What do software licensing consultants actually do?
Software licensing consultants establish what you own, what you deploy, and what the gap costs, then use that position to defend audits and negotiate renewals. The work covers entitlement reconciliation, metric and conversion math, migration licensing, and the licensing questions behind every major vendor decision.
How much do software licensing consultants cost?
Licensing reviews and audit defense run on a fixed fee, scoped to the work and agreed before we start. Negotiation engagements can instead run on a success fee of 25 percent of what we save you, so you keep 75 percent and pay nothing if we save nothing. We never bill by the hour.
Which vendors do your licensing consultants cover?
We cover 11 vendor practices plus GenAI: Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce, IBM, Broadcom VMware, AWS, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Workday, and Cisco, along with OpenAI and Anthropic contracts. Each practice has its own service pages and named senior lead.
When should we hire a software licensing consultant?
Hire one before the decision, not after it: ahead of an audit response, a migration, a metric conversion, a renewal, or an M&A event. The entitlement baseline built early is what every later negotiation and audit response stands on.
How long does a licensing engagement take?
The first deliverable, a verified baseline, typically lands within 10 business days of complete data. Benchmarks and strategy follow in the next cycle, and execution tracks your renewal or audit calendar rather than a fixed project plan.
What do you need from us to start?
We need contracts and order forms, the entitlement records you hold, deployment or usage reports from your tooling, and any live vendor proposal or audit letter. It starts with a short scoping call and a written data request list.
Are your licensing consultants independent of the vendors?
Yes, completely: zero vendor affiliations, no reseller agreements, and no referral fees in any of the 11 vendor practices. We are paid only by the client, so no recommendation depends on what you buy.
Will the vendor know you are advising us?
Only if you choose to tell them, because your team keeps the chair and all vendor communications. We prepare every exchange behind the scenes: written assessments of each proposal, meeting preparation, and a final contract review before signature.
