① How we work
Every engagement runs the same disciplined sequence: Baseline, Reconcile, Leverage, Close. It is how $180M+ of mainframe spend has been negotiated across 500+ engagements, and why the typical renewal lands 20 to 35% lower.
We build the full portfolio inventory: every product, every contract, MIPS or MSU per product, and term expiry per agreement. Most estates have never been mapped this way, because entitlements arrived through decades of renewals, acquisitions, and vendor mergers. The baseline is the single document the rest of the engagement stands on.
The output is a license position you can defend: what you own, what you pay for it, and which agreements expire when. Publishers covered span IBM, Broadcom (CA), BMC, Rocket Software, Software AG, Compuware (BMC), and Syncsort (Precisely).
Actual consumption gets measured against contracted capacity, with SCRT and R4HA data validated independently rather than taken from vendor reporting. This is where shelfware, double paid entitlements, and mis tiered capacity bands surface. In renewal negotiations, every one of those findings converts into leverage. In audits, the reconciliation is your defense file.
Leverage is built, not claimed. We evaluate alternatives, model metric transition options, work the calendar, and construct the credible walk away position before the vendor controls the clock. Vendors price against your alternatives; if you arrive without any, the quote reflects it.
This step typically starts 12 to 18 months before expiry. If your renewal is closer than that, we compress the sequence and mobilize within 48 hours.
The renewal or audit settlement gets locked with uplift caps, consumption protections, and exit rights, not just a lower number for year one. A discount that evaporates through an uncapped escalator is not a result. The contract language we close on is the language you will renew on next cycle, which is why contract review runs inside every negotiation we lead.
We run the negotiation or audit response end to end, at the table or through your team. You approve strategy and outcomes; we carry the workload and the vendor contact.
Your team stays in front of the vendor. We build the baseline, the benchmarks, and the counterproposals behind the scenes, and pressure test every vendor claim before you respond.
A focused second opinion: the proposal on your desk, reviewed against market patterns and contract risk before you sign. Useful late in a cycle when the clock is short.
Mainframe spend negotiated
Engagements delivered
Typical renewal reduction
Audit notice or renewal under 18 months out? We mobilize within 48 hours.
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