Cloud customers; don’t let yourself get surprised by that upcoming contract renewal.  Especially if the software you are renewing is of great value/importance to your organization.  Cloud software vendors take into account some key considerations before they kick start a renewal discussion.  At a high-level they are typically based on either 1) When THEY need the subscription renewed/contract signed, or 2) When it's clear you will have little time to make a fully-thought out decision.   This is evident in the models you see out there, some of which include an automated notification regarding your upcoming renewal.  This more hands off approach works for less complex solutions and treats the renewal like a “Keep the Lights On” activity.  It assumes that you, the customer, are satisfied with the solution and the renewal isn’t in question. In situations like this, you’ll often see these automated notifications sent out with less lead time for your to weig...

It seems sometimes that organizations are very quick to forget about the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in those lengthy RFP’s.  This is somewhat understandable given they’ve selected a solution and are now busy implementing it, getting trained, and making it work for their business needs.  These are all good and very necessary things.  But keep in mind, there’s value in understanding what the other RFP respondents are up to.  The solution you selected today may end up falling behind tomorrow.  Conditions such as account management, corporate ownership, price, features, internal leadership, and a host of others may change, resulting in your needing to pivot from your current provider.  This is simply the nature of business.   The reason this is so important, is because by keeping abreast of your solution providers competitors; when it comes to negotiating the renewal, you’ll be in a better position to talk about if/how they hold up against others and what...