Who we help
Technology advice for finance leaders
Subscription platforms move technology from capital to operating expenditure and make the true cost harder to see. We model the whole of contract cost, identify what is committed and what is variable, and check the terms that determine what happens at renewal.
The numbers
What a subscription platform actually costs
Licences are the part that appears in the quote. Four other lines decide what the three year total looks like, and all four are negotiable while the vendor is still competing.
The decision
Renew with the incumbent, or take it to market
This is the decision that sets your negotiating position, and it has to be made early enough that the deadline is not working for the other side.
Renew with the incumbent
No migration cost, no retraining, no risk to a service that currently works. The price is that you negotiate without a credible alternative, and every incumbent account manager knows exactly how much leverage that leaves you. A renewal tested against real market pricing usually improves whether or not you move.
Suits working platforms, thin change capacity, a short runway
Take it to market
A genuine comparison creates the leverage a renewal conversation lacks, and it frequently ends with the incumbent sharpening rather than with a migration. It costs your team time in evaluation, and it has to start early enough that the contract end date is not visible to every vendor in the room.
Suits large renewals, long contracts, uplift creep
The process
How we work alongside a finance team
Five stages, built to produce a number a board will accept. You sign directly with the vendor you choose, and the advisory service costs you nothing.
We assemble the current cost properly
Licences, usage, support, the contracts nobody remembers signing and the services running alongside them. Most organisations are surprised by at least one line, and that line is often the easiest saving in the exercise.
We model the whole of contract cost
Three years, all in, for every shortlisted option, including migration, overlap, training and the uplift written into each contract. Comparing monthly headline rates across vendors produces the wrong answer often enough to be worth avoiding.
We shortlist across the whole market
Relationships across more than thirty vendors mean the comparison is real, and a real comparison is what moves an incumbent. The alternative quotes have value even in the cases where you decide to stay.
We negotiate the terms as well as the rate
Tier mix, commitment levels, uplift caps, renewal notice, termination and data extraction. A rate concession that comes with an uncapped uplift and a five year term is not a saving.
We build the case on evidence
Avoided cost and measurable operational change, drawn from your own baseline rather than from vendor supplied return on investment figures. Boards ask where the numbers came from, and the answer needs to be something other than a vendor slide.
Due diligence
What we make sure gets asked on your behalf
These are the terms that decide what the contract costs in year three, and they are all negotiable in the weeks before signature and none of them afterwards.
The uplift clause and its cap
Whether annual increases are fixed, indexed or at the vendor discretion, and what ceiling has actually been agreed in writing.
Minimum commitment against realistic growth
What user count or volume you are committing to, what happens if you fall short, and whether the forecast behind it is yours or the vendor sales plan.
The renewal notice window
How many months before expiry you must give notice, and what happens automatically if that date passes unnoticed.
Early termination and site changes
What exit costs, and what happens to the contract when an office closes, a division is sold or headcount falls.
The true tier mix
How many users genuinely need each tier, priced accordingly, rather than a single tier applied across the whole organisation.
Professional services scope and variations
What the implementation price includes, what triggers a variation, and the day rate that will apply when something changes in week three.
The overlap period
How long you pay for both platforms, and whether the outgoing contract permits the parallel run the migration plan depends on.
Data extraction charges
What it costs to take your own recordings, transcripts and configuration with you, in a usable format, at the end of the term.
Common questions
Asked by most finance leaders
The questions that come up in nearly every first conversation with a finance leader, answered without a qualification call first.
What does a platform actually cost over the term?
Licences are the visible part. Add telephony usage, professional services, integration work, training, the overlap period when both systems run, and any annual uplift written into the contract. A three year total is usually well above three times the first year quote.
Where do the commercial traps sit?
In automatic renewal clauses, in minimum commitment levels that assume growth, in uplift percentages tied to an index, and in early termination charges. The clause that costs organisations most is the one committing to a user count they never reach.
Does an independent advisor cost us anything?
No. We are funded by the vendors through the same margin they would otherwise retain, so our involvement does not add to your price. You sign directly with the vendor you choose and hold that contract yourself.
How do we build the business case?
On avoided cost and measurable operational change rather than on vendor supplied return on investment figures. We help assemble the baseline from your current spend and performance, which makes the case defensible to a board that will ask where the numbers came from.
When should we start looking at a renewal?
Six to nine months before the contract end date. Anything later and the deadline becomes visible to every vendor in the process, which removes most of your leverage and pushes the organisation towards accepting terms it would otherwise have negotiated.
If you are paid by the vendor, how is the advice independent?
Because the commission is similar across the vendors we hold relationships with, and because there are more than thirty of them. No single platform can afford to buy a recommendation, and a shortlist that always produced the same answer would stop being worth reading. You also see the commercial terms in full and sign the contract yourself.
We are vendor funded and completely free to your business. Always focused on the right outcome.
Know what the contract costs in year three
We assemble your current cost properly, model the whole of contract total for every option, create a real comparison, and negotiate the terms as well as the rate. You sign directly with the vendor you choose, and our service costs you nothing.
Book a Call
Independent guidance at no cost to your business.
Read further on this
The pages and articles that answer the next question a buyer usually asks.
