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Enterprise technology and procurement team reviewing IBM contracts
Services

Three independent practices for the IBM software estate. One firm.

Whether you are tightening an entitlement position, defending an active audit, or going into a renewal, you should work with advisors whose only revenue comes from clients. We are not an IBM Business Partner, reseller, or affiliate.

Practice Areas

Pick the practice that fits the moment, or engage across all three for a strategic IBM relationship.

Most engagements begin with a specific event, an inbound audit letter, a looming renewal, a Cloud Pak deployment, or a stalled ILMT. Many enterprises expand the engagement once they see the impact, then keep us on retainer across the full IBM relationship. Read why our independence matters and explore each practice below.

Analyst reviewing license metric data on screen
Practice 01

IBM License Consulting

Full advisory across the IBM portfolio: sub capacity, ILMT, PVU, Passport Advantage, Cloud Paks, Red Hat, mainframe, middleware, and database.

  • Entitlement reconciliation
  • Sub capacity health and ILMT readiness
  • Cloud Pak entitlement modelling
  • License harvesting and rationalization
Explore the practice
Legal and compliance team reviewing audit documentation
Practice 02

IBM Audit Defense

End to end client side response to an IBM software audit. We intercept the auditor, manage the data review, dispute findings, and lead settlement.

  • Audit notification interception
  • Data review and validation
  • Dispute and rebuttal strategy
  • Settlement negotiation
Explore the practice
Executives in a contract negotiation session
Practice 03

IBM Contract Negotiation

Renewal strategy, benchmark intelligence, discount structures, and multi year agreement design across the Fortune 500 IBM customer base.

  • Renewal preparation and timing
  • Discount tier benchmarks
  • Multi year and swap rights
  • ELA versus Passport Advantage
Explore the practice
Outcomes

The numbers behind the model.

500+
Enterprise engagements completed
35%
Average cost reduction realized
$2.1B+
IBM software spend advised
100%
Independent of IBM since founding
How we engage

Four engagement structures depending on the moment.

Diagnostic. A two to four week assessment of the current state across entitlement, deployment, and contract. Output is a written diagnostic with quantified savings and risk reduction estimates. Read the sub capacity handbook and the ILMT playbook for examples of the depth we apply.

Audit defense engagement. Triggered by a specific IBM audit. Engagement runs from the audit letter through settlement and post audit cleanup. See the audit defense page for the typical timeline.

Renewal sprint. A focused twelve to twenty week engagement around a Passport Advantage anniversary or a multi year ELA expiry. See the negotiation page for scope.

Strategic retainer. Quarterly cadence retainer for enterprises with an active and changing IBM estate. Often follows a successful first engagement. Read about the firm operating model on the about page.

Decision tree

Pick the right starting point.

Active audit letter: start with audit defense.

Renewal in the next nine months: start with negotiation.

Cloud Pak or Red Hat rollout coming: start with license consulting.

Suspect sub capacity exposure: start with a sub capacity diagnostic.

Just want an independent read: start with a short conversation.

Ready for an independent read?

A senior advisor reviews your situation and recommends the right engagement structure within 24 hours.