How One Tech Company Cut Through Licensing Complexity 

THE CHALLENGE 

Our client, a USA-based tech giant, wanted to streamline a major revenue stream: service coverage revenue tied to large volume licensing agreements in the public and private sectors. These agreements use a simple calculation based on a percentage of an organization’s annual license spend, which works well when each agency or department purchases and manages its own software. 

The problem arises when a head office purchases licensing on behalf of many affiliates and subsidiaries. Our client has little visibility into how those licenses are distributed across regions, affiliates, or agencies. As a result, the system calculates service pricing as if the head offices intend to cover every affiliate, even when many of those affiliates have their own IT teams and support structures. This creates a service bill that is far higher than what the tech giant’s customer expects or needs. 

This issue surfaced in a significant way with our client’s customer, a government in Asia. Their central office held the license agreement for more than 100 affiliates, including major departments such as Police and Education. When they requested service coverage, the automated calculation produced an estimated list price of just under $7M dollars for the first year. The customer wanted a plan that covered only selected affiliates for specific license types. To move forward, our client’s sales and pricing teams needed to pinpoint which licenses belonged to which agencies and build a service proposal that matched those exact requirements. 

The complexity of this task meant that tools alone could not solve the problem. An experienced partner was needed to interpret licensing data, guide internal discussions, and produce an accurate and fair model that the customer could approve. We stepped in to lead that work. 

WHY WE WERE SELECTED 

Our client  turned to us because of our long tenure working within their pricing and licensing ecosystem. Our specialists bring more than a decade of direct experience across licensing, contract structure, and revenue planning. 

For this engagement, my team and I led the work in partnership with several stakeholders across the client’s organization.  

Our familiarity with both the business model and the internal systems allowed us to accurately review usage, confirm license allocations, and develop a structure that met the customer’s needs while staying within required guidelines. Additionally, our prior projects with the sales team created trust, shared understanding, and a strong foundation for collaboration. 

THE SOLUTION 

We partnered with our client’s sales team to understand what the customer needed and how their licenses were used across internal groups. Using multiple internal systems, we validated each set of licenses, confirmed their functional allocation, and rebuilt the analysis from the ground up. 

The goal was to create a service structure that reflected real usage rather than a single aggregated purchase amount. This provided clarity for the customer and gave the sales team a model that aligned with internal policies. 

Our approach also created a repeatable framework for future engagements involving centralized purchasing and large multi-group license footprints. 

Phase 1: Discovery and Validation
• Reviewed all available data across internal tools to confirm how licenses were allocated.
• Identified discrepancies between centralized purchasing records and actual usage.
• Collaborated with the sales team to confirm service expectations for each internal group.
• Documented the scope required to prepare a sustainable pricing model. 

Phase 2: Pricing Analysis and Structure
• Calculated service costs for individual groups to establish baseline comparisons.
• Modeled combined service scenarios to show how rate brackets influenced total cost.
• Prepared a service structure aligned with the client’s expectations and internal guidelines.
• Ensured all work met legal and ethical requirements. 

Phase 3: Final Review and Proposal Support
• Created a clear pricing framework that reflected actual license distribution.
• Prepared detailed calculations for the sales team to support internal reviews.
• Built documentation that could be reused for future renewals.
• Helped our client present a model that gave their customer clarity and confidence. 

We delivered detailed documentation of the calculations, structure, and validation steps. This ensures our client’s sales and pricing teams can repeat the process for future renewals or for other customers with similar centralized purchasing challenges. 

Our client’s customer now has a clear and sustainable path for yearly renewal reviews. Our client can apply this framework across similar accounts, saving time and maintaining clarity across all teams involved.

THE RESULTS 

Our analysis showed that purchasing service agreements separately would have resulted in a combined cost of more than twelve million dollars for the customer’s internal groups. By validating actual usage and combining the coverage under a single agreement, the customer qualified for more favorable rate brackets. 

Our goal was to bring clarity to complex licensing renewals. By validating each allocation and rebuilding the structure with care, we helped our client present a model their customer could trust. Clear analysis and strong collaboration made the results possible.

Chad Hartley, Senior Delivery Manager, Beyondsoft 

The final approved service structure came in at $6.34 million for the first year, matching the tech giant’s initial target range and giving the customer a clear understanding of how the cost was calculated. 

This work secured a major service win for our client. The contract received attention across the company, and our contribution was recognized in company-wide communication. 

NEXT STEPS 

If your organization manages complex licensing portfolios and you want to create a clear path to renewal, our team is ready to share what this approach could look like for you. Get in touch with us.