Insights for IT Negotiations

Hosted by UpperEdge

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Episodes

403

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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EN-US

About the show

The world's most trusted IT negotiation advisors for innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation strategies

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60 recent

October 8, 202624 min

5 Most Common Enterprise SaaS Negotiation Mistakes

Adam Mansfield sees the same five mistakes derail enterprise SaaS and AI negotiations over and over: no unified message across IT, procurement, and the business; too much focus on what's new and not enough on what you already own; starting the renewal process far too late; failing to force licensing and consumption transparency; and fixating on upfront cost while ignoring what the deal costs over the term. In this episode, Adam explains which mistakes do the most financial damage, why vendors are happy to see you make them, and what enterprises can do before the next renewal to correct course. His rule of thumb on timing alone is worth the listen: when you cut the check for the final year of your deal, your renewal work starts. Resources: BLOG - SaaS Vendors Push Consumption-Based Licensing for AI Offerings: What Customers Need to Know PODCAST - The Hidden Risk in SaaS Renewals: Consumption-Based Products Excluded from Protections About the Show: Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project execution advisory firm. Join Adam Mansfield UpperEdge’s SaaS Leader, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, as they share valuable insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships. Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:59 The Five Most Common SaaS and AI Negotiation Mistakes 2:53 Mistake 1 and 2: No Unified Message, No Look Back at What You Own 6:13 Mistake 3 and 4: Not Enough Runway, Not Enough Transparency 8:52 Mistake 5: Focusing Too Much on Upfront Cost 12:20 Which Mistake Costs Enterprises the Most 19:23 How to Correct These Mistakes Before Your Next Renewal

September 4, 20267 min

What do Salesforce's New Editions and Bundles Mean for Salesforce Customers?

Salesforce made a major announcement on September 3, 2026: new Agentforce Sales, Service, and Industries editions have been rolled out...there three (3) new editions — Core, Advanced, and Max. And notably, Salesforce described "legacy" Enterprise and Unlimited editions appear to have removed from Salesforce's website.In this video, Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down what we know so far and what it means for Salesforce customers:• What's bundled into the new editions — Agentforce, Slack (Slackbot), Tableau Next, enterprise data security, and Premier Success Plans• How Flex Credit thresholds work across Core (500K), Advanced (1M), and Max (2.75M) — and why this is a hybrid consumption-based model• The real list price impact: Core at $195/user/month (up 11% vs. Enterprise), Advanced at $395/user/month (up 13% vs. Unlimited), and Max at $550/user/month (no uplift to Agentforce 1)• Why Salesforce's "more value" claims need to be pressure tested• How this mirrors ServiceNow's recent shift to Foundation, Advanced, and Prime editions• The key questions to ask now: Can you still renew on Enterprise or Unlimited? Does your renewal protection still hold? What happens when you exceed credit thresholds? With Dreamforce right around the corner, more updates are coming, and Salesforce's sales organization already has a playbook. Make sure you have yours.Don't forget to like & subscribe for more insights!

September 2, 20264 min

Think Your SaaS Renewal Cap Protects You? Read the Fine Print

Many organizations heading into SaaS renewals this year and next feel confident: they negotiated price caps, price transparency, and renewal protections, so the noise about vendor price uplifts doesn't apply to them. Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, explains why that confidence may be misplaced.Most renewal protections come with conditions buried in the fine print. Two of the most common: the product or SKU you licensed has to still be available, and you have to maintain a certain volume, product set, or spend level. In 2026, SaaS vendors like ServiceNow and Salesforce are repackaging, rebundling, and relicensing their products into new tiers built around AI. When your licensed SKU gets renamed or retired, that renewal protection can disappear with it.Adam also breaks down how consumption-based AI offerings compound the problem. Unexpected consumption overages don't just hit your budget mid-term; they get added to the base you're required to maintain at renewal, locking in costs you never planned for just to keep your cap.With vendors expected to keep evolving their licensing and packaging through 2026 and into 2027, Adam's advice is clear: read your renewal language now, build your internal plan, and start conditioning your SaaS vendor with the right people at the right time before the cap you budgeted around is no longer there.Don't forget to like & subscribe for more insights!

September 1, 20265 min

3 Questions Every Company Must Ask Their SaaS Vendor Before Renewing

Approaching a SaaS renewal or fielding a pitch for new products, upgrades, or AI offerings? Before you ever talk pricing, there are three questions your entire team — procurement, IT, and line of business — should be consistently putting in front of your vendor.In this video, Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the three questions that shift leverage back to you:1️⃣ Show me the value — Walk me through what I'm actually getting from the products I'm already paying for before we discuss anything new.2️⃣ Give me full transparency — Before pricing, discounts, or free periods, explain the licensing metrics, definitions, usage forecasting, and expected ROI — tailored to my company and industry, especially for AI and consumption-based offerings.3️⃣ What happens if I don't get the value? — Can I cancel or downgrade without a negative impact? Your vendor's answer to this question tells you everything about the flexibility you're really being offered.A unified, consistent message across everyone who interacts with your vendor is key to driving accountability and better outcomes in your next negotiation.Don't forget to like & subscribe for more insights!

August 31, 20269 min

Salesforce Q2 FY27 Earnings and Claudeforce: What It Means for Your Negotiation

Salesforce just reported Q2 FY27 earnings — and dropped a major announcement alongside Anthropic: Claudeforce. In this video, Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the numbers behind the earnings call and what the new Claudeforce offering could mean for your Salesforce (and Anthropic) relationship.Adam covers:• The Claudeforce announcement — Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's CNBC reveal ahead of the Q2 FY27 Earnings all, and why it will likely require two separate contracts (your Anthropic/Claude agreement and a commercial negotiation with Salesforce for the "Salesforce in Claude" plug-in)• Why the expected, "headless consumption pricing" tied to the "Salesforce in Claude" component of Claudeforce raises real questions around transparency, forecasting, and how credits and overages will work• Total revenue of $11.35B, up 11% and ahead of the ~$11.32B analysts expected• RPO of $66.3B (up 11%) and cRPO of $33.5B (up 14%) — both key leverage numbers tied to your outer-year commitments• Declining revenue in Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and integration/analytics (MuleSoft, Tableau) — and how that creates trading room in a holistic negotiation• Agentforce and Data Cloud AI annualized revenue of $3.9B, up 210% — with Agentforce itself at ~$1.5B (up 240%) and Data 360 at ~$2.4B (up 100%, nearly half tied to Informatica)• Why Salesforce quietly stopped reporting Agentforce deal counts and $1M/year customer numbers after Q3/Q4 FY26 — and what that silence likely signals• Raised full-year revenue guidance to a $46.25B midpoint, beating analyst expectations• How to use Dreamforce, Salesforce's early renewal push, and its need for Agentforce wins as leverage in your ownBottom line: Salesforce needs these deals as much as you need the platform. Approach this holistically, make Salesforce earn your commitment, and remember — you're the one making them an offer.

August 21, 202621 min

Why Vendors Win at Renewal: Your 9-Month Prep Playbook

Learn when your organization should actually start preparing for SaaS renewals and why timing matters far more than most procurement teams realize. In this episode, Adam breaks down the real timeline for managing enterprise renewals, the critical prep work that determines deal quality, and what to do if you've already fallen behind. Whether you're facing a renewal in months or managing unexpected add-ons before your contract expires, you'll walk away with actionable priorities: establishing control of vendor conversations, auditing what you're actually using, and understanding what good pricing looks like right now. Perfect for CIOs, procurement leaders, and IT decision makers navigating Salesforce, Microsoft, ServiceNow, and other major vendor renewals. Resources: WEBINAR - https://upperedge.com/knowledge-center/webinars/event/proven-negotiation-strategies-for-todays-salesforce/ BLOG - Salesforce’s Outcome-Based Pricing for Agentforce Help Agent: What Enterprise Buyers Need to Negotiate Now - https://upperedge.com/salesforce/sale... About the Show: Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project execution advisory firm. Join Adam Mansfield UpperEdge’s SaaS Leader, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, as they share valuable insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction | Why Timing Matters in SaaS Renewals 2:03 - The Most Common Question | When Should You Start Preparing for Renewal? 4:34 - The 9-Month Rule | Adam's Framework for Renewal Timing 5:35 - What "Prep Work" Really Means | Beyond the Negotiation 9:36 - Running Behind? | How to Recover When You Don't Have 9 Months 12:23 - Understanding What "Good" Looks Like | Benchmarking in Real-Time 13:38 - Add-Ons Mid-Contract | Navigating Interim Purchases Before Renewal 15:50 - The Unified Message Strategy | Keeping Your Organization Aligned When Time is Tight 17:49 - Co-Terming Strategy | When and Why to Align Renewal Dates 19:15 - What's Next | Salesforce Deep-Dive and Dreamforce Preview

August 19, 20266 min

Microsoft's M365 Copilot Push: What CIOs Should Expect at Renewal

Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge and leading Microsoft Negotiation Advisor, breaks down why Microsoft is aggressively pushing M365 Copilot adoption and/or accelerated usage at renewal time — even when customers want to stay flat or scale back their M365 Copilot volumes.Drawing from recent conversations with CIOs at some of Microsoft's largest customers, Adam explains why Microsoft can't afford flat or declining M365 Copilot numbers. On a recent earnings call, CFO Amy Hood revealed 30 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats — up from 20 million the prior quarter, but still only about 7% of Microsoft's 450 million paid Microsoft 365 seats. That gap is driving urgency across the sales organization and investors are paying attention.Adam walks through what IT leaders should expect heading into a renewal: aggressive discounting tied to growth-based proposals, price increases on other core Microsoft products (M365 E3, E5, PowerBI, SQL...etc.) being renewed, E5-to-E7 upsell pitches designed to bundle in M365 Copilot (which is in M365 E7) regardless of where this was asked for. He also covers why renewal protections tied to discount percentage (rather than a price cap) may not protect you the way you think.The takeaway: Microsoft's need for Microsoft 365 Copilot growth creates real leverage for customers — but only if they go in prepared with the right intelligence, strategy, and messaging to deliver to Microsoft.

August 11, 20267 min

Microsoft's FY26 Q4 Earnings: What the Numbers Mean for Your Next Negotiation

Microsoft just closed out fiscal year 2026 with $90 billion in Q4 revenue, up 18% and beating analyst expectations. In this video, Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the key results from the earnings call — and more importantly, what they mean for customers heading into renewals and negotiations. Adam covers: The headline numbers: $90B total revenue, 67% gross margins, and cloud revenue of $59.3B (up 27%) Why M365 commercial cloud growth slowed to 14% from 18% a year ago — and what's driving ARPU (premium offerings, Copilot, E5, and early E7 traction) What "30 million+ paid Copilot seats" really means, and why actual usage matters more than what's in the CPS Microsoft's aggressive E7 push — why "hundreds of customers" tells you they didn't hit their internal targets, and the pressure coming to your next renewal The protections you must secure on E7 deals: interim price protections, renewal price protections, and significant, appropriate rollout funding Satya Nadella's own words on E7's hybrid seat-based and usage-based model — and why you need to understand and track the consumption metrics and definitions Azure's 43% growth and why holistic, unified negotiations across Azure, M365, LinkedIn, and D365 are your biggest lever How to paint the future opportunity — and when to play hardball if Microsoft won't structure the deal for what you need today Microsoft is telling the financial community it will accelerate revenue growth this fiscal year. They need you to adopt and use — so make them earn it.

July 23, 202618 min

Outcome-Based Pricing: What Salesforce's Pay-Per-Resolution Model Really Means

Salesforce just shook up its Agentforce Help Agent pricing, moving from per-conversation consumption pricing to pay-per-resolution. Sounds like a win for customers, but is it?UpperEdge's Salesforce Practice Leader Adam Mansfield breaks down what "resolution" actually means, the resolution-pack mechanics customers need to watch for, and why this shift is really about Salesforce's revenue goals and AI credibility push. Plus: how to use this moment to renegotiate your entire Salesforce relationship, not just Agentforce. In this episode: What Salesforce's new outcome-based pricing model actually changes How "resolution" is defined and why the fine print matters The hidden consumption element inside resolution packs Why Salesforce made this move now (hint: it's not just customer-friendly) Negotiation tactics for your broader Salesforce relationship Resources: BLOG - Salesforce’s Outcome-Based Pricing for Agentforce Help Agent: What Enterprise Buyers Need to Negotiate Now PODCAST - Salesforce's New Agentforce Help Agent Pricing: What Outcome-Based Licensing Really Means for You About the Show: Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project execution advisory firm. Join Adam Mansfield UpperEdge’s SaaS Leader, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, as they share valuable insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships. Chapters: 00:00 – Cold Open: The Consumption Pricing Horror Stories 00:17 – Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations 01:34 – Salesforce's Big Pricing Announcement 01:56 – What Agentforce Help Agent Actually Is 03:35 – The Mechanics: $2 Per Resolution Explained 04:12 – What Counts as a "Resolution"? 04:59 – The Hidden Consumption Element (Resolution Packs) 06:33 – Why Is Salesforce Making This Shift Now? 09:39 – A Word From UpperEdge 09:57 – Is This Actually Good for Customers? 13:19 – Negotiation Tips for Adopting Help Agent 15:04 – Using This Moment to Renegotiate Your Whole Salesforce Deal 17:35 – Wrap-Up & Where to Learn More

July 2, 20266 min

Microsoft Copilot Cowork Pricing Explained: The Hybrid Cost Trap

Adam Mansfield, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down Microsoft Copilot Cowork — now generally available and priced on a consumption basis. Adam explains why the model is actually hybrid (not just consumption), what customers need to do with their Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions, and how Copilot Cowork credits, pay-as-you-go rates, and P3 volume commitments work.He covers the risks of inaccurate usage forecasting, why "standard" discounting and P3 pricing structures are not good enough, and the negotiation levers customers have that need to be deployed across all components tied to the enterprise user profile (Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Cowork) and the larger Microsoft relationship — from renewal protections to bundling into the holistic negotiation other Microsoft commitments to things like Azure, LinkedIn, and other key products Microsoft is interest in getting customers to adopt (i.e., GitHub Copilot).Don't forget to like & subscribe for more insights!