Situation
A global leader in infrastructure protection, shielding technology, and energy services with over 8,000 employees and over $1B in revenue. Client was conducting an HCM transformation initiative in a highly competitive multi-vendor bid process. Client ultimately selected Oracle’s Fusion and Taleo solutions and a niche system implementation partner. The client faced several challenges:
- Limited experience orchestrating a competitive bid process and soliciting comprehensive proposals
- Lack of understanding regarding Oracle’s business practices and negotiating strategies
- Limited knowledge of market competitive pricing and commercial arrangements
- Timing pressure to replace legacy systems
Action
UpperEdge provided key guidance and assistance throughout the entire evaluation, selection, and negotiation process. Specifically, UpperEdge:
- Developed a negotiation timeline based on UpperEdge best practices to most effectively leverage the competitive environment
- Solicited vendor information relevant for decision making which allowed each vendor to distinguish themselves and persuade the client as to why they were the best partner to meet client requirements
- Conducted a comprehensive review and analysis of all proposed commercial offerings
- Provided precise intelligence based on UpperEdge’s extensive experience negotiating with all vendors
- Coached the client behind the scenes throughout negotiations with Oracle to ensure the client achieved a comprehensive and holistic commercial deal construct
Results
Utilizing strategies, insights, benchmarks and the execution approach provided by UpperEdge, the client was able to achieve a best-in-class financial and commercial deal construct for Oracle’s HCM Fusion and Taleo cloud solutions as well as a highly competitive implementation services agreement with a niche implementation partner. The client’s achievements included:
- 5 year TCO savings of over $930k from the original proposals while greatly increasing the BOM in both products and number of users
- Renewal price protections delivering 9 years of pricing transparency and predictability
- Ability to terminate for convenience for a limited time period
- SI rate protections for 3 years
