By Evan Boyd
As I was enjoying time off over the holidays, I began to reflect on the upcoming year, as well as the past. I began to think about our clients, who had so much opportunity to take control of their Oracle spend and where they are today.
I also thought of the people I speak with who ultimately opt to take on Oracle alone. This is the thing about hiring a consultant, we face people within companies who feel they know more or are threatened by the help of a consultant. These are people who tend to do the opposite of what we advise, leading to unfavorable results. To follow our advice will mean saving money and perhaps even jobs.
A Tale of Two Companies
At their best, consultants are much like attorneys. Our job is to understand a complex system and help clients navigate it to the best possible outcomes. At SLC, we’ve worked at scale for more than 20 years, helping companies save billions of dollars in Oracle costs along the way. This all reminds me of experiences with two very different companies.
Two large companies came to us in 2019 looking for answers on how to reduce their spends of about $25 million annually, mostly wrapped up in unlimited license agreements.
For Company A, a large manufacturer with a global presence, we made recommendations based on an extensive review into current usage, road mapping exercises and financial modeling. That recommendation was to let us help them reduce their inflated license count to what was truly in use. The result was a multimillion-dollar reduction in spend and still there were excess licenses with an eye toward future growth.
For Company B, a global transportation company, we saw the same scenario and made the same recommendations, however, they decided not to move forward. We’re not sure why, but it could be myriad reason – fear of retaliation, close relationships with sales reps, fear of looking bad to leadership. Whatever the reason, they maintained the status quo.
Fast forward to 2023 and Company A still has not needed additional licenses and there have been no significant increases in spend since our engagement five years ago. Company B, on the other hand, returned to us in 2023 looking for the same help as before. Only now their spend had increased from $25 million to $75 million!
What’s the lesson? Oracle will give you the best advice to the benefit of Oracle. It’s important to have expert Oracle navigators on your side to right-size costs to your company’s actual needs.
