Insights for IT Negotiations

Wall Street expectations were surpassed, significant revenue growth across all of Salesforce’s clouds (i.e. Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Salesforce Platform & Other, and Marketing Cloud & Commerce Cloud) was achieved and FY19 guidance was raised. Based on the extent of coverage during the earnings call and what we are already seeing in the market, MuleSoft is going to be heavily pushed into meeting agendas with current Salesforce customers with the goal of getting customers to adopt MuleSoft as part of the overarching “Land and Expand” sales strategy that is already proving to be succesful.

Recently, our clients have shared with us how increasingly frustrated they are with their cloud vendor's behavior. In some cases, the vendor's aggressive approach has fractured the relationship and even influenced purchasing decisions. Have you experienced any of this upsetting behavior from your cloud vendor? !

With over 2,700 sessions to choose from, Salesforce’s massive conference can be overwhelming. But with the right approach, Dreamforce can be a valuable experience and can even be an opportunity to gain leverage at your next Salesforce renewal. Our tips will help you make the most of this year’s Salesforce conference.

Salesforce is approaching customers ahead of their renewals asking for additional purchases to help them meet their own quarterly goals. Beware of any changes to your price protections and conditions, the language is foggy and seems to be intended to protect Salesforce’s revenue more than customer needs. Whether you have been approached with these changes or not, we expect more customers to be confronted with these sales tactics soon. Rather than letting Salesforce make the discussion about how the customer can spend more, customers should be sure to keep the focus on their needs and the value they receive from Salesforce products.

ServiceNow had another strong quarter beating expectations and reporting significant subscription revenue growth. ServiceNow closed 28 deals in the quarter with an average contract value (“ACV”) of greater than $1M, bringing the total number of customers spending $1M or more annually to an impressive 575. ServiceNow is leveraging the widespread need to make successful digital transformations to elevate awareness of ServiceNow’s products within enterprises to the C-Suite and CEO. ServiceNow is focused on adding new customers but also understands that upsells represent greater opportunity. Whether you are considering ServiceNow for the first time or are already a customer, it is critical that you not only negotiate the proper upfront pricing but ensure you have the proper price protections and flexibility built into your contracts.

Microsoft FY18 Q4 Earnings – Inside the Numbers by UpperEdge

RP implementation projects are large, complex endeavors that can quickly spiral out of control. Blown budgets and delayed implementations are not uncommon, and in the...

Cloud renewals are an opportunity for companies to amend unfavorable terms and ensure they maintain a customer-centric relationship. However, too many companies miss these opportunities because they wrongfully believe they can approach their cloud renewal negotiations the same way their procurement team approaches negotiations when ordering supplies. Here are some of the most common cloud renewal negotiation mistakes we see organizations commit.

Is Your SAP SI Partner Evaluation Missing the Mark? by UpperEdge

All too often we find ourselves engaged with prospective clients that decouple the negotiation of their SAP agreement from their System Implementation (SI) selection, evaluation and negotiation. Before de-coupling, consider these five tenets...