- No visibility into how licenses were actually being used, with no way to propose right-sizing at renewal.
- Without market benchmarks, vendor negotiations started from the vendor’s opening pricing position.
- Manual renewal tracking surfaced deadlines too late for effective planning and negotiation.
How Sapphire Ventures Cut Salesforce Costs by 15% and Saved 30% on Renewals Using Market Pricing Data and Usage Insights
"During a company-wide cost-cutting phase, reducing vendor spend without impacting critical tools became a priority. CloudEagle.ai gave us license usage visibility, market pricing benchmarks, and stronger renewal preparation, helping reduce Salesforce costs by 15% and contract renewal costs by 30%.."
~ Will Suttle, VP of Finance, Sapphire Venture
15%
cost reduction on Salesforce
30%
savings on contract renewals
3%
savings on GitHub spend
15%
cost reduction on Salesforce
30%
savings on contract renewals
3%
savings on GitHub spend
Challenge
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Solution
- CloudEagle.ai gave Sapphire Ventures immediate visibility into license usage across its software portfolio.
- Price Benchmarking & Buying Guides, backed by $15B+ in transaction data, confirmed comparable companies were paying less for Salesforce and GitHub contracts.
- Assisted Buying and Renewal Workflows prepared negotiations ninety days before contract deadlines.
Result
- Sapphire Ventures secured a 15% reduction on Salesforce using usage evidence and market benchmarks.
- GitHub contract right-sizing delivered an additional 3% savings based on actual usage patterns.
- Earlier renewal preparation and negotiation support helped deliver 30% savings on renewals.
Challenge
Sapphire Ventures was in a cost-cutting phase with a clear mandate: reduce SaaS spending without removing tools the team depended on. The finance and IT teams had no reliable view of which licenses were in use and no data on what comparable companies were paying for the same tools.
Without market pricing data or usage evidence, every renewal started from the vendor's opening number with no basis to push back. Compounding this, renewals were managed manually, surfacing two or three weeks before the deadline instead of three months out.
Solution
- Spend Intelligence showed which licenses were actively used, underused, or untouched across the portfolio.
- Price Benchmarking used $15B+ in transaction data to validate competitive pricing before negotiations began.
- Assisted Buying engaged CloudEagle.ai’s procurement experts to run vendor negotiations directly with prepared evidence.
- Renewal Workflows triggered 90 days before contract dates, giving teams time for review and approvals.
- License usage and benchmark data were assembled together, strengthening every renewal conversation with clear evidence.
Why CloudEagle.ai?
Sapphire Ventures evaluated several solutions and chose CloudEagle.ai for these reasons:
- CloudEagle.ai combines usage visibility and pricing benchmarks, helping teams negotiate with stronger contract evidence.
- Benchmarking is backed by $15B+ in real transaction data, not estimated ranges or vendor self-reported data.
- Assisted Buying added procurement expertise, helping vendor negotiations move from data to measurable contract savings.
- Automated renewal workflows replaced reactive deadlines with a structured 90-day renewal preparation window.
- Immediate license visibility helped finance identify underused seats and propose confident right-sizing decisions early.
Impact
15% Off Salesforce, Backed by Market Data
- Market pricing benchmarks helped Sapphire Ventures negotiate a 15% reduction on Salesforce subscription costs.
- Usage data supported right-sizing proposals, helping reduce GitHub spend by an additional 3%.
- The negotiation delivered a 15% reduction in Salesforce subscription costs, with the savings realised at the contract renewal.
Right-Sizing Licenses Across the Portfolio
- Spend Intelligence surfaced underused licenses across the portfolio using real usage activity data.
- Right-sizing decisions reduced idle software spend without affecting employees actively using assigned tools.
- Finance gained clearer visibility into where purchased seat counts exceeded actual software usage.
30% Savings on Contract Renewals
- Renewal Workflows fired 90 days before each contract date, giving the IT and finance teams time to review current usage, pull fresh benchmarks, and run the full approval process before the deadline arrived.
- Earlier renewal preparation gave teams time to review usage, benchmarks, and internal approvals properly.
- Better timing, stronger data, and procurement support helped deliver 30% renewal savings.
The Transformation
Before CloudEagle
No visibility into how licenses were being used, making right-sizing impossible at renewal.
No market pricing data, so negotiations started from the vendor's opening number with nothing to push back on.
Manual renewal tracking meant the team was reacting weeks before deadlines with no time to negotiate.
Paying above market rate on Salesforce and GitHub without knowing it.
Auto-renewals triggered at previous year's rates with no review of usage or competitive pricing.
After CloudEagle
License usage visible by application, department, and individual, with underused seats identified immediately..
Price Benchmarking backed by $15B+ in transactions confirming market rates before every negotiation.
Renewal Workflows firing 90 days in advance with escalating reminders, giving the team full lead time.
15% reduction on Salesforce, 3% saving on GitHub, and 30% savings on contract renewals.
Assisted Buying engaging procurement experts to run negotiations with market data and usage evidence pre-assembled.
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