Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support
Responsibly and effectively reduce software support spend.
- Perpetual software maintenance (SW M&S) is an annual budget cost that increases almost yearly. You don’t really know if there is value in it, if its required by the vendor, or if there are opportunities for cost savings.
- Most organizations never reap the full benefits of software M&S. They blindly send renewal fees to the vendor every year without validating their needs or the value of the maintenance. In addition, your vendor maintenance may be under contract and you aren’t sure what the obligations are for both parties.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Analyzing the benefits contained within a vendor’s software M&S will provide the actual cost value of the M&S and whether there are critical support requirements vs. “nice to have” benefits.
- Understanding the value and your requirement for M&S will allow you to make an informed decision on how best to optimize and reduce your annual software M&S spend.
- Use a holistic approach when looking to reduce your software M&S spend. Review the entire portfolio for targeted reduction that will result in short- and long-term savings.
- When targeting vendors to negotiate M&S price or coverage reduction, engaging them three to six months in advance of renewal will provide you with more time to effectively negotiate and not fall to the pressure of time.
Impact and Result
- Reduce annual costs for software maintenance and support.
- Complete a value of investment (VOI) analysis of your software M&S for strategic vendors.
- Maximize value of the software M&S by using all the benefits being paid for.
- Right-size support coverage for your requirements.
- Prioritize software vendors to target for cost reduction and optimization.
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 6 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Evaluate
- Call 1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.
Guided Implementation 2: Establish
- Call 1: Assess your existing M&S coverage.
- Call 2: Review your obligations and options – value of M&S discussion.
- Call 3: Classify your software vendors.
Guided Implementation 3: Optimize
- Call 1: Value of your M&S investment – cancellation and third parties.
- Call 2: Create a strategy and plan to reduce and optimize M&S.
Contributors
- Mike Kozlowski, VP Applications, Old Republic Title
- Jomar McDonald, Associate VP of Technology, Adler University
- 8 anonymous company contributors
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