Most of what you can save does not require changing a single provider.
The bill grew by accretion. The savings come from reading it properly.
How it works
The call usually comes after a budget cycle, or after an invoice arrives that nobody can explain. Someone has been asked to take a number out of the run rate, and the only lever anyone can name is headcount. Meanwhile the technology spend has not been read line by line in years, because reading it properly means reconciling contracts, invoices, and what is actually in use, and those three have never agreed.
We start by building the list. Every circuit, seat, license, and renewal date, with an owner named against each. From there the work splits into four parts: reconciling invoices against contracts, finding what is billed but not used, benchmarking what you pay against what the same service closes at today, and setting a renewal calendar so the next negotiation starts before the notice window shuts. Almost none of it depends on ripping anything out.
There is no product to sell. Compensation comes from the vendors through the TSD model, so the engagement carries no cost to you and the recommendation follows the requirements rather than a quota.
Start where it applies
Nobody can produce a current list of what you pay for
An invoice moved and nobody can say why
A renewal is close and you have nothing to compare against
You took costs out last year and they came back
Inventory and Baseline
You cannot negotiate what you cannot list. Most organizations can produce an invoice total and not the line items behind it, which is why the same service gets bought twice and cancelled services keep billing. This step produces the list, with a name against every line.
What gets collected
- Every circuit, seat, license, and subscription, with the contract behind it
- Contract end dates and the notice window that precedes each one
- Which cost center pays for each line and who approved it
- Services still billing against sites, staff, or projects that ended
- Anything bought on an expense report that never reached procurement
The list itself is usually the finding. A decommissioned circuit that kept billing for three years is not a negotiation, it is a refund request, and it is the most common thing we turn up in the first week.
Invoice and Contract Reconciliation
Contracts and invoices drift apart quietly. Rates get applied that were never agreed, promotional pricing lapses without notice, and surcharges appear that nobody reads closely enough to question. This step puts the two documents side by side.
What gets checked
- Billed rates against the rates the contract actually specifies
- Promotional or introductory pricing that has quietly expired
- Surcharges, regulatory fees, and pass-throughs, and whether they are contractually allowed
- Quantities billed against quantities actually deployed
- Credits owed for outages, missed service levels, or billing errors
Billing errors correct going forward once you raise them. They rarely correct backwards unless someone asks, and most contracts limit how far back you can ask. That window is why this step goes early.
Benchmark and Renegotiation
A single buyer sees one quote and has no way to know whether it is a good one. Pricing only becomes negotiable when you can show what the same service is closing at elsewhere. This step builds that comparison and then uses it.
What gets compared
- What each service is closing at today across current contracts in the market
- What the incumbent will offer to retain the account rather than lose it
- What the same requirement costs from providers you have not asked
- Term length and volume commitments against the discount they actually buy
- What the price becomes at renewal once year one pricing ends
The incumbent is usually the cheapest path to a better number, because retention costs them less than winning you back later. That only works if they believe the comparison is real.
Renewal Calendar and Governance
Savings nobody maintains come back within a year. Auto-renewal is the mechanism, and it works because notice windows close quietly. This step makes the next cycle deliberate.
What gets put in place
- A renewal calendar with every notice window marked and dated
- A named owner on every contract, not a shared inbox
- A standing review before anything auto-renews
- A simple rule for what gets compared and what gets left alone
- The inventory kept current rather than rebuilt from scratch each time
Most cost programs succeed once and then decay. The difference is whether the notice window lands on someone's calendar ninety days out, or whether the renewal is discovered on the invoice.
How the engagement runs
Understand your environment
Current inventory, contract dates, sites, and what the business actually needs the technology to do.
Define where you want to go
Target state, growth requirements, and success criteria, all agreed before a single vendor is contacted.
Evaluate solutions
The requirement goes to every provider that can meet it, and the responses come back on terms that can be read side by side.
Define a solution and negotiate terms
Pricing, term length, service levels, and exit language are settled before signature rather than discovered on the first invoice.
Oversee activation
We stay in the project through installation, porting, and acceptance, and we escalate on the client's behalf when dates slip.
What you walk away with
A complete inventory of circuits, seats, licenses, and renewal dates, with an owner named on each line
An exception report listing what is billed but not used, cancelled but still charging, or bought twice
A benchmark comparing what you pay against what each service is closing at today
A renewal calendar with notice windows marked so the next negotiation starts with leverage rather than a deadline
Questions we get
- Is this just a bill audit?
- No. An audit finds errors. This does that, then uses the inventory to renegotiate what is correct but overpriced, and puts a calendar in place so it does not drift back. The audit is the first step, not the product.
- Do we have to switch providers to save anything?
- Usually not. Most of the first pass is refunds, cancellations, and rate corrections on services you keep. Switching is a separate decision, and it gets recommended only when the comparison supports it.
- How are you compensated if you are saving us money?
- Compensation comes from the provider through the TSD model, the same structure that funds their own direct sales teams. There is no percentage of savings and no fee to you, so the recommendation is not tied to how large the number looks.
- We did this two years ago. Is there anything left?
- Usually yes, because the last pass fixed a moment rather than a process. Auto-renewals, new sites, and departmental purchases accumulate again. The better question is whether anyone owns the renewal calendar now.
- When should we start relative to a renewal?
- Roughly 120 days out. Auto-renewal notice windows commonly close 60 to 90 days before term end, and starting inside that window removes most of the leverage.
- How are you paid if the engagement costs us nothing?
- Compensation comes from the provider through the TSD model, which stands for technology services distributor. When a contract is signed, the provider pays a distribution fee that would otherwise go to its own direct sales team. Your pricing comes off the same rate card either way.
- What if the right answer is staying where we are?
- That gets recommended when it is correct. A renegotiated contract with the incumbent, or leaving a working system alone, counts as a finished engagement and gets the same work as a migration.
- When should we start relative to our contract end date?
- Roughly six months out. Auto-renewal notice windows commonly close 60 to 90 days before term end, and starting inside that window removes most of the leverage. Check your specific renewal clause, since the window is the constraint rather than the end date.
The first conversation is a scoping call, not a pitch.
Bring your most recent invoice by vendor, a list of active sites and headcount, and your next renewal date. That is enough to say whether there is anything worth pursuing here.
The first conversation is a scoping call, not a pitch.
We ask what you have, what is expiring, and what is not working, then tell you whether there is work here worth doing. If Elk Run is not the right fit for the decision in front of you, we will say so.