Staying Connected

Back billing and recovery provisions can look like routine contract language, but they determine who carries the financial risk of the supplier's billing errors. A supplier may have up to 12 months to collect charges it failed to invoice, while the customer may have a much shorter contractual window to recover amounts that were billed incorrectly.

In this 11-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Theresa Knutson and Jaime Hansen to discuss how enterprise customers should approach supplier back billing, audit recovery rights and the billing controls needed to protect both recovery of billing errors and the future run rate.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our IT Cost Management webpage.

Supplier escalation does not have to mean open warfare. When service quality drops, customers need more than frustration and another status meeting. They need a controlled escalation path built on facts, business impact, clear remedies and credible options.

In this 11-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Bryan Carriker to discuss how the enterprise can escalate serious supplier problems without creating unnecessary conflict.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Disputes & Workouts webpage.

As suppliers use software and partner networks to deliver service across owned and third-party access, the old on-net/off-net distinction is becoming less straightforward. Customers may not need to manage every underlying circuit relationship themselves, but they still need to know who provides the access, what changes because of it and whether the supplier remains accountable when something goes wrong.

In this 11-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Julie Gardner to discuss what Lumen's Multi-Cloud Gateway expansion says about the changing network market and how enterprise customers should rethink sourcing questions around access, accountability, digital operating platforms and network diversity.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Strategic Sourcing & RFx webpage.

TC2 and LB3 have recently completed a refresh of their brands and digital platforms to convey their breadth of capabilities, their depth of expertise and the sophistication of their work.

In this 15-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by LB3's Andrew Brown and TC2's Ben Fox for a discussion about the exciting changes at our enterprise and what they mean for our future work with our clients.

If you would like to learn more about the wide portfolio of technologies, services and expertise that TC2 and LB3 offer, please explore our new websites at www.techcaliber.com and www.lb3law.com.

Between big projects, customers deal with supplier quotes, change orders, renewal proposals, billing questions and "standard" terms that can create cost, reduce flexibility or simply set bad precedent. The challenge is staying commercially ready for such business as usual items without turning every supplier event into a full sourcing project.

In this 10-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Frank Zagrodnik to discuss how customers can stay ready between major sourcing projects by stress-testing supplier claims, validating quotes, reviewing change orders, monitoring renewals and preserving leverage while still moving at the speed the business requires.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Lifecycle Services webpage.

Cloud, software and networking deals all sit under the enterprise technology umbrella, but they do not behave the same way. Enterprise customers need a benchmarking approach that compares lifecycle value, flexibility, operating reality and commercial risk without forcing dissimilar deals into a misleading math exercise.

In this 9-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Brent Knight to discuss how customers can benchmark complex cloud, software and network proposals in a way that supports better decision making, stronger negotiation positions and clear internal alignment.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Benchmarking and Strategic Sourcing webpages.

The HPE-Juniper combination may create stronger technology options, but it also changes the competitive map for enterprise networking. Customers that once viewed HPE, Aruba and Juniper as distinct sourcing alternatives need to reassess how consolidation affects channel strategy, roadmap decisions, pricing leverage, and future flexibility. A broader supplier relationship can simplify operations, but it can also create dependency if the commercial structure makes it harder to compete, reduce or unwind parts of the technology estate.

In this 10-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Larry York to discuss what the HPE-Juniper transaction means for enterprise customers and how they can protect leverage by revisiting supplier alternatives, asking roadmap questions early and negotiating portfolio deals with future options in mind.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Strategic Sourcing webpage.

Run-rate waste often hides in the gaps between contracts, invoices, service inventories and operational ownership. In dynamic network environments, old services may keep billing after new circuits are installed, closed sites may retain active charges, and valid overlapping transition costs can quietly become permanent waste. Enterprise customers need a disciplined way to recover value without creating operational chaos.

In this 8-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Jaime Hansen to discuss how enterprise customers can identify stranded services, validate pricing, separate planned migration cost from avoidable waste, and drive supplier remediation without creating service continuity risk.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Contract Compliance & Optimization webpage.

AI is changing the commercial model inside enterprise software agreements. Seats and users are giving way to credits, tokens, agent actions and outcome-based pricing. The issue is not only what the AI capability costs but also understanding the pricing construct to know where financial exposure stops if adoption is slower—or much faster—than expected.

In this 10-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Julie Gardner to discuss how AI pricing is changing software negotiations and why customers need to evaluate commitments, usage models, pricing constructs and how to model demand before your next SaaS negotiation.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Strategic Sourcing webpage.

Sourcing CCaaS and UCaaS can appear straightforward, that is until the proposals arrive. If customers don't force comparability early, the decision can turn into a contest of narratives instead of a rigorous evaluation of cost, scope, accountability and operating risk.

In this 11-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Julie Gardner to discuss how customers can structure CCaaS and UCaaS sourcing so suppliers actually show their work. Tony and Julie explore why licensing, migration, voice, AI features, usage-based costs, responsibility matrices and contract terms need to be clear before supplier selection.

If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Strategic Sourcing webpage.