Third-Party Support Licence Advisory
Understand the licensing impacts before you adopt Third-Party Software Support services.
Why licence advisory?
Risk mitigation: A move to Third-Party Support often triggers a vendor audit. Get compliant with your software agreements to prevent fines or having to backpay support fees.
Cost control: Use this opportunity to identify unused “shelfware” and optimise your licensing environment, ensuring you only pay support for software your organisation is actually using.
Knowledge is power: A clear view of software usage versus contractual entitlements arms you with data to negotiate confidently with your vendors and chosen support provider.
Why now?
Vendor end-of-life: Certain vendors are ending support for core ERP and/or pushing users onto their cloud platforms. Make informed choices ahead of time so you’re not left scrambling.
Buy time: Extend the life of legacy systems reaching end-of-support deadlines, or get a handle on rising software and support costs while you consider your transformation options.
Identify barriers: Review your current licensing position to identify contractual blockers or hidden contract payouts before you decide on Third-Party Support.
Why Invictus Partners?
End-to-end service: We help you build a business case for TPM, optimise your licensing footprint and the scope of support, negotiate the best deal, and help ensure ongoing compliance.
Relationship management: Moving off vendor support can make things tense. We ensure you maintain good relations with your software vendor and help prevent retaliation.
Vendor-agnostic: We are objective advisors that do not resell, audit or implement software, so our advisory is based solely on your needs and goals. We work across all major software vendors and TPM providers.
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Third-Party Software Support may make financial sense, but is it contractually viable?
Independent TPM providers give organisations a lower-cost alternative to the escalating support and maintenance fees charged by SAP, Oracle and IBM. However, organisations moving to Third-Party Support are at risk of IP infringement and breach of contractual conditions if they do not adequately prepare. Software vendors are even employing tactics to disrupt organisations moving to TPM and “encourage” them to reinstate their support offering. SAP, for example, is focusing audits on clients who no longer have an active maintenance agreement.
For these reasons and more, it is essential to conduct a Software Licence Health Check before you make the decision to move off vendor support.
Our Third-Party Support Service breakdown:
Our Third-Party Support Service breakdown:
Before
Software Licence Health Check
During
Vendor Management & Negotiation Advisory
After
Ongoing Governance
We can provide expert licensing advice before, during and/or after your move to Third-Party Support. We do this in three phases, which are available as an end-to-end service, or as separate engagements.
Phase 1
Software Licence Health Check
We conduct the due diligence required to determine your suitability for Third-Party Support, review your vendor contracts to ensure such a transition is viable, and if so, prepare you for the change impacts involved. This process involves a review of your software usage against entitlements, and guidance on any remediation actions needed to ensure compliance. We determine any shelfware you may have to use as leverage in conversations with TPM providers or counter-offers from your software vendor.
Phase 2
Vendor Management & Negotiation Advisory
Most TPM providers will negotiate to get your business, such as offering discounts for shelfware. Invictus Partners can manage the TPM negotiation process to ensure your organisation secures the best deal. We also actively participate in the vendor support offboarding process to ensure you are fairly treated by your vendors and leave on good terms.
Phase 3
Ongoing Governance
After switching to TPM, we can provide Software Asset Management best practices to maintain licence compliance and prevent any future violations of your vendor contract.
Download our Third-Party Support Licence Advisory datasheet
Download our Third-Party Support Licence Advisory datasheet
We help organisations all over the world choose their best-fit Third-Party Maintenance providers.
Whether you’re moving your SAP, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce or other enterprise software to Rimini Street, Spinnaker, Origina, US Cloud, Support Revolution, or another TPM provider, we can provide independent, agnostic advice. We advise clients on how to prepare and successfully migrate to Third-Party Support so as to minimise risk and optimise costs, regardless of the software you’re moving off vendor support, or the Third-Party Support provider you decide on.
The Invictus Partners difference: Enterprise Software Support Advisory
Invictus Partners has experienced licensing experts who have an extensive knowledge of the licensing structures and processes of all the major enterprise software vendors. We also have senior resources who have worked in the TPM industry and can provide expert guidance on how to minimise your risk as you consider moving off vendor support. We provide independent advice on whether Third-Party Support is right for you and which providers to consider to help you get the best outcome for your business.
Invictus Partners’ role is to advocate for the best interest of our clients by delivering independent Third-Party Support Licence Advisory services, providing impartial facts, informed insights, and realities by reviewing and analysing software vendors’ licensing terms, agreement structures, release information and go beyond the “glossy brochure” style marketing information. We work with organisations locally and internationally, with clients across Europe, the Middle East, Australia, the UK and the US.
Talk to a Third-Party Support expert
Case Study
Australian Wool Innovation reduces SAP software maintenance costs with Invictus Partners
Case Study
Australian Wool Innovation reduces SAP software maintenance costs with Invictus Partners