices.

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  • What You Need to Know about Direct vs. Indirect Microsoft Resellers NPI 12.30.22

    The Microsoft reseller ecosystem is large and complex – but, for many enterprise customers, resellers are an integral part of the Microsoft relationship. To better understand how the vendor does business with its largest accounts, it’s important to understand the differences between Direct and Indirect Microsoft Resellers.

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  • 3 Resources for Better Salesforce Contract Negotiations NPI 12.28.22

    It’s been an interesting year for Salesforce. For the second time in under three years, co-CEO Marc Benioff will part ways with his co-CEO. There appears to be internal strife around the company’s acquisition of Slack, the most expensive subscription software acquisition of all time. And perhaps most telling is the vendor’s revenue growth rate. According to the vendor’s recent quarterly earnings, revenue grew 14%

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  • What’s New with Microsoft Windows Server Licensing? NPI 12.22.22

    Microsoft is known for its stringent rules around licensing products in cloud and virtualized environments. It’s been the subject of complaint among enterprise customers as well as the crux of anticompetitive accusations in the EU. In response, Microsoft has announced more flexible licensing policies for some products over the last several months – including Microsoft Windows Server.

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  • 3 Questions to Help You Get the Most Out of Tiered Pricing for IT Purchases NPI 12.21.22

    NPI observes a lot of mistakes in IT vendor price quotes. Over the years, these (mistakes) have ranged from inaccurate quantities and incorrect part numbers to things like “free” equipment or licensing that was never discussed. What do they all have in common? They typically benefit the vendor’s bottom line. Hand in hand with these instances are errors in tiered pricing.

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  • How to Reduce Microsoft 365 Costs NPI 12.15.22

    When large companies ask us where they can make a meaningful impact on reducing IT spend, one area we advise them to focus on is their largest SaaS software deployments. They almost always reveal significant cost-saving opportunities. One great example is Microsoft 365. Companies are spending more on M365 than ever before for several reasons.

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  • Are You Ready for a Spike in AT&T T1 Pricing? NPI 12.07.22

    Every sector of the tech industry has its dinosaurs. In computing, it’s the mainframe. In software, it’s the perpetual license. And in connectivity, it’s the copper-based T1 line. What do all these things have in common? They’re still widely used by millions of businesses across the globe. And in the case of customers using AT&T’s T1 lines, that’s a bit of a problem.

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  • The Pros and Cons of RISE with SAP (RWS) NPI 12.01.22

    As IT vendors acknowledge the complexity of customers’ digital transformation initiatives, many are engineering new products and solutions specifically designed to simplify and accelerate those projects. Enter SAP. In 2021, SAP launched RISE with SAP – or RWS for short. But like a lot of SAP offerings, it’s not easy to understand exactly what RWS is, its pros and cons, and who it’s best suited for.

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  • IBM Monthly License Charges Increasing More than Usual NPI 11.16.22

    Across the enterprise IT ecosystem, more and more vendors are passing on some of the burden of high inflationary costs to customers. In the past, a 1 to 3% rate hike was within Fair Market Value (FMV) standards in most cases. In 2022, the perception of “fair” looks more like 3 to 5% as vendors grow increasingly inflexible in their minimum price increases...

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  • Is an Enterprise License Agreement Worth It? NPI 09.30.22

    Sales teams for enterprise IT vendors have always had to be creative in order to make quotas. Meanwhile, customers are scrutinizing larger purchases as IT spend continues to climb year over year. That’s leading many to question the value of vendor’s sales propositions – including whether an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) makes sense.

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  • Expert Tips for Better SaaS Spend Management NPI 09.28.22

    We’ve written about SaaS cost management extensively on this blog in recent months. Why? Because companies are spending more on SaaS...a lot more. Gartner estimates SaaS spend will grow by 20% in 2022, and that estimate is conservative for many enterprise customers.

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  • Advice From the Experts: Enterprise Software Cost and License Optimization Must-Do’s NPI 09.26.22

    NPI and Procurement Foundry recently hosted a Topics in Technology Sourcing panel on Optimizing Licensing and Cost in Large Software Estates. Procurement executives from American Airlines and ADM as well as NPI’s own software licensing experts covered a lot of territory on how IT procurement can reduce cost and improve license management across their largest software deployments.

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  • 3 Ways Businesses Can Save on Wireless Costs Right Now NPI 09.21.22

    No corner of enterprise spend is immune to inflation – including business wireless costs. Carriers like AT&T and Verizon have raised fees in recent months to head off inflationary pressures as well as “motivate” customers to switch to newer plans. But as the wireless carrier market becomes less competitive (it’s essentially a three-carrier marketplace), many enterprises are wondering how they can get a handle on rising wireless costs.

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  • Visiting Microsoft’s Executive Briefing Center? Read This First. NPI 09.16.22

    Large Microsoft enterprise customers are often invited to the Executive Briefing Center, and it is a visit well worth your time. As our former enterprise sales executives for Microsoft will attest, it’s a great opportunity for Microsoft to showcase its technology to customers in a purpose-built environment, along with fostering executive relationships.

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  • Cloud Cost Management: What Are You Missing? NPI 09.15.22

    Much has been written about the concept of cloud cost management with a lot of it centered around workload planning and clearly defining requirements. While these things certainly important, the work doesn’t stop there. NPI explores 5 often overlooked activities you should be doing to keep cloud costs in check.

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  • What Customers Should Do as Avaya’s Financial Stability Collapses NPI 09.06.22

    Avaya, a once multi-billion dollar cloud communications and collaboration company faces new fiscal hurdles after a debt refinancing plan ran aground. Now, only five years after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and entry back into public markets, Avaya’s financial stability is in question again as investors fume at potentially being led astray.

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  • Microsoft Limits Azure Instances – What Should You Do? NPI 08.05.22

    As supply chain issues persist across the IT world, shortages have started hitting a new area: cloud services. Recent reports show that capacity issues are affecting Microsoft Azure customers globally – from Washington State to Europe and beyond. More than two dozen Azure data centers are experiencing limited server capacity, and Microsoft expects capacity to remain limited until early 2023.

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  • 3 Tips to Help You Better Manage Enterprise SaaS Costs NPI 07.13.22

    There has been a lot of debate about the phasing out of on-premise software in favor of SaaS. The overall consensus is something like this – on-premise is going the way of the residential landline. Sure, it will continue to exist and some will continue to use it (more than enterprise SaaS providers would have you believe). But the overall transition to SaaS is accelerating.

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  • Licensing Insights for Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare NPI 06.30.22

    A number of big tech companies are increasing their focus on healthcare, including Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and others. Another big name on the list is Microsoft. Microsoft is no stranger to investing R&D dollars in healthcare solutions, but its latest result – Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare – is certainly its most ambitious.

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  • A Guide to Backdoor Software License Compliance Audits NPI 06.29.22

    Economic headwinds are putting pressure on most businesses in most industries – including tech companies. For customers with large software estates from certain enterprise vendors, the effect is a bit of a double whammy. Not only are IT costs rising, but the risk of a software license compliance audit has also become significantly greater.

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  • The Value of Optimizing the Assets in Your Salesforce Estate NPI 06.21.22

    Many large Salesforce customers struggle to identify opportunities for cost reduction in their estate as they prepare for their renewal negotiations. Optimizing Salesforce assets is often a cross-functional collaboration exercise. But many enterprises don’t have vendor management functions to assure that procurement, IT and business...

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  • Does Microsoft Cloud PC Make Sense for Your Business? NPI 06.20.22

    Over the last year, Microsoft has launched a new category of product to the market – the Cloud PC. In this article, we’ll discuss what Microsoft Cloud PC is, how it works, what makes it attractive, and how to determine if it’s a fit for your organization.

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  • How Will Broadcom’s Acquisition of VMware Affect VMware Customers? NPI 06.14.22

    For the most part, NPI’s clients have good relationships with their IT vendors. Sure, some vendors are less pleasant to do business with than others. But, by and large, there is mutual respect – customers need their IT vendors to be successful and vice versa. Every now and then, however, an IT vendor goes rogue.

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  • Oracle Universal Credits Licensing and Pricing Basics for OCI NPI 06.02.22

    f you’re a customer of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services, you’ve likely heard of Oracle’s Universal Credits subscription model. Oracle introduced it back in 2017 to better compete with increasingly flexible consumption and pricing options offered by IaaS and PaaS leaders like AWS.

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  • Why Does the Salesforce Renewal Negotiation Have to Be So Hard? NPI 05.17.22

    Here’s a comment we heard recently from a NPI client executive at a Fortune 500 Health and Life Sciences company after they’d just finished a Salesforce renewal negotiation: “We go through all this pain to sign the agreement and I wake up the next morning and have no idea what I paid for.”

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  • How to Win the Green Jacket in IT Procurement NPI 04.12.22

    Last week, all eyes were on the Masters Tournament as legends and legends in the making competed for the coveted Green Jacket. But what on earth does that have to do with IT procurement? Here’s what NPI CEO Jon Winsett had to say over on LinkedIn...

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  • ESG in IT Sourcing NPI 03.31.22

    Environmental, Social, Governance – ESG for short – has changed how many investors and companies assess risk and opportunity as they invest in and fortify supply chains. As any procurement team will tell you, these non-financial indicators have become increasingly important in recent years. Initially, ESG compliance and evaluation was a qualitative analysis focused on unearthing risks...

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  • Changes to LinkedIn Sales Navigator Pricing and Renewals NPI 03.28.22

    Whether you’re pondering a new purchase or have a renewal on the horizon, there are changes to LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing that you should be aware of. For the uninitiated, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn several years ago – but that doesn’t mean Sales Navigator is a standard part of Microsoft’s Enterprise Agreement. To the contrary, actually...

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  • Chasing World-Class Outcomes NPI 03.24.22

    Procurement could learn a thing or two from Inventing Anna. Not the imposter bit, of course. But something about what’s made the story so interesting to so many people. If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground, you’ve probably noticed a handful of new terms pop up in procurement circles. One is “world-class outcomes.” It’s a world-class result as compared to peer purchases in the market. Noble for sure, and viable for many organizations. But “world-class” anything doesn’t just happen...

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  • Microsoft Viva Insights – Has Microsoft Found the Balance Between Productivity and Privacy? NPI 03.23.22

    Late last year, Microsoft “rebranded” its Workplace Analytics product. The new product name is Microsoft Viva Insights and it aims to pick up where Workplace Analytics left off – or, depending on how you look at it, fell down. One obvious change is the pricing. There was a price reduction of about 43% with the introduction of Viva Insights. In addition to the rebranding, Microsoft has somewhat changed the messaging...

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  • How To Maximize IT Renewal Savings During Contract Negotiation NPI 03.16.22

    There are almost always opportunities to save on an IT renewal, but it calls for a bit of forensic analysis to reveal your options. Preparation is key – and it needs to begin months before the expiration of your current term! Questions to ask and data points to collect include...

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  • Oracle’s Cerner Acquisition – What Does It Mean for Cerner Customers? NPI 03.15.22

    Late last December, as most folks settled into the holidays and a slow business news cycle, Oracle spiced things up. It announced the acquisition of medical-records systems provider Cerner Corp. for $28.3 billion. An Oracle Cerner acquisition was – and is – big news that deserves revisiting. Cerner is among the top EHR vendors in the world, competing with market leader Epic Systems, Allscripts and a handful of...

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  • As Ukraine Crisis Unfolds, Companies Prepare for Higher IT Costs NPI 03.11.22

    As the crisis in Ukraine unfolds, we’re reminded of the connectedness of the global economy and how it impacts all facets of business – including IT and the IT supply chain. How will this conflict impact IT costs and what can companies do to mitigate and prepare? NPI’s experts weigh in.

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  • PagerDuty Pricing and Renewals – Are You Paying What You Should? NPI 03.07.22

    Before smartphones and text were a thing, there were pagers – a cute little box that sent alphanumeric message alerts. While pagers are (for the most part) an outdated artifact, PagerDuty has added panache and modernization to the concept. It provides a SaaS incident response platform for IT departments that has attracted customers like SAP, Zoom, Yelp and others. As its popularity has grown, PagerDuty pricing has taken some twists and turns...

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  • How to Negotiate a Better POS System Price NPI 02.07.22

    New technologies like NFC and EMV chips are helping to drive many POS upgrades. Mobile can require a complete and potentially expensive change to current systems. Integrating a mPOS system that can also be used for inventory management can be a huge benefit, but also add to software costs. With a potential move to mPOS, there may still be use cases to implement for customers that want to pay in cash...

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  • Cisco Price Increase: How to Offset the Impact NPI 02.02.22

    Cisco’s latest price increase is significant. While the vendor claims the hike to be an “average” of 10% across its entire portfolio, the reality is most offerings will cost 15 to 25% more. In this post, we discuss three things customers can do to offset the financial impact of these changes.

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  • How to Negotiate with Workday for the Best Renewal NPI 01.21.22

    Despite customers demanding easier ways to engage and source with software providers, there are some vendors that are holding the line on the status quo. Complexity continues to rule the day for many software sourcing transactions, and the Workday renewal is an excellent example of this. Years ago, when NPI began seeing Workday renewals and new purchases on a regular basis, transactions were relatively easy to evaluate...

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  • How to Counter Higher Costs for Global Technology Professional Services NPI 01.19.22

    As the pandemic continues to dominate headlines and every aspect of our lives, the technology industry continues to adapt. Similar to manufacturing supply chains, the global supply chain for technology professional services has been impacted. We now find ourselves amid a global talent shortage due to various factors like the Great Resignation and higher demand...

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  • Understanding Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience NPI 01.12.22

    There’s been a lot of buzz about Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE). What is it? Who does it impact? What do customers and partners need to know? In 2019, Microsoft launched the New Commerce Experience (NCE) for Azure to simplify licensing management. This was done under the vendor’s Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program to deliver a simplified engagement experience that would benefit both Microsoft’s partners and customers as they purchase Microsoft’s cloud solutions...

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  • Are Power BI Premium Per User Licenses Right for You? Dan Brewster
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    12.23.21

    Earlier this month, I wrote a blog about Microsoft’s Power BI Premium Capacity licenses, which is a good way to share dashboards and reports throughout the enterprise. This month, though, I’d like to briefly review the Power BI Premium Per User licenses. As you probably know, Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft and part of the Microsoft Power Platform. It aims to provide...

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  • IT Benchmarking Metrics – Assessing Fair Market Value for Purchases NPI 12.22.21

    Overpaying for enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, hardware and IT services is all too common. Unfortunately, inconsistencies in market pricing can make it difficult for buyers to determine whether a vendor’s pricing is within fair market value range. Below, we dive into the importance of assessing fair market value pricing for enterprise IT purchases, as well as a few tips to consider before your next transaction...

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  • Office 365 Price Increase FAQ Michael Kegley
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    12.17.21

    Microsoft’s latest Office 365 price increase will mean higher costs for many of the vendor’s enterprise customers. If you’re wondering if the O365 price increase will impact your spend, here is what you need to know...

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  • What is FinOps and Why Do You Need It? Jim Hussey
    NPI
    12.16.21

    As adoption of enterprise-scale cloud services has become commonplace, so have the challenges associated with managing them. Decades in, the evolution is still underway with many companies adopting a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCOE) and, more recently, the establishment of FinOps. But before we delve into what FinOps is and why it is important, let’s review...

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  • A Guide to Understanding Power BI Premium Capacity Licenses Dan Brewster
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    12.07.21

    In a crowded business intelligence solution marketplace, few solutions match the popularity (and revenue) of Microsoft’s Power BI. More than 250,000 organizations use Power BI, including 97 percent of the Fortune 500. Over the years, the offering has evolved quite a bit – most recently with the introduction of Power BI Premium capacity licenses. For many customers, these...

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  • Cloud Cost Optimization Tips Amid Higher Cloud Provider Fees Kristian Tuinzing
    Director of Client Services, NPI
    12.02.21

    It’s impossible to ignore the seemingly ubiquitous nature of the cloud and the services it now renders to businesses of all sizes all over the globe. But the scale of adoption within these businesses varies greatly (along with cloud costs) – especially when it comes to the enterprise sector...

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  • It’s an Exciting New Era for the Art and Science of IT Procurement Jon Winsett
    CEO, NPI
    11.30.21

    As a spend category, IT is undergoing its own transformation and pressure on procurement teams is increasing. Is it an exciting time to be in IT procurement? You bet. But the pressure and stakes are high. As the discipline undergoes changes, new resources and approaches will be critical to sourcing IT effectively...

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  • ServiceNow Pros and Cons: Should You Purchase ITSM Enterprise? NPI 11.17.21

    As ServiceNow becomes more entrenched in enterprises’ IT ecosystems, its product portfolio becomes more complicated. With each biannual release comes new subscriptions with enhanced capabilities, and changes to existing offerings. The latest example is the ServiceNow ITSM Enterprise offering...

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  • Exploring the Pros and Cons of a Cisco Enterprise Agreement NPI 11.12.21

    Volume purchasing programs can be an attractive way for enterprises to do business with their largest IT vendors – including the Cisco Enterprise Agreement. Large customers with significant levels of Cisco spend may be inclined to default to an EA to help streamline purchasing. But spend size, while certainly important, should not be the only determining factor...

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  • How to Create a Vendor Negotiation Strategy for a Software Renewal Mike Megehee
    Consulting Services Director, NPI
    11.05.21

    It’s that time of year again, where IT and IT procurement teams find themselves eyeballs-deep in a flurry of software renewals. With fiscal year-ends approaching for dozens of enterprise IT vendors, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Heck, considering all of the nuances of each software renewal, it’s difficult not to.

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  • Telecom Cost Management for Large Enterprises in 2022 NPI 11.01.21

    Managing telecom spend has always been difficult for enterprises. But as the pace of change in the telecom industry accelerates, the complexities that define telecom cost management grow in lockstep. We recently spoke with telecom sourcing executives from Gap, Inc. and Intuit to find out what’s top of mind for their organizations as 2022 approaches and how they’re working through the challenges and opportunities. Here are some key takeaways...

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  • The True Cost of Unlimited Voice and Data Plans Matt West
    Director of Network Services, NPI
    10.28.21

    Remember when wireless service providers like AT&T and Verizon offered unlimited plans? And then they tried to get rid of them and substitute pooled-data plans instead? Today, we’ve come full circle. Providers are re-introducing unlimited plans to the market, which gives rise to a few questions. Why did that happen?

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  • Software Negotiation Tips for IT Purchases Gregg Spivack
    Vice President of Client Services, NPI
    10.12.21

    Negotiation leverage isn’t always easy to come by in IT buying – especially for more routine “auto-pilot” transactions like renewals. A few recent purchase optimizations we helped clients with got us thinking about how we achieved savings despite low leverage. These were mainly renewal events...

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  • Windows 365 Price and Purchase Considerations Michael Kegley
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    09.30.21

    During Inspire 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 365, the vendor’s latest addition to hybrid computing. Available later in 2021, Windows 365 is a cloud service that introduces a new way for users to experience Windows 10 or Windows 11. In this post, we dig into Windows 365 price and purchase considerations for enterprises...

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  • Google Cloud vs. AWS Marketplace: One Thing Enterprise IT Buyers Should Know NPI 09.27.21

    Enterprise IT vendors tend to have vast partner ecosystems and aggressive strategies to monetize those relationships. One example is the “marketplace” – a single point of entry where customers can easily purchase from multiple solution providers. The marketplaces hosted by Google Cloud and AWS continue to grow and have an influential effect across the broader cloud provider landscape...

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  • Software Audit Management: Are You Ready? Jim Hussey
    NPI
    09.23.21

    A great deal has been written on the subject of how to manage a software audit. You can find easy-to-follow, multi-step software audit management programs that align neatly with a logical workflow – all claiming to lead followers towards a successful conclusion with minimal findings and penalties levied. The issue, of course, is...

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  • How to Keep AI Pricing and Costs in Check Kristian Tuinzing
    Director of Client Services, NPI
    09.16.21

    AI – along with machine learning and automation – has been a part of the enterprise IT lexicon for some time. However, recent innovations and tailwinds from the pandemic have accelerated their adoption. That’s led to greater focus on cost control. Many companies are looking for ways to keep AI pricing and costs in check as they embark on new AI-related projects and expand those that are delivering value...

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  • How to Reduce ERP Implementation Costs Kim Addington
    COO, NPI
    09.09.21

    ERP implementations remain one of the most complex and expensive IT projects for large enterprises. A recent report from Software Path found the average budget per user for an ERP project to be $8,265. Other data suggests ERP implementation costs for large enterprises start at $1M to $10M and up to 200 percent of license fees, and go up from there.

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  • Pricing for PPM Tools is on the Rise Kristian Tuinzing
    Director of Client Services, NPI
    09.08.21

    Project Portfolio Management or PPM software has always been a mainstay of enterprise IT. Interestingly, pricing for these solutions is on the rise according to pricing data NPI tracks across clients of that are $1 billion or more in turnover. It seems what was once a minor spend concern is steadily becoming a major recurring annual investment in many cases...

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  • IT Budgeting Best Practices: Beware of the BAU Comparison Rich Staas
    Director of Client Services, NPI
    09.01.21

    As companies adapt their IT ecosystems to changing business requirements, the cost of change is becoming harder to gauge. More specifically, it’s becoming harder to determine if companies are paying a fair price for these changes. It’s worth revisiting certain IT budgeting best practices that govern this aspect of IT sourcing...

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  • Don’t Let a Vendor Presentation Replace a Proper IT Quote Michael Schulman
    Client Services Manager, NPI
    08.31.21

    Several vendors selling in today’s marketplace would have buyers believe that “the quote” has gone the way of the dinosaur, or at the very least is heading towards extinction. But the IT vendor quote is far from dead. In fact, it’s never been more important...

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  • How to Cut Costs on Your Salesforce Renewal Kim Addington
    COO, NPI
    08.26.21

    If you’re a Salesforce customer, there is a good chance you will be renewing your agreement with the vendor within the next six months. That makes now an ideal time to strategize how you can save on your Salesforce renewal – a solid strategy is most certainly required...

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  • Determining the Value of IT Service Level Agreements Matt West
    Director of Telecommunication Services, NPI
    08.23.21

    Our enterprise clients often ask how much weight to put on IT service level agreements when sourcing a new supplier or service. This is never an easy question to answer and largely depends on how business-critical the service is, or the goal of the SLA in question. Enterprise IT ecosystems are vast and the criticality of one IT vendor versus the next varies – a network provider or...

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  • Should You Include Future Affiliates in Your Microsoft Enterprise Enrollment? Michael Kegley
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    08.12.21

    If you’ve ever completed a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA), you’re familiar with the Microsoft Enterprise Enrollment – it’s one of the required documents to establish an EA. Like a lot of things Microsoft, it seems straightforward at first. But closer inspection reveals complexity. One example is the option to include “Future Affiliates.”...

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  • Who is the Ideal Microsoft Frontline User? Dan Brewster
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    07.20.21

    Microsoft really likes the idea of licensing users rather than devices, but there are certain environments where the per user license model doesn’t quite fit – one being BPO (or business process outsourcing) organizations. The largest outsourcing organizations in the world use Microsoft, and most have call centers running 24x7 around the globe with rotating staff.

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