Between EA renewals, Cisco keeps selling: security consolidations, collaboration refreshes, Meraki expansions, and Splunk bundles. Each deal deserves positions and benchmarks rather than a discount off list.
This engagement is bought for the Cisco transactions outside the EA cycle: a security consolidation pitch, a collaboration or contact center refresh, a Meraki expansion, a Splunk bundle, or hardware purchases carrying embedded software nobody prices separately.
It fits procurement teams that negotiate these deals one at a time against an account team playing a multi year game, and IT leaders who want each transaction to strengthen the eventual EA position rather than mortgage it.
Cisco's deal mechanics reward the prepared:
Positions per element, benchmarks per SKU family, and an eye on the EA consequences turn each transaction into an asset.
The engagement runs four workstreams: the position is baselined from what you own, deploy, and need, targets are benchmarked per deal element, the vendor's moves are anticipated with responses prepared, and the execution runs through signature.
| Deliverable | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Position baseline report | The spend and entitlement picture with your requirements, alternatives, and Cisco's predicted agenda. |
| Benchmark and target sheet | Target pricing and terms per deal element with walk away lines, measured against comparable agreements. |
| Negotiation playbook | Sequencing, fiscal timing, anticipated vendor moves, and scripted responses. |
| Written proposal assessments | Every proposal assessed against the targets with recommended responses through the cycle. |
| Final contract review | Pre signature confirmation that agreed positions are correctly reflected in the paper. |
The account team runs dozens of negotiations a year to your one, with institutional memory of what worked on customers like you. The gap is closed by preparation: a baseline the vendor cannot dispute, targets from deals the vendor knows exist, and timing that uses its own fiscal pressure against it.
The benchmark data comes from 500+ engagements across 11 enterprise vendors, held to current quarter reality rather than folklore. Every target we set is a number we have seen achieved by comparable customers.
Independence keeps the strategy honest: no reseller margin, no implementation revenue, no referral fees from this vendor or any other. When deferring, splitting a bundle, or walking a category is the right move, that is the recommendation.
The engagement runs fixed price, all inclusive, or on contingency at 25 percent of the savings we deliver: you keep 75 percent, and if we save you nothing, you pay nothing.
Negotiation outcomes on the record across the practice.
A public sector organization reset its Cisco EA from consolidated consumption evidence.
✓ Published case studyA Fortune 500 company cut its EA renewal 20 percent with the same preparation discipline.
✓ Published case studyA UK financial services firm secured 35 percent savings and contract flexibility.
✓ Published case studyA European bank saved 25 percent at its enterprise agreement renewal.
Any substantial commercial event with this vendor: renewals, new purchases, expansions, and restructures. The engagement builds positions per deal element, benchmarks them against comparable agreements, and supports execution through signature.
From benchmarked targets built on comparable agreements: discount thresholds, structural terms, and concessions actually achieved by customers of your profile. List price framing stops working when the reference point is real deals.
Two to three quarters out for full leverage build. The baseline and targets land within the first month, so even compressed timelines leave you negotiating from positions rather than reactions.
Your team keeps the chair and the relationship. We prepare every exchange: written assessments of each proposal, meeting preparation with anticipated tactics, and a final contract review before signature.
The EA renewal service consolidates consumption and restructures the agreement at its renewal. This engagement covers everything else: purchases, expansions, and refreshes between renewals, negotiated with the EA consequences explicit.
It is where double payment hides: subscriptions embedded in hardware deals duplicating standalone coverage. The baseline reconciles them before the new purchase adds another layer.
Cisco's year ends in late July, and quarter closes move discount authority. The strategy sequences your decisions against those dates.
Fixed price, all inclusive, covering all four workstreams, up to four advisory calls, and email support, or contingency at 25 percent of the savings we deliver: you keep 75 percent, and if we save you nothing, you pay nothing.
Positions per element, bundles priced apart, and each transaction negotiated with the next renewal in mind.
One letter a month. Negotiation moves, audit signals, and price book shifts.