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Methodology

Discover. Assess.
Negotiate. Optimize.

Every Reveal engagement, regardless of vendor or service, runs against the same four-phase methodology. The phases compress for a fast audit response and expand for a multi-vendor portfolio — but the structure never changes.

The four phases

How a Reveal engagement
actually unfolds.

01
Phase one
Discover

We start with what is actually in your environment, not what your vendor's order forms say should be. A discovery sprint typically runs two to three weeks and covers entitlement reconciliation, deployment inventory, contract artefact retrieval, and stakeholder interviews. The output is a single picture of the estate before any negotiation begins.

  • Entitlement file consolidation
  • Deployment / consumption telemetry pull
  • Contract and amendment retrieval
  • Stakeholder interview map
  • SAM-tool data review
  • Pre-existing risk register
02
Phase two
Assess

Discovery data is run against vendor-specific licensing rules — the same rules our consultants applied when they sat on the vendor side. We quantify compliance exposure, shelfware, over-licensing, and contract-clause risk. The deliverable is a written assessment with monetised findings and a prioritised remediation list.

  • Compliance exposure quantified
  • Shelfware list with $ value
  • Contract-clause risk register
  • Audit-readiness scorecard
  • Negotiation-leverage map
  • Prioritised remediation plan
03
Phase three
Negotiate

For renewal, ELA, or audit-defence engagements, we lead or coach the negotiation directly. We bring vendor pricing benchmarks, redlined contract language, and counter-proposal scripts. We never sit in front of the vendor for the client — the buyer's team stays in the driver's seat — but we are in every preparation call and review every draft.

  • Vendor pricing benchmark file
  • Redlined contract / order form
  • Counter-proposal scripts
  • BATNA & walk-away analysis
  • Internal stakeholder briefings
  • Closing-week tactical support
04
Phase four
Optimize

Closing the contract is not the end of the engagement. We hand over a renewal calendar, an in-life governance playbook, and a measurement framework so the savings stick. For retainer and fractional clients, we then return at the next true-up, audit, or renewal — armed with everything we built before.

  • Renewal calendar with triggers
  • In-life governance playbook
  • Savings-tracking framework
  • Internal SAM enablement
  • Audit-response playbook handover
  • 60-day post-engagement review
Principles behind the method

Three rules we never break.
Regardless of phase.

01 Buyer in the seat
We coach. The client decides.
Reveal does not become the buyer of record. We arm your team, sit in every prep call, redline every draft — but the named buyer in the contract remains your organisation.
02 Evidence-led
Numbers, not opinions.
Every assessment finding is supported by a deployment artefact, a contract clause reference, or a vendor pricing benchmark. We do not negotiate from anecdote.
03 Vendor-neutral
No partnerships. No referral fees.
The methodology is identical whether you are negotiating with Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, or a tier-two SaaS vendor. There is no incentive to favour any technology stack.

“The discovery phase alone gave us a clearer picture of our software estate than five years of SAM tools had managed.”

Director of IT Asset Management
North American Healthcare System

Stop guessing.
Start knowing.

We assess your software estate and identify risks, savings, and negotiation leverage. No obligation. No vendor bias.

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