It is common knowledge now that Oracle is one of the toughest vendors in negotiations. The negotiations are often filled with veiled threats regarding the Oracle LMS auditing team and this can drive your frustrations to an all-time high. It is not easy to navigate Oracle’s sales process, which often leads to you losing control during the negotiation. SLC is the master at Oracle negotiations, and here are some proven strategies to improve your negotiation and come out on top:
Understand Oracle’s approval process
It is important to be aware of how Oracle handles approvals and comes to the decisions on terms and discounting as partof your deal. Make sure that you articulate what you want clearly to Oracle including the benefits to them in doing this deal. Remember, that an Oracle sales rep has to write a justification to his or her management and the approvers internally. If you have a rep that is not committed to helping you, then your deal will not get the discounting nor terms that you want! The sales team at Oracle want a great relationship that they can leverage to get more sales, you need to motivate them to by articulating your wants and needs so that they can go get that for you, . Remember that in order for them to submit your case that you will go into detail about the context of your conversation. what products you are considering buying, what concessions, and why those are important.
Use a Strategic Reseller
When buying licenses, Oracle direct sales can be aggressive and sometimes threatening. In order to avoid this behavior, use a Strategic Reseller. It can be as simple as telling Oracle direct you will not purchase from them and that you are going to only use a reseller for transactions in the future. Oracle hates competition and inserting a Strategic Reseller can provide that option that keeps Oracle honest in negotiations. Keep in mind that the all the big resellers have close partnerships with Oracle so be careful what information you give them. This also creates a sense of competition where there really is none. Strategic Resellers work for you and not Oracle, they also don’t tend to pry into your current configuration, how many servers, etc, as these details are not always needed during a purchase.
Control your flow of information to Oracle
Oracle loves to use the Sales process to ferret out information on your use of their products. Their sales team is well trained to ask questions and make relationships to get information on your environments or even competitor products you are using. One such approach is to ask about virtualization and Oracle’s support on VMware. Clients often get drawn in to exposing how Oracle’s software is being run and if VMware is in play. Unknowingly you will have given key information that can lead to negative sales interactions and audit of your VMware deployments. Oracle has specific and unpublished rules around VMware deployments that clients typically are not aware of until an audit is conducted! Oracle’s auditing arm, LMS, uses these findings to increase the starting point of compliance issues and force resolutions on clients in the millions of dollars! Are you sure that you understand how Oracle will view your specific VMware (or other) virtualized deployment? If not, then you may be at high risk of a compliance issue and should carefully review before an audit occurs. Do not discuss your VMware or other environments with an Oracle sales rep – they are not there to help!
Understand how your company uses Oracle products
Good Software Asset Management (SAM) practice is to have records of how your software is deployed coupled with the contractual understanding of how these products are licensed. Don’t enter a negotiation unless you have a crystal-clear understanding of your use. Often times details of your use get exposed in a negotiation, and with Oracle, many products may be licensed differently. , You should know exactly what you have installed and where it is installed under what software metric. These records should be revisited annually, at a minimum, to ensure compliance with the metrics and versions/editions purchased. Even small changes to your environments can have significant downstream impacts on your license compliance! The key to success is being proactive and understanding your contracts and any commercial limitations to your licensing. Go into that negotiation knowing more than your sales team and you have the advantage.
You are in control!!!
Last but not least, remember that YOU are the customer and you need to set the tone early that you will control what is discussed and what you will share early in the process. The one that controls the conversation has the most power. Oracle sales teams are experts in taking control with fear tactics and more. Make sure that you know your contractual rights about what you have to share with them. During a sales negotiation there is no need to talk about anything else than what you want to purchase and how much you want to pay. Also remember that Oracle first and even second answers to requests are almost always no.
Now those are just a few strategies that we recommend being aware of and using to come out on top after an Oracle negotiation.. At SLC, our clients leverage our seventeen years of experience in dealing with Oracle to successfully and confidently help you understand your Oracle contracts. We have saved our clients over $1 billion dollars, money that they put back into their bottom line. We want to help you too! Contact us to have us help you get the best deal possible! you can reach us at:slcsales@slc.us.com
