Negotiating Complex Deals

The amount of money at stake in any large negotiation is staggering. Buying an enterprise application — even if you take the SaaS route — can cost millions of dollars; and the ensuing systems integration can cost four times the purchase price plus require negotiating with yet another vendor! And with outsourcing, whether for only one project or your entire IT function, the ongoing costs (many of them hidden) can be enormous.

Steering complex deals requires fine-tuned negotiation skills — skills most IT executives are not trained in. But Cutter Senior Consultant Sara Cullen is. With a doctorate in contracts and the experience of assisting more than 140 deals, you could not put a better expert on your team than Sara Cullen.

Dr. Cullen will guide you through negotiation planning and analysis steps that result in sustainable solutions. These steps include identifying all the issues and prioritizing them; identifying each party’s position; identifying each party’s “BATNA”; identifying underlying motivations and generating possible solutions; creating win-win scenarios; choosing the right negotiation style; identifying the team members and their roles; and preparing the negotiation strategy. With your “homework” done, you’ll be prepared to negotiate not only the right purchase price, but also the right SLAs, maintenance fees, etc. so that both you and your vendor enter into the next phase of your relationship — contracting — in a positive position.