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Upcoming Live APEX Webinars

Cutting through the AI Hype and Promise

Cutting Through the AI Hype and Promise

In this webinar, we will discuss the current landscape of AI tools and where AI is making a meaningful impact on day-to-day IT procurement responsibilities. We’ll discuss how to assess and influence vendors’ AI roadmaps to align with organizational needs, and the essential skills required for an AI-enhanced procurement environment.

 

Multiple dates

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Inside the Mind of the Vendor

Inside the Mind of the Vendor

We venture Inside the Mind of the Vendor to better understand IT vendors’ sales playbooks – how they recruit and train, and how they plan and execute on enterprise IT transactions.

 

In this session, attendees will learn how to respond to vendors’ systematic sales efforts so they only buy what they need, when they need it and at fair market value.

 

Multiple dates

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Microsoft Licensing 2024

Microsoft Licensing 2024

Join NPI’s Microsoft licensing expert as we share recent changes to Microsoft licensing and what's currently motivating Microsoft sales and account teams. We’ll share how to avoid common pitfalls that lead to overspending and proven tactics to help customers rein in their enterprise Microsoft spend in 2024 and beyond.

 

Multiple dates

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Eliminating SaaS Toxic Spend

Eliminating SaaS Toxic Spend

As SaaS spending increases, so does the risk of overspending – especially for large, complex estates like Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Workday, SuccessFactors and others. Join NPI as we explore the internal and external dynamics that make SaaS spend management difficult, and what IT buying teams can do to eliminate SaaS cost waste.

 

Multiple dates

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IT Sourcing Resources: Research, white papers and case studies in one place.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    How to Mitigate and Minimize VMware Renewal Cost Increases

    Since Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, renewal costs for enterprise customers have surged by 5X to 10X. With limited leverage, customers face a choice: either absorb these steep increases or take proactive measures to mitigate the financial impact. Choosing the latter could help them save millions.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    Anatomy of an AWS Enterprise Agreement

    Today, most enterprise customers engage with AWS under a Private Pricing Addendum (PPA), or Private Pricing Term Agreement. In this bulletin, we discuss the different components of a PPA and the different levers enterprises can use to maximize savings.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    Is RISE with SAP a Fit for Your Business?

    In this bulletin, we explore the pros and cons of SAP’s newest solution – RISE with SAP – and what SAP enterprise customers need to know to determine if it’s a fit for their business.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin
    SAP license audit process

    How the Cloud is Changing Everything We Know About Software Audits

    For on-premise IT, vendors have long been the “auditors” for software license compliance. In the cloud, responsibility – and the purpose – for audits have shifted 180 degrees. Without regular self-audits of cloud usage and without detailed usage data from vendors, many companies may find themselves overbuying and overspending.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    How to Neutralize the Impact of New Microsoft 365 Pricing

    New pricing changes from Microsoft will mean higher costs for many commercial Office 365 and Microsoft 365 offerings. This bulletin discusses these changes as well as what customers can do to minimize or neutralize the impact on their Microsoft spend.

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  • Whitepaper

    Which Microsoft Agreement Is Best For You?

    Enterprises have many options for contracting with Microsoft. In this guide, we explore commonly-used direct and indirect contractual vehicles for purchasing Microsoft’s enterprise solutions, what different agreements do and do not cover, and who sets pricing for each option.

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  • Whitepaper

    IT Purchasing Excellence in the Digital Transformation Era

    Digital transformation is a reality, and for most companies, the stakes are high: leverage a broad mix of digital technologies to grow and transform the business, or risk obsolescence. This reality is reframing the way companies think about all aspects of IT, including sourcing. In the digital transformation era, optimized IT sourcing practices can deliver more value to the business than ever before.

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  • Whitepaper

    How to Eliminate Toxic Spend on Large SaaS Estates and Reduce SaaS Costs

    One challenge enterprise IT buyers face is SaaS spend governance, and that’s evidenced by an increasing rate of wasteful spend on large SaaS estates. In this white paper, we explore what makes the SaaS licensing model so difficult to govern, how to optimize SaaS licensing. the value SaaS license optimization delivers to the business, and how to prioritize which SaaS estates to optimize (and how often).

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  • Smartspend Bulletin
    Business agility

    8 Ways IT Sourcing Can Enable Business Resiliency and Continuity

    The pandemic has reshaped expectations of how IT sourcing pros can enable business resiliency, continuity and agility in times of unexpected change. What can companies do now to de-risk IT spend and secure protections that minimize the cost of disruption and transformational change?

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    How to Negotiate Savings with Verizon Wireless

    NPI finds Verizon Wireless enterprise customers often overpay by 15 to 30 percent (or more). But negotiating better pricing, incentives and terms is no easy task. In this bulletin, we share how customers can negotiate stronger savings and eliminate material overspending.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin
    ibm mainframe tips

    IBM Mainframe Software Overspending is Rampant – How Do You Stop It?

    One often overlooked area of IT overspending is mainframe software, particularly with IBM. Thousands of companies still rely on legacy mainframe applications to conduct business and there is widespread complacency in how this spend is managed. That’s led many IBM customers to overpay for their ongoing software costs. Bringing transparency to this element of IT spend can deliver significant savings – frequently in the ballpark of seven figures.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    Tactics on How to Negotiate Price in Salesforce Negotiations

    The enterprise Salesforce purchase is evolving. While savings for new purchases and renewals have been historically difficult to achieve, things are changing. As market competition grows, the vendor is exhibiting more flexibility at the Salesforce negotiation table - but only for buyers that know which levers to pull.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin
    software licensing for healthcare

    The Anatomy of a Microsoft License Audit

    Microsoft audits are costly, confusing and almost always result in non-compliance claims. So how do you fend off or improve the outcome of an audit with Microsoft? It starts with a clear understanding of how Microsoft’s auditing process works – and where the deck is stacked against you.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    How to Negotiate and Spend Smarter with Amazon Web Services (AWS)

    Given AWS’s history of pricing and sourcing transparency, is it possible to achieve material savings on enterprise-scale AWS purchases? Contrary to popular opinion, the answer is yes. But only if you know which best practices and levers to apply throughout the lifetime of your AWS agreement.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin
    Microsoft enterprise agreement renewal

    5 Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Renewal Tips for Cost Savings

    Changes in the current business climate combined with Microsoft’s mission to move enterprises to the cloud is altering how it does business with its largest customers. Companies that plan to renew their Enterprise Agreements, or purchase the vendor’s offerings for the first time, can leverage the forces driving Microsoft’s behavior at the negotiation table.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    Four Ways to Save on IBM Passport Advantage Renewals

    Volume purchasing programs may make it easier to buy a vendor’s offerings—but they also make it easier to overspend. IBM’s Passport Advantage program is no exception. NPI estimates a large percentage of enterprise customers overpay on IBM Passport Advantage purchases and renewals. Here are four ways to avoid that outcome.

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  • Smartspend Bulletin

    How to Stop Overspending on Enterprise Wireless

    Enterprise wireless spending continues to be unwieldy and difficult to manage. NPI estimates 80 percent of enterprises overpay by nearly 40 percent for wireless services. This bulletin explores factors that are driving up spend and what companies can do to rein in wireless costs.

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Discover the success our clients have achieved.

  • NPI Helps Einstein Healthcare Network Simplify Microsoft Licensing, Reduce Spend Amid Global Health Pandemic
    NPI Helps Einstein Healthcare Network Simplify Microsoft Licensing, Reduce Spend Amid Global Health Pandemic CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: HEALTHCARE

    Einstein Healthcare needed to reduce costs on its Microsoft EA and Server and Cloud Enrollment renewal. But cost reduction was at odds with the need for more functionality. With NPI’s guidance, they were able to meet these competing objectives and enter into a three-year EA with business terms that exceeded Einstein’s expectations.

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  • Energy Co. Cuts Millions in Telecom Spend
    Energy Co. Cuts Millions in Telecom Spend CATEGORY: Telecom | INDUSTRY: Oil & Gas

    How does a world-class sourcing team perform even better? It’s a challenge that one of the largest energy conglomerates successfully overcame with the help of NPI. With more than $12 million in annual telecom spending, the company has always been meticulous about the way it sources, negotiates and manages carrier and provider relationships. Armed with NPI’s program, pricing and contracting advice, the company further reduced telecom costs by $1.6 million a year.

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  • NPI Uncovers 77% Telecom Overspend for Community Bank
    NPI Uncovers 77% Telecom Overspend for Community Bank CATEGORY: Telecom | INDUSTRY: Financial Services

    Skyrocketing telecom costs drove this large community bank’s IT sourcing team to take action. With NPI’s assistance, the bank found cost leakages in a host of areas (MPLS, T1/PRI and MIS) and identified savings ranging from 7 to 77 percent on MPLS, T1 (PRI) and MIS services.

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  • Large Healthcare Org Saves $15M on Data Network Spend
    Large Healthcare Org Saves $15M on Data Network Spend CATEGORY: Telecom | INDUSTRY: HEALTHCARE

    The sourcing team within a large healthcare network suspected they were overpaying for WAN services. That hunch turned into sizeable savings. With NPI’s price benchmark analysis, contract optimization advice, negotiation intel and network grooming guidance, this large healthcare network was able to cut telecom costs by $15M.

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  • Denver Health Fuels Growth with IT Savings
    Denver Health Fuels Growth with IT Savings CATEGORY: IT, TELECOM | INDUSTRY: Healthcare

    A world-class healthcare system enlisted NPI to analyze upcoming IT and telecom purchases to be sure pricing was best in class. Backed by NPI’s price benchmark analysis and negotiation intel, the provider was able cut annual IT spend year-over-year, normalize maintenance costs and achieve a 21% cost reduction on a large contact center upgrade.

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  • Lending Provider Turns to NPI to Weather Economic Storm
    Lending Provider Turns to NPI to Weather Economic Storm CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: Financial Services

    When the market took a turn for the worse, this major lending provider needed to find ways to reduce its IT costs without sacrificing performance. NPI helped the company re-engineer key vendor agreements for $3M in savings, greater flexibility and higher performance.

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  • Healthcare Co. Saves $9M on Microsoft, Gets Cloud-Ready
    Healthcare Co. Saves $9M on Microsoft, Gets Cloud-Ready CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: HEALTHCARE

    To counter rising Microsoft costs, this healthcare solutions provider turned to NPI for license and cost optimization assistance in advance of a complex EA renewal. The partnership paid off – to the tune of $9 million over the EA term with flexibility to move to Microsoft’s cloud services.

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  • Oil & Gas Co. Saves $17M on Microsoft
    Oil & Gas Co. Saves $17M on Microsoft CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: OIL & GAS

    The oil and gas industry is no stranger to volatility. For one company, this volatility (combined with planned M&A activity) made them rethink how to approach two large Microsoft renewals. Guided by NPI, the company saved $17M and achieved the licensing flexibility they would need to support M&A events.

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  • State Agency Cuts Software Renewal Costs in Half
    State Agency Cuts Software Renewal Costs in Half Category: IT | Industry: Government

    With a large software renewal looming and plans for a data center migration, this large state government needed confidence that their license fees were fair and greater flexibility in contract terms. With NPI’s help, they saved $7M+ on their renewal.

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  • For Insurance Provider, NPI Finds Savings for 65% of Purchases
    For Insurance Provider, NPI Finds Savings for 65% of Purchases CATEGORY: IT, Telecom | INDUSTRY: Insurance

    With nearly $20 billion in assets, one of the country’s largest insurance providers needed to rein in rising IT and telecom costs. They added NPI’s price benchmark analysis into the procurement process and 65% of transactions reviewed revealed opportunity for material savings.

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  • NPI Brings Rigor, Bandwidth and Savings to National Retailer
    NPI Brings Rigor, Bandwidth and Savings to National Retailer CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: RETAIL

    With an aggressive expansion plan underway, the CIO of a national retailer turned to NPI to boost the power of its world-class IT sourcing team. The result? More than $8M in savings and more business value for every IT budget dollar.

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  • U.S. Cellular Achieves 8-figure Savings on Strategic IT
    U.S. Cellular Achieves 8-figure Savings on Strategic IT CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: Telecom

    With more than 5M customers, U.S. Cellular is a growing alternative to the wireless industry’s larger national providers. When the carrier decided to invest in two major software upgrades, they turned to NPI to help define a sound selection strategy, ensure fair market pricing and optimize contract terms.

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  • NPI Helps Lafarge Cement 7-Figure Savings
    NPI Helps Lafarge Cement 7-Figure Savings CATEGORY: IT, Telecom | INDUSTRY: Manufacturing

    With a mission to cut IT and telecom costs, construction materials giant LafargeHolcim’s IT sourcing team needed an edge. The company brought in NPI to ensure it was receiving a fair price and best-in-class terms with IT and telecom vendors. The result? Multi-million dollar savings across multiple telecom, hardware and software agreements.

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  • NPI Cuts IT Costs by $6M for Large Grocer
    NPI Cuts IT Costs by $6M for Large Grocer CATEGORY: IT | INDUSTRY: RETAIL

    One of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S. has a passion for serious cost-cutting – especially when it comes to IT. Their secret weapon? NPI, which has saved the grocer more than $6M, including 30% reductions in software maintenance fees.

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