Your vendors know you
are overpaying.
We fix that.
Independent advisory across Microsoft licensing, Azure and AWS, data centre and colocation, and the hardware and software estate underneath it. We find the gaps, quantify them, and help you close them. Savings your finance team can audit line by line.
Most businesses are overspending on technology in ways that are entirely recoverable.
It happens quietly, across multiple line items, in patterns that internal teams rarely have the commercial expertise or bandwidth to catch.
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01Contracts renew on autopilot Annual renewals pass without challenge. Auto-renewal clauses lock in price uplifts year after year on terms agreed when your business looked nothing like it does today.
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02Cloud and hosting run oversized Average CPU utilisation in cloud environments sits at 15 to 20 percent. Capacity scales up with demand and almost never scales back down. The same pattern shows up in colocation contracts, where committed power and rack space rarely tracks what is actually drawn.
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03Licences accumulate faster than headcount Between 30 and 40 percent of SaaS licences in the average organisation go unused. In Microsoft estates this concentrates in over-assigned E5 seats and Copilot licences bought ahead of adoption. Offboarding is rarely complete.
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04Tools duplicate silently across teams Marketing, Sales and Engineering each buy tools that overlap. The average company runs 4.5 tools with duplicate functionality and nobody has the full picture.
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05The commercial gap works in the vendor's favour Enterprise vendors negotiate these contracts every day and know exactly which levers you have not pulled. Most businesses negotiate once a year, without a specialist, against a counterpart who does this for a living.
None of this happens because people are careless. It happens because the commercial models are built to make it hard to see. Tiered licensing, tokenised consumption pricing, and billing structures that obscure what you actually owe.
The scale of the problem, sourced.
Every figure comes from a named, current industry report. We use the same data to size the recoverable opportunity inside your business.
We know the specific programmes your spend sits inside.
Generic cost-cutting advice does not move an enterprise agreement. What moves it is knowing how a particular vendor's licensing model, commitment structure and renewal mechanics actually work, and where the flexibility is hidden.
Microsoft estate
The deepest area of our practice. Licence mix and entitlement modelling across the full stack, assessed against real consumption rather than assigned seats. We look at where you are paying enterprise tier for standard tier usage, and where AI licensing has been bought ahead of adoption.
Cloud and infrastructure
Azure and AWS commitment strategy, reservation and savings plan coverage, rightsizing, and the governance to stop waste returning. Extended into the physical layer: data centre build, colocation contracts, committed power and rack space, and cross connect and egress charges.
Spend data and analysis
Most estates cannot answer a simple question about their own spend because the answer lives in six systems. We build the data model that combines invoices, contracts, licence records, cloud billing and asset registers into one auditable view, then run the analysis on top of it.
We get paid when you save money. Not before.
For our core work we operate on a gain share basis. We take an agreed share of savings verified against a baseline on your actual invoices. Every figure is independently checkable, and a finance team can verify the whole engagement from documents they already hold.
Diagnose
We map your technology estate, contracts, renewal dates, licence counts, cloud commitments, against what the business actually consumes. Gaps are identified and quantified before we recommend anything.
Deliver
We identify the opportunities, build the commercial case, and work alongside your team as they capture them. You retain full control of every vendor relationship and every final decision.
Verify
Savings are measured on your actual invoices against the agreed baseline. Once the engagement closes, so does our invoice. No retainers, no tail fees, no billing for work we did last year.
The gain share percentage is agreed up front and written into the engagement letter, and the diagnostic fee is credited in full against your first Performance Partnership payment if you proceed. Fixed-scope engagements are also available, priced and confirmed in writing before any work begins.
From first conversation to signed agreement.
Every engagement follows the same structured path. Nothing is assumed, nothing is vague, and no work begins without a signed engagement letter from both parties.
Discovery call
A free 30-minute conversation. We want to understand your technology spend, your renewal pressures, and where you think the gaps are. You will leave with a clear view of whether we can help and what that would look like.
Written proposal
If there is a fit, we issue a written proposal covering scope, deliverables, timeline, and confirmed pricing. You see exactly what you are getting before you commit to anything.
Engagement letter
Once the proposal is agreed, both parties sign an engagement letter covering scope, fees, payment terms, confidentiality, and IP ownership. This is the point at which the engagement formally begins.
Delivery
Work proceeds against the scope and milestones in the engagement letter. Any change to scope requires written agreement from both parties before it takes effect.
Verification and close
On Performance Partnership engagements, every saving is verified on your actual invoices before fees are raised. A written summary is issued on close. The engagement ends cleanly, no retainers, no perpetual billing.
The right engagement for where you are right now.
Most clients start with a diagnostic. Every engagement is scoped individually, and the fee is agreed and confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Valence Performance Partnership
Our core engagement. We identify savings across your entire technology estate and provide the commercial intelligence your team needs to capture them: vendor renegotiation strategy, Microsoft licence remodelling, cloud commitment and rightsizing recommendations, and consolidation opportunities. Fees are a share of savings verified on your own invoices.
Technology Spend Diagnostic
A complete review of your technology spend across software, cloud, hardware, hosting and services. Contracts mapped, renewal dates surfaced, licence entitlement checked against actual consumption. The output is a written report with each opportunity sized and evidenced.
Microsoft Licensing Review
A focused review of the Microsoft estate: Microsoft 365 licence mix, E3 against E5 justification, Copilot and agent licensing against measured adoption, Dynamics 365 module entitlement, and Azure commitment coverage. Assessed ahead of your renewal so there is time to act on it.
Cloud FinOps Governance
Structured FinOps discipline applied to your Azure, AWS or multi-cloud environment each month. Spend review, waste identification, reservation and savings plan strategy, and variance reporting against budget. Gives your team the insight to actively manage cost without the overhead of a permanent hire.
Data Centre & Colocation Advisory
Commercial support for data centre build, migration and colocation. Committed power and rack space reviewed against actual draw, contract terms and escalators benchmarked, cross connect and connectivity charges unpicked, and exit and expansion terms negotiated before you are locked in.
TCO & Application Portfolio Analysis
Total cost of ownership modelling across the application estate, combined with whole-life asset management. Every application costed properly including licence, infrastructure, support and internal effort, then assessed for overlap, retirement candidates and consolidation. Built on a spend data model that combines your existing sources into one view.
Procurement Policy & Process Design
A complete technology procurement framework built for your organisation: policies, approval structures, vendor evaluation criteria, contract standards and renewal governance. Everything documented and yours to run independently when we are done. No retainer required.
Category Strategy & Budget Planning
A two to three year sourcing roadmap for your technology estate, with each category assessed for vendor dependency, concentration risk and consolidation opportunity. Delivered alongside annual budget support so the plan and the numbers line up, mapped to your renewal calendar and benchmarked against current market rates.
The things people ask before they get in touch.
How does the gain share model actually work?
We agree a baseline from your current contracts and invoices before any work starts. Savings are then measured against that baseline on your actual invoices once they land. We take an agreed share of what is verified. If nothing is delivered, nothing is payable. The percentage and the baseline method are both written into the engagement letter so there is no ambiguity later.
You are UK based. How does that work for a US client?
Scheduled availability covers US Eastern and Central business hours, and the calendar link only offers slots inside that window. Most of the work is analytical rather than synchronous, so delivery is unaffected by time zone. Contracting is straightforward: we can supply a W-8BEN for withholding purposes and invoice in USD.
Will you talk to our vendors directly?
Only if you want us to, and only under your direction. The default is that we build the commercial case, model the alternatives and prepare your negotiating position, and your team runs the conversation. You keep full authority over every vendor relationship and every final decision.
What data do you need to get started?
For a diagnostic, typically: current contracts and order forms, the last twelve months of invoices for major vendors, cloud billing exports, licence assignment reports, and your renewal calendar if one exists. If some of that does not exist in a usable form, building it is part of the work rather than a blocker to starting.
Are you reselling anything, or taking vendor commission?
No. We take no commission, resale margin or referral fee from any vendor. Our only revenue is from clients. This matters, because an advisor paid by a vendor has a structural reason to recommend that vendor.
How long does an engagement take?
A diagnostic is usually a few weeks depending on vendor count and how accessible the data is. A Performance Partnership runs longer because savings have to be captured and then verified on real invoices, which is bounded by your renewal dates rather than by us. Timelines are set out in the proposal before you commit.
Book a discovery call.
A free 30-minute conversation to understand your situation. Tell us what you are spending and where you think the gaps might be. You will get an honest view of whether and how we can help, with no obligation and no sales pitch.
We respond to every enquiry within one business day and will propose two or three call times in that reply.
Discovery and review calls are scheduled between 12:00 and 16:00 US Eastern, covering the core of the US working day. Delivery work is analytical and runs independently of call times, so scheduling does not affect turnaround.