Cost Optimization advisory engagement
Advisory / Cost Optimization

IT cost optimization. The contract is the lever.

Cost optimization services are engaged when the savings program reaches the software and cloud lines and stalls. We bring the baselines, benchmarks, and negotiation discipline of 500+ engagements across 11 vendor practices to your side of the table.

Contact Us → Download the EA Renewal Playbook
500+Engagements Across 11 Vendors
20 to 40%Typical Addressable Waste
Fixed fee or contingency at 25% of savings. On contingency our fee is 25% of the savings we deliver and you keep 75%: no savings, no fee, zero risk.
Home/Cost Optimization
500+ Enterprise Clients Industry Recognized $2B+ Under Advisory 11 Vendor Practices 100% Buyer Side Independent
Who buys this service

Cost programs that stall at the vendor line

Cost optimization services are engaged when the savings program reaches the software and cloud lines and stalls: the spend is contractual, the waste is technical, and bridging the two takes evidence nobody has assembled.

It fits CFO driven programs that need the IT lines to produce, and IT leaders who want the cuts made from usage evidence rather than across the board.

CFO and IT financeCIO and IT leadershipIT procurementFinOps teams
What we solve

The problems this practice removes

The pattern repeats across estates, and each element is fixable:

  • License estates paying for users, editions, and modules that measurement would release.
  • Cloud commitments sized on unoptimized consumption, locking waste in for the term.
  • Support streams renewing on autopilot against shrinking estates.
  • Savings identified in dashboards but never banked in contracts.
  • Across the board cuts damaging capability while the measured waste survives.

Each is measurable, each is negotiable, and the engagement converts them from complaints into outcomes.

How we do it

Baseline, benchmark, strategy, execute

Every engagement in this practice runs the same four workstream discipline, tuned to the vendors and decisions in scope.

Workstream 01
Baseline and assessment
Contracts, entitlements, usage, and spend consolidated into a verified position before any strategy is set.
Workstream 02
Benchmark and target setting
Every element measured against comparable closed deals, with target pricing, terms, and walk away lines defined.
Workstream 03
Strategy and playbook
Sequencing, concession planning, and timing against the vendor's fiscal calendar, with anticipated moves scripted.
Workstream 04
Execution to signature
Written assessments of every proposal, preparation before each meeting, and a final contract review before signature.

A typical engagement, week by week

Workstream
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10W11W12
Contract and spend data handover
Baseline and assessment
Benchmark and target setting
Strategy and playbook
Execution to signature
Advisory calls and email support
The baseline typically lands within 10 business days of complete data, with benchmarks and strategy in the following cycle. Execution tracks your calendar. Navy bars are analysis and build, gold diamonds mark a deliverable handover, gray bars run on demand. Weeks are indicative; renewal dates and vendor deadlines set the real clock.
DeliverableWhat it contains
Baseline reportThe verified position across contracts, entitlements, usage, and spend.
Benchmark and target sheetTargets per element with walk away lines, measured against comparable agreements.
Strategy playbookSequencing, fiscal timing, and anticipated vendor moves with prepared responses.
Written proposal assessmentsEvery vendor proposal assessed in writing with recommended responses.
Final contract reviewPre signature confirmation that negotiated positions are correctly reflected.
Why buy this service

Independence, method, and a record

Every recommendation is independent by structure: no reseller agreements, no vendor referral fees, and no implementation revenue behind the advice. The only side of the table we sit on is yours, across all 11 vendor practices.

The method is the same one behind 500+ published engagements: verified baselines, benchmarks from comparable closed deals, and timing sequenced against each vendor's fiscal pressure points.

Your team keeps the chair and the vendor relationships. We prepare every exchange: written assessments of each proposal, meeting preparation with anticipated tactics, and a final contract review before signature.

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.

Client results

Engagements on the record

Outcomes on the record from across the practice.

Frequently asked questions

Questions we hear first

Where does IT cost optimization actually find money?

In the gap between what is paid for and what is used: license right sizing, cloud waste and commitment sizing, support rationalization, and the renegotiations that bank each finding in the contract.

How is this different from a FinOps tool?

Tools find the waste; contracts bank it. The engagement carries findings through the negotiation so the savings survive the renewal instead of evaporating in a dashboard.

How fast do results land?

First baselines inside 10 business days, quick wins inside the quarter, and the structural savings banked at the renewals the evidence was built for.

How does the engagement start?

With a short scoping call and a data request list. The baseline builds from your existing contracts, reporting, and tooling, and the first deliverable typically lands within 10 business days of complete data.

Can this run as part of a program?

Yes. Vendor Shield provides standing coverage, the Renewal Events Program runs the calendar as one campaign, and the Vendor Benchmark Program covers the long tail. Engagements fold into any of them.

Are you independent of the vendors?

Completely. No reseller agreements, no referral fees, no vendor money of any kind, across all 11 vendor practices. The advice is structurally independent of every vendor commercial interest.

Do you replace our team in front of the vendor?

No. We advise and prepare, and your team keeps the chair and all vendor communications. Every proposal gets a written assessment before you respond, and key meetings get preparation with anticipated tactics.

How are engagements priced?

Fixed price, all inclusive, or contingency at 25 percent of the savings we deliver: you keep 75 percent, and if we save you nothing, you pay nothing.

Advisory team preparing a vendor negotiation

Put the discipline on your side

Baselines, benchmarks, and execution from the practice behind 500+ published engagements.

Negotiation intelligence, monthly

One letter a month. Negotiation moves, audit signals, and price book shifts.