Insights for IT Negotiations

Many customers are sharing their financial challenges with their system integrators - especially as it relates to priorities, allocation of funding, and the state of the business. But asking your SI what staffing issues they may have and where they stand in relation to their own revenue targets is equally important as it can shed light on whether your SI is willing to commit to more collaboration. In this podcast, Chip Hanna, UpperEdge’s Advisory Practice Director, discusses four strategies for working with your SIs during times of financial uncertainty. Listen for more insights and read Chip’s blog, “4 Strategies for Engaging SAP SI's During This Downturn”. Host: Chip Hanna: https://bit.ly/37gknCk SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb Related Blog: https://bit.ly/2WHpAki

Google has rebranded G Suite four years after launch, renaming it to Workspace while also creating new pricing tiers to appeal to current and targeted enterprise customers. Google, and Head of Workspace, Javier Soltero (former VP of Office Product Group at Microsoft), understand that Google must continue to innovate, integrate their productivity and collaboration tools, and craft new editions in order to have a better chance to take market share from Microsoft and keep Slack out. In this podcast, Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, covers the announcement and what it means for enterprises moving forward.

SAP’s hosting option, HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) was launched in 2013. In 2019, SAP shifted its focus and launched Project Embrace to add support for the hyperscalers (Amazon, Google and Microsoft Azure). These moves by SAP are to prepare their customers for the end of ECC support in 2027. Brian Undlin, UpperEdges IT Sourcing Analyst, discusses where and how to host SAP, hosting licensing strategies, architecture needs and more. Read Brian’s blog, Shrinking Markets Force Customers to Re-Evaluate SAP Hosting Options, for additional insights. Host: Brian Undlin: https://bit.ly/3ysLKVK SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3xh4OEJ

Chip Hanna, UpperEdges Sr. Director answers 3 questions regarding the Qualtrics IPO and its impact on its customers. 1. How much control do you have in your agreement with Qualtrics now and in the future? 2. If considering a major investment in Qualtrics, or the C/4HANA Suite, should you buy now or wait until after the IPO? 3. How does this all fit with your plans to migrate from ECC to S/4? Host: Chip Hanna: https://bit.ly/37gknCk SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb

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