A $2.5B American equipment manufacturer came to Dark Horse with a problem.
They had spent six months negotiating their 3-year EA & SCE renewal, stipulating endless specifics and ensuring the correct licensing mix for over 6,000 employees. The players were the company’s CIO and IT Procurement VP, who had years of experience negotiating with Microsoft and their reseller. In this case, however, they were confident the “best and final” offer wasn’t the best deal.
Five days before the renewal deadline, they had hit a wall: they weren’t happy with the deal, but had exhausted all their negotiating strategies. And they definitely couldn’t afford the service interruption that they were told could happen if they didn’t sign before their renewal date.
Time and options were running out.
Solution
It took just 4 hours to identify a better deal
The Dark Horse approach was simple: we asked the CIO and Procurement VP to give us four hours, free of charge, to see if there were any improvements to be had.
It didn’t take long to realize there was quite a bit of money still on the table: with years of experience negotiating with big tech, we pinpointed savings opportunities right away and knew the strategy that would cause Microsoft to revisit the pricing discounts without any risk to the relationship.
Result
Final Offer: $450k less
Five days was more than enough time to negotiate a better deal. In fact, three days and two discussions later, our client received an additional 12% discount that saved them $450,000.
We negotiate tech contracts every day
With a global advisory network of over 80 former Sales VPs, Dark Horse knows the ins and outs of licensing negotiation - and of getting resolutions that leave everyone satisfied with the result. If you'd like us to review a “best and final” offer, give us a call. The review is always free: you only engage us if we think we can help you do better.
