Insights for IT Negotiations

ServiceNow's recent earnings call showed a strong quarter and a confident Bill McDermott who emphasized the company's continued opportunity for growth in a post-COVID-19 world where companies will "embrace permanent transformation". In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, breaks down ServiceNow's "Fast-Start playbook" which features pre-packaged bundles they will be aggressively pushing onto companies. He also warns of the potential downsides of bundling and shares how enterprises can protect themselves from these pitfalls to better ensure long-term value. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt Related Blog: https://bit.ly/2WICJcV

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced their Q1 FY20 earnings which included an announcement that Google Cloud (GCP and G Suite) now has quarterly revenue of $2.78B, giving them a $11B run rate. Both GCP and G Suite continue to maintain strong growth that should not slow down any time soon based on the continued interest from enterprises. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, shares his thoughts on what to expect from Google Cloud and how enterprises with interest in adopting should approach Google with their interest.

Most organizations have shied away from reducing costs of their SAP platform during lean times, but that’s no longer the case considering the breadth and depth of the economic impact of Covid-19. Chip Hanna, UpperEdge’s SAP Practice Director discusses some opportunities around AMS and hosting that companies have to drive down costs. There are a few levers companies can use—commercial levers on existing agreements, operational levers on relationships with AMS and hosting providers, and competitive levers to drive cost negotiations. Host: Chip Hanna: https://bit.ly/37gknCk SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb Related Blog: https://bit.ly/37euUh0

Microsoft outperformed expectations set even before the coronavirus pandemic and beat estimates on the top and bottom lines. Microsoft’s strong quarter was driven by the Commercial Cloud Business, which is largely driven by Azure and Office 365. Though both showed strong growth in Q3, it is important to note that growth for both is slowing down. In the earnings call, Executive VP and CFO, Amy Hood, stated that “Microsoft does well when our customers do well” but what do Microsoft customers need in order to do well? In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares his thoughts on what that means and discusses how enterprises should approach Microsoft during these uncertain times. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

ServiceNow beat guidance and consensus in Q1 FY20 with subscription revenue growing 34%, reaching $995M. ServiceNow’s success is largely tied to the significant growth in the number customers that have expanded their portfolios and are now paying over $1M per year. There has been increased adoption of key products including but not limited to ITSM Pro, HR Service Delivery, and CSM. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares what this impressive quarter means for enterprises and what enterprises interested in becoming a new ServiceNow customer (or adding new products) need to do to prepare for ServiceNow’s revamped sales playbook. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt

The coronavirus pandemic has forced companies to seek financial relief in any way they can. Given the sizable spend tied to IT, many organizations start their cost reduction initiatives with a focus on cloud vendor spend. This is an opportunity for cloud vendors to lean into the relationship and provide win-win support. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares the most frequent requests he hears enterprise customers asking of their IT and cloud vendors.

With all the changes in the market, Oracle is poised to dominate, so long as they are willing to adapt, evolve and potentially trailblaze. Jeff Lazarto, UpperEdge’s Oracle’s Practice Leader, discusses a few of these steps Oracle can take, starting with consolidation of their cloud appications as one business. Bringing in a single, true applications leader, could inturn bring in the additional talent they need to develop applications similar to how Microsoft has done under the helm of Satya Nadella. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3ijfPkH

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, companies are understandably scrambling to reduce costs where they can. But prematurely engaging IT vendors without a well-thought-out plan can cause irreparable harm to your relationships - with both your internal stakeholders and your vendor partners. In this podcast, Practice Leader, Len Riley, shares the lessons he learned when he led cost optimization initiatives at CVS Health during the 2008 financial crisis and discusses the critical internal work that has to be done before engaging the vendor community. Understanding the priorities of internal stakeholders in times of a crisis is an essential step to take before engaging vendor partners. Len covers each of the internal stakeholders you should consider, his prospective on their priorities, and how to navigate these relationships to prepare successful cost-reduction strategies. Host: Len Riley: https://bit.ly/3fqLI99 IT Cost Optimization Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3fnRloI

Javier Soltero, the General Manager and VP of G Suite at Google, recently reported that Google now has 6 million paying business customers. In February of 2019, Google had 5 million paying users and 4 million the year before. Announcements like this further demonstrate the success Google is having in penetrating businesses and gaining adoption. Microsoft is also well aware of Google’s success and has been approaching their base of customers and doing whatever they can to keep Google out. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, shares his perspective on what this all means for enterprises and what you should expect from Google and Microsoft moving forward.

On March 30th, Oracle announced that they are offering free online training and certification courses for Oracle cloud infrastructure and Oracle Autonomous database. Oracle doesn't often offer free resources of this nature but this comes in the midst of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns around the globe. Oracle customers can take advantage of Oracle's free training now through May 15th. To learn more and start your free training, visit Oracle.com. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p