A renewal quote arrived with an uplift, a repricing, or bundled add-ons nobody asked for.
Software Insourcing
RENEWAL DIAGNOSTIC
The renewal quote landed. Audit it before you sign.
A SaaS Renewal Decision Audit is a five-business-day review of one contract before renewal: what you actually use, what the uplift really costs, which negotiation levers move this vendor, and whether renew, renegotiate, switch, consolidate, or build is your best move.
USE THIS WHEN
When this service is the right fit.
Use this service when these conditions are present. If the first move is still unclear, start with the Insourcing Readiness Score.
The contract is material - typically $50K+ per year, or strategically load-bearing at any size.
Nobody inside the company has time to build the usage evidence and negotiation case properly.
You want a recommendation from someone with no reseller commission and nothing to gain from any particular answer.
WHAT YOU GET
What your team can use immediately.
Each engagement leaves evidence, a decision, and a plan owners can execute — with the independence that flat-fee pricing protects.
Deliverables
- Seat and usage audit: licenses assigned vs. actually used, overlap with tools you already pay for.
- Contract review: uplift mechanics, escalators, auto-renew terms, and cap opportunities.
- Market read: what comparable companies pay and which alternatives are credible for your workload.
- The five-option call: renew, renegotiate, switch, consolidate, or build - with the reasoning shown.
- Negotiation brief: the levers, sequencing, and walk-away positions for this specific vendor.
- A board-ready memo you can forward without editing.
Where we hold the line
- We hold no reseller relationships and take no vendor commissions on any recommendation.
- Diagnostics are priced flat: we earn the same fee whether the answer is renew, renegotiate, or build.
- If the right answer is a build, that becomes a separately scoped decision - never a default.
SAMPLE SITUATIONS
The decision belongs in a workflow, not a pitch.
These examples show the before and after state. The actual engagement is scoped around your contracts, systems, spend, and team.
The uplift response
- Before
- A 40% renewal increase lands 30 days out and the team scrambles or just signs.
- After
- Usage evidence, cap language, and credible alternatives are on the table before the vendor call.
Seat reality check
- Before
- Licenses renew at last year's count plus growth, on habit.
- After
- Unused seats, ghost assignments, and overlapping tools are identified and priced before renewal.
The escalation clause
- Before
- Auto-renewal terms and escalators are discovered after they have already triggered.
- After
- Renewal calendar, notice windows, and cap opportunities are documented while leverage still exists.
HOW WE WORK
Evidence first. Decision second. Independence always.
The cadence is deliberately practical: scope, gather the evidence, run the math, and hand back a decision your team can defend.
- 01
Kickoff call to scope the contract, the renewal date, and the decision deadline.
- 02
Usage, seat, and spend evidence gathered from your admin consoles and invoices.
- 03
Contract and market analysis against comparable deals and credible alternatives.
- 04
Executive readout with the recommendation, the negotiation brief, and the memo.
RELATED SERVICES
Choose the next relevant step.
Use these services to move from one decision to the next: audit a contract, triage the stack, execute a build, or install a standing discipline.
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FAQ
Questions leaders usually ask.
Are you a SaaS negotiation platform?
No. Platforms charge annual subscriptions and their model depends on your continued software spend. This is a flat-fee decision engagement on one contract: it ends, you keep the memo, and there is no subscription.
What if the right answer is just to renew?
Then that is the recommendation, with the reasoning and any cap or term improvements worth requesting. We earn the same fee for a renew call as for anything else - that independence is the point of the engagement.
Can you run the negotiation for us?
The audit produces the negotiation brief and we coach your team through it. If you want us in the room, that is scoped as a short extension - but most teams close the gap themselves once they have the evidence.
Do you handle cloud bills or only SaaS contracts?
Both. A cloud commitment renewal - reserved instances, savings plans, or an enterprise agreement - runs through the same audit with infrastructure-specific analysis.
When should we start relative to the renewal date?
Ninety days out is ideal; the audit takes five business days, and leverage improves the earlier the evidence exists. Inside 30 days we can still move, but auto-renew notice windows may already limit options.