Template
The vendor consolidation business case
Consolidation cases usually fail on payback period because they are priced as technology projects. This structure prices the part that actually dominates.
Structure
- The run-rate you can prove
- The change cost most cases omit
- The end-of-life clock
- The risk column
- The recommendation
The run-rate you can prove
Licence, support and infrastructure for each system today, from invoices rather than from the vendor’s list price.
The change cost most cases omit
Process redesign, retraining, parallel running, data migration and the productivity dip. This is usually larger than the licence saving and it is where cases are won or lost.
The end-of-life clock
What the do-nothing option costs when support ends. Do-nothing is never free; it is just unbudgeted.
The risk column
Single-vendor concentration, exit cost, and what happens at the next renewal once you have no alternative.
The recommendation
One option, with the second-best option stated and the reason it was rejected. Cases that present three equal options get deferred.
How to use it
Copy the headings, delete the guidance, and fill each section with your own numbers. If a section is empty, that is the finding — write “not known” rather than removing the heading, because the gap is the most useful line in the document.
Pressure-test it before you send it.
Bring the draft to a table of eight peers who have written the same document.