Many organizations still focus heavily on SLA metrics like uptime and ticket closure rates, but those metrics alone do not create strong governance or long-term value. In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, Kylie Chisholm is joined by UpperEdge managed services experts Greg Hall and Ally Kuppens to discuss why the structure behind SLAs is often more important than the metrics themselves.
The conversation explores how modern SLA frameworks support flexibility over long-term managed services agreements, allowing organizations to adapt as business priorities change. Greg and Ally walk through the four core components of an effective SLA framework: risk sharing, SLA adjustment rights, termination for cause, and continuous improvement. They explain how each one helps balance accountability with a healthy provider relationship.
Listeners will come away with practical guidance on how to design SLAs that stay relevant over time, align to real business outcomes, and create shared incentives for continuous improvement in managed services relationships.
Resources:
BLOG - AI and the Future of Managed Services Contracts: Lessons from MSP Earnings Calls
WEBINAR - AI in Managed Services: Bridging the Gap Between Expectations and Reality
About the Show: Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project-execution advisory firm. Join John Belden, UpperEdge’s Chief Research & Strategy Officer, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, every other week as they share high-impact insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships.
Episode Chapters:
00:00 Why SLA Metrics Alone Fall Short
01:02 Introducing the Guests and Today’s Topic
02:57 Why Traditional SLA Approaches No Longer Work
04:53 The Need for Flexible and Elastic SLA Structures
05:47 What an SLA Framework Really Is
06:56 The Four Core Components of an Effective SLA Framework
07:04 Risk Sharing and Creating Real Provider Accountability
09:40 How Risk Sharing Changes MSP Day to Day Behavior
13:29 Managing Providers and Avoiding SLA Gaming
15:33 SLA Adjustment Rights and Evolving Business Priorities
16:02 KPIs vs CPIs and Why the Difference Matters
17:59 How and When Clients Should Adjust SLAs
21:21 Termination for Cause Rights and Healthy Governance
24:32 Continuous Improvement That Actually Drives Value
26:05 Aligning SLAs to Business Outcomes Over Time
27:33 Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts
Salesforce is pushing Salesforce Foundations and Data 360 provisioning hard as “no-cost” offers — but the real story starts once you hit usage limits. In this video, Adam Mansfield breaks down what’s actually included, why Salesforce cares so much about getting this into your order form, and how you can protect your budget.
You’ll learn:
If you’re considering Salesforce Foundations, and/or evaluating Agentforce, Data Cloud/Data 360, or any consumption-based Salesforce offer, watch this before you sign your next order form.
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Many ServiceNow customers are being told Impact is “mandatory” to win discounts or concessions—especially around year-end renewals. In this video, Adam Mansfield explains how to negotiate lower Impact percentages, lock protections for the full term, preserve your right to drop Impact at renewal, and tie lower Impact costs to better underlying product pricing and AI/Now Assist packs. Learn how to hold the line and structure a deal on your terms.
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In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, hosts John Belden and Kylie Chisholm sit down with Jesse Webb, IT Director at SaskPower, to explore the story behind the utility’s highly successful SAP S/4HANA transformation.
Jesse shares the lessons learned from SaskPower’s multi-year modernization journey, from managing vendor costs and internal resource capacity to building a cohesive cross-functional team that ensured go-live readiness. She reveals how deliberate planning, risk mitigation, and strong collaboration between IT, business, and implementation partners helped the organization overcome early project hurdles and achieve a seamless go-live weekend.
Tune in to hear practical insights on:
Whether you’re preparing for your own SAP modernization or navigating a complex IT transformation, this conversation is packed with real-world lessons on what it takes to deliver results confidently and collaboratively.
Resources:
BLOG - Thriving Amid Uncertainty: How to Move Your Digital Transformation Forward While Others Freeze
BLOG - Rethinking Transformation Strategy in an AI-First World: AI is Changing SAP Strategy. Is Your Busin…
About the Show:
Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project-execution advisory firm. Join John Belden, UpperEdge’s Chief Research & Strategy Officer, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, every other week as they share high-impact insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships.
Timestamps:03:05 — Overview of SaskPower and Its SAP Background
04:35 — The SAP Modernization Program
05:23 — From ECC to S/4HANA: Scope and Approach
07:03 — Modernizing Custom Applications and Risk Mitigation
08:33 — Lessons Learned from Earlier Projects
10:33 — Managing Internal Resource Capacity
13:20 — IT vs. Business Resource Constraints
14:05 — Business Integration and Dedicated Resources
14:39 — Sponsor Message (UpperEdge Subscription Advisory Services)
14:59 — Go-Live Readiness: Planning and Criteria
16:01 — Testing Strategy and Success Criteria
19:01 — Practice Conversions and Dress Rehearsals
20:04 — The Go-Live Weekend Experience
21:10 — Risk Management and Business Continuity Plans
22:53 — Lessons from Backup Planning
24:04 — Key Decisions That Drove Success
25:21 — Co-Location and Building Team Cohesion
27:08 — Value of Personal Relationships in Project Success
28:13 — What Jesse Would Do Differently
29:03 — The Importance of Context in Decision-Making
In this video, Adam dives into Microsoft’s FY26 Q1 earnings report, which exceeded expectations with strong revenue growth and significant advancements in their commercial and cloud sectors. He discusses the importance of strategic planning for renewals, especially given Microsoft’s impressive Cloud Revenue, and clear objectives Microsoft has made publicly known (including expanding ARPU through E5 adoption and Microsoft 365 Copilot expansion). Listen to Adam break down the numbers and provide insights on how to leverage this information for your business strategies.
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Adam breaks down ServiceNow’s Q3 FY25 earnings call, highlighting 22% revenue growth, strong subscription performance, and a bold AI roadmap.
With Now Assist and Pro Plus deals gaining traction, and CRM commentary heating up between McDermott and Benioff (Salesforce, CEO), this episode is a must-watch for customers preparing for ServiceNow renewals or considering in-term upgrades and purchases.
Key Highlights:
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In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, host Kylie Chisholm is joined by Adam Mansfield, UpperEdge’s Salesforce Practice Leader, to unpack everything from Dreamforce 2025. They dive into how Salesforce’s Agentic Enterprise Licensing Agreement (AELA) is reshaping enterprise licensing, the emphasis on AI and “Agentforce,” and what all this means for you as a Salesforce customer approaching renewal.
Listeners will learn how to:
If you’re a Salesforce customer heading into renewal season, this episode offers timely, tactical advice to help you protect value and improve outcomes.
Resources:
VIDEO - Salesforce’s New Agentic Enterprise Licensing Agreement (AELA) – What Customers Need to Know
BLOG - Salesforce Increasing Pricing and Adding Agentforce Options: What Customers Need to Know Now
About the Show:
Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project-execution advisory firm. Join John Belden, UpperEdge’s Chief Research & Strategy Officer, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, every other week as they share high-impact insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships.
During Dreamforce, Salesforce announced a new “unlimited” Agentic Enterprise Licensing Agreement (AELA) that promises unlimited use and simplicity at a set (and predictable) flat fee. But without proper transparency or post-term protections, Salesforce customers could be in for a world of hurt at the renewal time.
In this quick take video, Adam breaks down what products are the focus (Agentforce, Data 360, MuleSoft, Slack, etc.) along with what is driving Salesforce’s goal of pushing customers into this agreement type. He will also share his tips on what Salesforce customers need to do and ensure Salesforce provides before any commitment is made.
For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, host Kylie Chisholm talks with Adam Mansfield, UpperEdge’s Salesforce Practice Advisory Leader, about how customers can successfully prepare for upcoming Salesforce renewals.
Adam discusses why many organizations are frustrated with Salesforce’s current direction, particularly its heavy focus on Agentforce and AI, while overlooking existing customer needs and product value. He explains what this means for enterprise buyers and how they can strengthen their negotiation position.
Listeners will learn how to:
If you’re a Salesforce customer heading into renewal season, this episode offers timely, practical advice to help you protect value and improve outcomes.
Resources:
BLOG – Salesforce’s New Agentforce Pricing: What Customers Should Know
VIDEO – Salesforce Q2 FY26 Earnings: Agentforce Hype vs. Reality
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 Salesforce Practice Leader and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, every other week as they share valuable insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships.
For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.
SaaS vendors are sliding a nasty detail into SaaS renewal term price protections: taking a “3–5% cap” and multiplying it by the number of years in your next term (e.g., 3% × 3-year = 9%). That’s not a cap—that’s compounding pain. Adam shows how to spot it, why it’s spreading, and exactly how to push back.
Key takeaways
How to negotiate
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Most buyers anchor on “$30/user/month” for Microsoft 365 Copilot—but that’s not the real price. The right move is to negotiate the total cost by tying Copilot to your underlying Microsoft 365 E3/E5 pricing, then secure renewal protections so Microsoft can’t claw it back later. Key plays you can use:
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Oracle just named two co-CEOs and doubled down on an AI-first future. Jeff Lazarto explains how OCI’s gigawatt-scale GPU superclusters, Oracle’s vectorized “AI database,” and application-layer AI agents could make Oracle the standard for AI training and—soon—enterprise inferencing. He also highlights what this means for customers evaluating Oracle today: timing, deal leverage, and a practical path from on-prem to cloud/Fusion.
Key Points:
Episode Chapters
00:00:23 AI and OCI are driving Oracle’s momentum - Oracle’s earnings buzz is fueled by AI demand and OCI’s gigawatt-scale GPU superclusters selected by top AI players.
00:01:11 Why big tech is choosing OCI - Oracle claims faster/cheaper model training; efficiency and cost are key factors behind marquee customer selection.
00:02:04 Training now, inferencing next (the much bigger market) - Ellison frames inferencing—AI agents embedded in business processes—as the wave that will dwarf training.
00:02:46 From “college” to work: enterprise-tuned AI agents - Publicly trained models get fine-tuned on company data so AI agents can actually do tasks for the business.
00:03:05 Oracle’s AI Database and vector search - Oracle pitches a vectorized, privacy-preserving database that works across ~25+ models while keeping enterprise data secure.
00:03:41 Endorsement loop that benefits Oracle - If leading AI builders rely on OCI, enterprises may follow suit for hosting their own AI workloads.
00:04:24 OCI growth projections that shocked Wall Street - Oracle reiterated aggressive OCI revenue targets through FY30, a key driver of the stock’s surge.
00:05:12 Oracle’s stack: training → inferencing → data → apps - Strategy spans AI training/inferencing, the AI database layer, and SaaS built on AI application generators.
00:05:50 App generators = networks of AI agents - Oracle describes SaaS evolving from hand-coded software to AI agents linked by workflows.
00:07:07 Multicloud and “Cloud@Customer” options - Run Oracle in public regions, behind your firewall, or access Oracle Database from Azure/AWS/GCP via reseller arrangements.
00:07:28 Leadership shift: two new co-CEOs - Clay Magouyrk (OCI/engineering) and Mike Sicilia (industries/apps) step in; tech-first leaders for infra and apps.
00:08:05 Clay McGuirk’s remit (Gen2 OCI & AI DCs) - Architect behind high-performance OCI powering gigawatt-scale AI training is elevated.
00:08:30 Mike Sicilia’s remit (vertical apps & AI) - Industry SaaS leader focuses on applying AI within Oracle’s application portfolio.
00:09:12 Why tech visionaries at the top matters - Oracle follows the big-tech pattern: product-minded leaders setting direction vs. sales-led stewardship.
00:10:01 Co-CEO model returns; wider exec moves - Safra Catz shifts to executive vice chair; additional sales/finance leadership changes are in motion.
00:11:30 Two-engine company, two tech CEOs - Structure mirrors Oracle’s dual identity: infrastructure and applications led by AI-savvy chiefs.
00:11:57 Customer takeaway: leverage the moment - High expectations on Oracle create room to negotiate strong terms and strategic commitments.
00:12:44 Installed base path to AI value - Benefits of AI live in the cloud: Fusion for apps and OCI for tech; BYOL eases the move.
00:13:24 Expect harder Oracle push to cloud - Stronger GTM motions will highlight concrete AI/business value to drive migrations.
00:14:09 Start with your Oracle strategy, then engage - Define the enterprise roadmap first; invite Oracle to align capabilities and structure the right deal.
In this breakdown, Adam Mansfield unpacks Salesforce’s Q2 FY26 results and the bigger story: Agentforce and Data Cloud’s consumption model. He highlights what Salesforce shared—and what they didn’t—so you can be fully prepared as you head into upcoming renewal negotiations and even your Dreamforce attendance.
Key Takeaways:
Bottom line: Salesforce customers have an opportunity to leverage earnings and current market optics (headcount reductions tied to Agentforce) to create leverage and make Salesforce earn their business with improved clarity, pricing and protections moving forward.
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SaaS vendors often push programmatic renewal price increases—whether you used the product’s features (new or existing) or not. Here’s a fairer, customer-focused approach: only permit price hikes at renewal when (1) the SaaS vendor enhanced the production being subscribed to since your last renewal and (2) you’re actually using those enhancements. That aligns spend to delivered value and incentivizes vendors add enhancements of value and put in effort to help drive adoption.
Key points
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In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, UpperEdge’s Adam Mansfield joins to break down Microsoft’s recent announcement to eliminate Enterprise Agreement (EA) volume discounts starting November 1st. Adam explains what this change means for enterprise customers, how executives are reacting, and the strategies organizations can use to prepare. From executive-level conversations to utilization analysis, alternative solutions, and the role of Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs), this discussion provides practical guidance for navigating Microsoft’s evolving pricing model.
Resources:
UPCOMING WEBINAR - Breaking the Microsoft Mold: How to Negotiate on Your Terms
BLOG - Microsoft Ends EA Volume Discounts: What It Means and How to Respond
VIDEO - Microsoft Ends EA Volume Discounts – What It 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 John Belden, UpperEdge’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, every other week as they share valuable insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships.
For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In this episode, Adam Mansfield, Salesforce Practice Leader at UpperEdge and industry expect, explains what the new Pay-As-You-Go and Pre-Commit, and Pre-Purchase pricing models mean for enterprise customers and why Salesforce is providing them.
Key takeaways and what will be covered:
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Effective November 1, 2025, Microsoft will eliminate EA volume-based discounts for online services like Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365. Adam Mansfield, Microsoft Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the impact, why Microsoft is making this change, and how enterprise customers can push back. Learn how this move ties to Microsoft’s motivation to accelerate ARPU growth, increased product adoption and upgrades (Microsoft 365 Copilot, E5), and shift more customers towards an MCA-E or CSP contracting model—and what actions need to be take right now.
For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Microsoft closed FY25 with strong revenue growth, fueled by Copilot adoption, E5 momentum, and Azure’s breakout 39% growth. Adam Mansfield, Microsoft Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the key takeaways from the earnings call, including what the numbers mean for enterprise customers with upcoming renewals or considering in-term purchases. Learn how Microsoft’s focus on moving customers to E5, AI (M365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio…etc.) will shape pricing, commitments, and negotiation leverage in the year ahead.
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In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, UpperEdge’s Ryan McGhee joins John Belden and Kylie Chisholm to explore how generative AI is influencing SAP S/4HANA brownfield transformations. From productivity claims and risk mitigation to transparency challenges and use case development, the conversation uncovers what IT leaders need to know before engaging their system integrators. Learn how to separate hype from value, ask the right questions, and prepare your environment to fully leverage AI’s potential without sacrificing control or incurring hidden costs.
Resources
BLOG - Brownfield and the AI Gap: What Your SI Isn’t Telling You and Why It’s More Complex Than It Looks
Want to go deeper? Contact us to discuss how we can support your transformation strategy.
Salesforce is making bold changes that every customer needs to pay attention to. In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, UpperEdge’s Adam Mansfield joins Kylie Chisholm to unpack the upcoming 6% price increase, the evolving AgentForce pricing models, and Slack’s shift toward higher-cost enterprise editions.
They explore what’s really driving these updates, how they impact your current agreements, and what actions you should take now to maintain leverage, especially with Dreamforce around the corner.
Key Topics:
Resources
PODCAST – Salesforce Announces August Price Hikes & New AgentForce & Slack Plans: Here’s What You Must Do Now
BLOG - Salesforce Increasing Pricing and Adding Agentforce Options: What Customers Need to Know Now
If you’re a Salesforce customer, these changes are coming. This episode will help you get ahead of them. Learn more about how UpperEdge can help here.