Case study
The company went from feeling it wasn’t in a position to negotiate with Oracle to being able to do so with confidence, backed up by data, facts, and expertise.
The challenge
After completing a merger, a technology company producing entertainment-related products was faced with a crucial decision regarding their relationship with Oracle. The company had been running on Oracle for many years, mainly using Oracle’s database technologies. The merger meant that the company expanded to use Oracle’s ERP systems as well, and also had to decide whether to take on the Oracle ULA of the business they had merged with, or seek certification with Oracle instead. The merger triggered an automatic renegotiation of the ULA. The company extended the ULA and a support contract.
However, the company wanted a better solution in the long term that included a deeper understanding of their Oracle usage, so that four years later, when their contract would come up again, they could make an informed choice about whether to continue with the ULA. Faced with this choice after the merger, executives at the technology company quickly realized they lacked sufficient knowledge about Oracle’s licensing processes to make an informed decision. The company had little insight into Oracle and license usage across the merged organizations and also did not understand the full ramifications of signing on to a ULA.
Also, the company recognized that it was not licensed to run any Oracle products on its preferred environment: VMware. Their Oracle rep was pushing hard for the adoption of a renewed ULA. Unable to audit themselves, the company’s leaders were hesitant to do so until they had a better grasp on their current and future needs with Oracle. The cost of the suggested ULA was also significant, at nearly $10 million.
Our solution
After extensive research, the company identified Palisade Compliance as a knowledgeable partner that could help navigate the negotiation process. Over the course of four years, we worked closely with the company to negotiate a certification instead of a ULA, which resulted in over $5 million in savings.
We started by educating executives and hands-on staff about Oracle’s licensing processes, and how the company was actually using Oracle currently. When examining their actual deployments, the company realized that it was not utilizing the full potential of its original ULA. This indicated that the cost of support it had been paying for Oracle and would pay in the future simply wasn’t warranted. The company felt confident after working with us that they could avoid the new ULA and instead just purchase a more limited number of licenses to save money.
The company also benefited in negotiations with Oracle because we provided technical scripts to run license checks and all necessary documentation to prove to Oracle what the company was and wasn’t actually using. The company was able to establish the total number of licenses that it would be entitled to or required to license for any ULA support. And we raised awareness about Oracle’s technology components (such as using Oracle database versus a RAC) and the difference in their licensing.
Palisade Compliance worked to negotiate a certification that resulted in over $5 million in savings.
The entire partnership with Palisade Compliance finally provided the company with a complete understanding of its single points of failure in its Oracle contracts. The company was able to see how to use Oracle optimally without overpaying because of the extensive knowledge boost and insight that working with us provided.
Also, the company was able to avoid a costly, time-consuming audit from Oracle because we helped it generate all the certification documentation and data needed for the certification process. We also operated with a minimum disclosure strategy so the company was not revealing more than it should and not ceding all leverage to Oracle.
The process revealed that by the time the negotiations were occurring, the company’s ULA had expired prior to the support contract, so it was paying for support it couldn’t use.
The outcome
The company opted for the certification rather than a ULA because the partnership with us increased confidence about the specific license entitlement of Oracle products that would support the business. The company also exited Oracle support and went with third-party support after recognizing it was not getting the support it needed. The end result was the business created not only a more resilient platform, but also one that had room for future growth.
We coached the company’s leaders on how to speak with Oracle during negotiations and supplied the necessary analysis to separate Oracle’s assertions from reality. We were able to show the business that if it negotiated its ULA and committed to buying Oracle Cloud for a year, it would reduce costs dramatically. That saved the company millions of dollars.
Company executives expressed that they could not have been more satisfied with the relationship with us. Finally understanding how their company was using Oracle was invaluable information. The company went from a purely reactive posture with Oracle to one in which it was implementing and negotiating with Oracle in the context of a longer-term strategy aligned with the goals of the business. The result was a much better deal financially than Oracle had originally proposed to the company. The company went from feeling it wasn’t in a position to negotiate with Oracle to being able to do so with confidence, backed up by data, facts, and expertise. And the money the company saved could be put to use by IT on other technological efforts to help the company grow in the long term.