30–40%
Module licensing cost reduction identified
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Chemicals · GlobalERP advisory · AI assessment
€1.7B of ERP Exposure, Negotiated Down
Facing an end-of-life deadline on its ERP estate, a global chemicals and materials manufacturer was looking at an estimated €1.7B in licensing and implementation costs over a decade. Leadership wanted an independent view before committing. We gave them one, and the leverage that came with it.
14
Alternative vendors assessed
18
Automation opportunities mapped
6 months
2024
How the system runs
The input€1.7B forced migration
→
End-of-life deadline, vendor pressure, no independent view.
We builtCapability map
→
As-is / to-be across 12 functions, module and customisation audit.
We builtPriced alternatives
→
14 vendors across ERP, best-of-breed and AI-native, 4 TCO scenarios.
We builtNegotiation playbook
→
Walk-away scenarios, leverage points, and the vendor sessions.
The outcomeExposure negotiated down
30–40% module licensing reduction identified.
The situation
A Forced Migration with No Independent Second Opinion
The vendor’s account team was applying sustained commercial pressure to commit to the migration. Internal IT, running heavily customised legacy instances, had neither the bandwidth nor the independence to assess alternatives, and years of customisation had reinforced the lock-in.
Meanwhile, AI-native point solutions in finance automation, procurement intelligence and supply-chain AI were maturing into credible partial alternatives, and nobody had mapped where they could reduce ERP dependency.
What we didMap the Capabilities, Price the Alternatives, Then Negotiate
Over six months, a lead consultant and three senior consultants built the fact base and ran the commercial play:
- Full as-is / to-be business capability mapping across 12 functions, with a module usage and customisation audit.
- An AI-native assessment mapping which ERP modules could be replaced or augmented by AI tools.
- 14 alternative vendors assessed across ERP, best-of-breed and AI-native categories, priced into a TCO model across 4 migration scenarios.
- A negotiation playbook: walk-away scenarios, commercial leverage points, and the vendor sessions themselves.
Why it worked
The result
"Leverage is optionality made visible. The moment the alternatives were priced, the conversation changed."
Genuine Optionality, and a Ten-Figure Reduction in Exposure
- Projected 10-year licensing exposure reduced by a negotiated €1.7B.
- Six modules identified as replaceable with AI-native alternatives, saving an estimated 30–40% of module licensing cost.
- 18 workflow automation opportunities mapped; the AI roadmap was adopted by the group CIO.
- The business capability map became the foundation of the three-year digital transformation plan.
Return on the engagement fee exceeded one hundred times from the licensing position alone.
Our fee
$350,000 – $480,000
Duration
6 months
Team
Lead + 3 senior consultants
Client anonymised under NDA. Figures are engagement-reported ranges, measured against the baseline set at the start.
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