69 To rein in AI spend, businesses need visibility into which teams, agents and models are burning tokens have increased and where they’re set to rise further. By generating a baseline of where you are versus where you want to be, and actual usage of Microsoft products, this creates a data point for negotiation. Workshops can scoreboard the user experience which is then weighted, with a monetary value accorded to each feature. The resulting ‘value over time’ score can be used to determine if the business is getting sufficient bang for its buck. It’s also important to consider the business roadmap. Perhaps the business is considering downgrading or upgrading between E3 and E7 licences. Scorecarding can determine how much leverage it might have. If the firm is moving from E5 to E3 and considering jettisoning Copilot, for instance, leverage will be low. Another consideration is rationalising other applications across the estate to avoid feature duplication where possible. The consultancy partner should then battle-test the proposal: what is the narrative, what are the primary and secondary asks, and how might Microsoft counter them? Post-negotiation, they should assist with the final BOM by reviewing each successive proposal from Microsoft to check for errors or deviations from the BOM agreed. Bringing a partner onboard to assist with service optimisation can give the business the clout to negotiate better terms. It combines the twin disciplines of FinOps and ITAM to manage both licensing and token consumption, as advocated by the Tokenomics Foundation. Adopting this dual approach can transform that fiscal cliff into a fiscal cushion. Photo: istock/gorodenkoff
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