Your suppliers reprice every year. Most businesses never reprice back.
Ajility runs supplier and subscription reviews as a periodic discipline, starting with a spend list that sizes the addressable base before any commitment. Where cost is one of several questions, start with the Operating Diagnostic, from $3,600 plus GST. This is not a procurement department and it is not a permanent function. It is a periodic discipline: see the whole recurring spend, consolidate where volume is fragmented, renegotiate what has never been tested, and put the renewal dates in a calendar so next year is a decision rather than a default.
Six ways recurring cost is taken back
Cost reduction here means paying a fair price for things the business still needs, not cutting capability. Every change is made with the category owner, and anything that would put delivery or safety at risk is left alone.
Spend visibility
Every recurring cost in one list, by supplier, by category, by owner and by renewal date, before anything is negotiated.
Supplier consolidation
Where the same category is bought from four suppliers on four sets of terms, the volume is worth more in one place than in four.
Renegotiation
A prepared position per supplier: current spend, market position, what is being asked for and what is being offered in return.
Software and subscriptions
Licences counted against actual users, overlapping tools identified, unused seats removed and renewal dates put on a calendar.
Make versus buy
For recurring services, an honest comparison of the outsourced cost against the internal cost, including the management time it consumes.
The annual rhythm
A fixed date each year to review the spend list and the renewals, so pricing is tested rather than accepted by default.
Nobody signs up for a worse deal. It arrives one renewal at a time.
A supplier arrangement is usually negotiated once, at a size the business has long since outgrown, and then renewed automatically. Software is bought by whoever needed it, at the moment they needed it, and the seat count only ever goes up. No single renewal is large enough to escalate, so the whole base is never reviewed at once.
The discipline is simply to look at the entire recurring spend in one sitting, with the renewal dates attached, and to decide deliberately which arrangements are tested this year. It takes a few weeks and it holds for a year.
Cost work delivered in senior operating roles
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
A 70% software cost saving from replatforming a project-management stack
Senior operating role
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
A $150K annual IT cost reduction
Senior operating role
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
Leadership of a $500K spend-reduction project
Senior operating role
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
One process, one fix
A supplier and subscription review is commonly run as one process, one fix, or scoped inside the Operating Diagnostic where cost is one of several questions. Both are published, with their scope and fee, on the packages page.
See one process, one fix and the Operating DiagnosticCommon questions
Where do the savings usually hide?
- Usually in recurring costs nobody has looked at since the day they were signed: software licences for people who have left, overlapping tools bought by different parts of the business, annual escalations applied without challenge, freight and merchant fees on legacy rates, and the same category bought from several suppliers at several prices. It is rarely one large contract and almost always a long list of ordinary ones.
How does renegotiation work without damaging supplier relationships?
- By being prepared and straightforward rather than adversarial. Each supplier is approached with their own numbers, an accurate view of the market position, and a clear statement of what is being asked for and what they get in return, whether that is a longer term, consolidated volume or faster payment. Good suppliers respond well to a business that knows its own spend. Nothing is run as a reverse auction and nobody is misled about competing offers.
How often should this be run?
- Once a year is the right rhythm for most businesses turning over $3M to $30M, timed ahead of the largest renewal cluster, with a short quarterly check on new subscriptions. Run more often and it consumes management attention for diminishing returns. Run less often and annual escalations quietly compound.
What does spend visibility require?
- Twelve months of accounts payable and card transactions coded to supplier and category, the current contract or agreement for the largest suppliers, a licence list from the main software vendors, and a nominated owner for each category. Where an owner cannot be named, that is generally where the leakage is.
What is the typical payback?
- It depends on how much recurring spend exists and how long since it was tested, so no figure is published in advance. The first step is the spend list, because it establishes the size of the addressable base before any commitment is made. If that list shows there is little to work with, you will be told that in writing rather than sold a review.
Should we hire a procurement consultant or do it ourselves?
- Do it yourself if someone has the time and the spend list is short. Bring in help when nobody owns spend, renewals cluster together or suppliers have never been tested, because an outsider usually moves faster with less internal friction.
Do cost reduction consultants charge a percentage of savings?
- Some do, which can reward the biggest claimed saving rather than the right one. Ajility's fees are fixed and agreed up front, and it takes no supplier or vendor commissions, so its advice is not tied to the size of the cut.
How do I audit the SaaS tools my company pays for?
- Pull every software charge from card and payables data, list the tool, owner, seats, cost and renewal date, then compare seats with active users in each vendor's admin console. Decide keep, cut or consolidate for each tool.
What are the risks of consolidating suppliers?
- Dependence on one supplier, less leverage at the next renewal and exposure if they fail or lift prices. Manage it with clear service terms, a qualified backup supplier and a yearly review of performance and price.
Is it cheaper to outsource IT support or hire an IT person?
- Compare the managed service fee with the loaded cost of an employee, plus tools, leave cover and management time. Smaller businesses often find outsourcing cheaper and larger ones a hybrid, but test it on your own numbers.
How do I push back on annual supplier price increases?
- Diarise renewal dates, ask for the basis of each increase, compare it with the market, and negotiate in exchange for term, volume or faster payment. Escalations accepted without challenge compound quietly year after year.
Delivered through: Systems & Operational Improvement, Performance & Commercial Discipline and One process, one fix.
Start with the free Operating Scan
Twenty-one plain statements about how the business actually runs, answered from Not us to Always. In about six minutes you see a provisional score naming the weakest areas, then choose whether you want a conversation.