Insights for IT Negotiations

Workday launches VIBE (Value Inclusion Belonging in Equity) and other new products that tie into its HCM platform. These new products are designed to add functionality as it relates to inclusion and diversity. There are two products, VIBE Central, which centralizes inclusion and diversity data to more easily track progress against benchmarks. The second product is VIBE Index, which is for HR Leaders to set strategy and create tailored plans to drive positive outcomes (available in Q1 2021). Jeff Lazarto, UpperEdge’s Workday practice leader, adds further details in this podcast and in his blog: Workday VIBE Launches to Address Diversity and Spur Growth Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2WRcbX9 Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3A7akeY

Accenture will be cutting 5% of its workforce, which equates to 25,000 employees. This is a normal practice for the company to continually improve on their talent base. What’s not normal is that Accenture’s CEO, Julie Sweet, said that the annual rehiring of new talent to exceed the 5% loss would be halted. With the lack of new talent coming into Accenture, companies should expect to see a shortage of top talent in key roles going forward. In this podcast, Greg Hall shares what customers can do to ensure they receive the most value from Accenture despite these layoffs. For more on this topic, read: How 25,000 Accenture Layoffs Will Impact Customers

In this interview-style podcast, Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses how addressing the fees tied to Salesforce Shield is an often overlooked way to reduce your Salesforce costs. He shares some of the pricing and commercial concerns associated with Salesforce’s security add-on and provides his recommendations for how customers can address those concerns to gain greater transparency, lower the cost of Salesforce Shield, and ultimately reduce their overall Salesforce costs. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/37hFkMV Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3rSe9Sv

Oracle Java Account Representatives are surprising Oracle customers with out-of-the-blue calls where they ask specific questions about the customer’s Java use. These calls have sparked concern among recipients who worry that this might be the start of an audit. In this interview-style podcast, our Marketing Manager asks Oracle Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, what these Java inquiry calls are really about, what Oracle customers should do, and why he thinks these calls are on the rise. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3Cbc5tG

Salesforce had another strong quarter, surpassing $5B in quarterly revenue for the first time. Salesforce posted impressive revenue growth across all of its clouds (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Platform & Other as well as Marketing and Commerce Cloud). It capitalized on retailers’ increased need to rely on online sales channels during the pandemic, resulting in Commerce Cloud revenue growing 89% in the quarter. Salesforce also raised full year revenue guidance indicating a stronger-than-expected pipeline and confidence to increase customer spend profiles. In this podcast, Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what enterprises should expect from Salesforce moving forward as they look to meet and exceed raised full year revenue guidance. He also shares how enterprises can take advantage of key insights from the earnings call in their upcoming negotiations and renewals. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/37hFkMV

SAP customers will eventually have to move from Indirect Access to Digital Access. In an effort to speed up this process (which benefits SAP), SAP created their Digital Access Adoption Program (DAAP). The financial answers to know whether to stay on Indirect Access past 12/21 or to take advantage of the program are complex. Devin Djerf, UpperEdge’s Senior Analyst, is seeing SAP clients saving by not adopting. In this podcast, he discusses the steps you should take to determine if you should adopt now or wait. Host: Devin Djerf: https://bit.ly/2VuynFS SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb

Workday offers three different tiers of Customer Success packages Though Workday doesn’t actively promote their packages, every Workday customer should at least be aware of them. Workday offers three different tiers of Customer Success packages (Silver, Gold, and Platinum) each with a different set of deployment and post go-live services. Erwann Couesbot, UpperEdge's Senior IT Sourcing Negotiation Advisor discusses their differences, tiering, why they are important and his recommendations. You can also get more in-depth information about this topic from Erwann's blog at UpperEdge.com Host: Erwann Couesbot: https://bit.ly/2WIKJdX Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2TTLjEO

The bulk of Oracle’s support renewals come up in late July and early August. If you're an Oracle customer, it's around this time that you may realize that you didn’t get the support you needed from Oracle yet your support fees continue to increase. One way to manufacture leverage for your Oracle support renewal is to consider third-party support. Jeff Lazarto, UpperEdge’s Oracle Practice Leader, discusses 6 key considerations to keep in mind as you evaluate your third-party support options. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3lp6r0Q

ServiceNow eclipsed the $4B annual run rate for the first time after beating consensus and guidance. The company is so confident in their portfolio of cloud solutions (ITSM, ITBM, CSM, Sec Ops, HR Service Delivery, etc.) and the proven sales tactics and pipeline they have in place, that they raised growth and profitability guidance for the year. Expect ServiceNow to continue to push their current enterprise customers to expand their footprint and for new enterprise customers to start out with a larger footprint with more than three products. In this podcast, ServiceNow Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what enterprises should expect moving forward as ServiceNow looks to achieve their $10B revenue target. He also uncovers key insights enterprises can take advantage of in their upcoming negotiations and renewals. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt

Microsoft is clearly confident their portfolio of cloud solutions (Microsoft 365, Teams, Power BI, Power Apps, Dynamics365, LinkedIn, Azure Active Directory, etc.) and proven sales tactics will continue to push more enterprises to expand their Microsoft footprint. Microsoft beat expectations for the quarter and passed $50B in annual Commercial Cloud revenue for the first time. They also mentioned successes such as a growth in commercial bookings, growth in Office 365 seats, increased Azure margins, and increased annual revenue per user (ARPU). In this podcast, Microsoft Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what enterprises should expect from Microsoft's sales executives who have clearly defined goals. He also shares how customers could potentially take advantage of key insights from the earnings call in their upcoming negotiations and renewals. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX