Large manufacturer achieves annual $350k IT savings with SoftwareOne’s insights and expertise

SoftwareOne global success story: Apparel Manufacturing

The company, based in Asia, started its relationship with SoftwareOne in 2019 ahead of the renewal of its Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft. This project of cost optimization became business-critical for the manufacturer as the global economy stalled in the wake of Covid.

Chief Digital Officer at the large textile manufacturer explains. “If you look at the apparel industry and the top-tier brands, they are struggling. Post-Covid, there was a massive reset in terms of behaviors and price points, and our company obviously feels the effect of that.

“We can’t raise our prices, so we have to cut costs,” states the CDO, “and that includes our IT spend.”

“We felt that our investment in technology was a bit disproportionate to our revenues and decided that all our costs should be addressed proportionately. That’s why we worked with SoftwareOne and the team to get to a happy place with Microsoft.

“SoftwareOne played a huge role in advising us to rationalize certain items in our agreement with Microsoft, as well to find the right balance of what we should be having. This helped us absorb the price increases Microsoft has imposed globally.”

The prominent textile manufacturer has some 17,000 users using Microsoft so its licensing spend is significant. Before the renewal of its EA in 2020, the company worked with two Microsoft resellers.

“There were a couple of reasons why we wanted to change partners,” says the CDO. “The first one was financial stability – or lack of it. We ran into problems because of that.

“The second reason was that we wanted access to the right tools and expertise to help us optimize costs. We received three proposals. In terms of pricing, SoftwareOne’s was in the middle; but in terms of expertise, SoftwareOne came out on top.

“SoftwareOne’s competitors in this space had the capabilities of a typical Microsoft reseller – but little more. We understood and appreciated that having a relationship with SoftwareOne gives us many more options.

“With SoftwareOne we felt comfortable that we would have access to global expertise. And this has been our experience.

“As our technology partner and trusted advisor, SoftwareOne recognizes our need for global connection at a leadership level and puts us in regular touch with its CEO and other global stakeholders.”

The engagement with SoftwareOne gave the CDO and his team granular, line-item insight into its Microsoft EA. “I mean the SKUs (stock-keeping units) and BOM (bill of materials) which are so complicated and which we’d never got to the bottom of before. But now we really know what we’re paying for and what we’re getting out of it.”

SoftwareOne ran its optimization tools to right-size the portfolio of Microsoft licenses and strike the right balance between the E3 and E5 licensing options, cutting out wasteful spend and helping the Asia based textile manufacturer save at least $350,000 per annum.

In addition, SoftwareOne reviewed the manufacturer’s cyber security stack.

“We had a suite of cyber security products, which are not Microsoft,” states the CDO. “But with some of the features that Microsoft was introducing, part of its services stack now overlaps with several non-Microsoft security solutions that we have. SoftwareOne’s review showed we could discontinue some of these non-Microsoft products and instead use the functionality available in the Microsoft suite.

“We have not completed that exercise, but once we have, we will be roughly cost-neutral with regards to our Microsoft spend.”

Microsoft’s response to the inflation crisis has been to put up licensing costs significantly. With SoftwareOne’s cost-optimization of its license and security portfolios, the manufacturer will be able to absorb this price increase.

“But as I said we went ahead with SoftwareOne because this partnership would give us opportunities for cost optimization beyond Microsoft,” adds the CDO. “Currently, we are in discussion with SoftwareOne to help us rationalize some of our licensing in other vendors”

What is encouraging to the large manufacturer is the sense that in the EA negotiations with Microsoft, SoftwareOne was fighting for the customer, not the vendor. “This gives us confidence for possible future projects,” adds the CDO. “Contrary to many other players, SoftwareOne has expertise in non-Microsoft environments where we will need that leverage.”

“We continue to explore opportunities with SoftwareOne whom we regard as a trusted advisor.”

The Chief Digital Officer further elaborates that the collaboration was collegiate and easy, adding: “The SoftwareOne General Manager feels part of the team!”

“That was very much our experience too,” adds the SoftwareOne GM. “We helped the manufacturer optimize its environment in terms of saving money, cutting waste, and staying compliant. And, from a more strategic point of view, I believe we also supported it to maximize the value of its technology investments and to map those technologies with its business requirements.

“But with our clients, it’s never one-way traffic. We also learned a lot from the manufacturer which is such a huge driver of technological and ethical innovation.”

For the CDO, the creation of authentic partnerships is the way forward. “When done right, it creates knowledge. This is why I would always advise businesses to engage with a partner that actually advises you because you need a partner to tell you what you don’t know.

“This is why I am trying to push the partner system in our region to not just ask us what we want but tell us what we should have. That’s the kind of outside perspective that we really, really want. And this is what SoftwareOne gives us,” the CDO of the large textile manufacturer concludes.

The Asia-based company is a contract manufacturer for the world’s leading fashion brands. In 2019, it engaged SoftwareOne to optimize its portfolio of Microsoft licenses. The Enterprise Agreements concluded with the vendor ensure that the manufacturer gets the most out of its license spend, as it explores further strategic opportunities with SoftwareOne.