NPI
Actionable Intel for IT Buyers and a Vision for IT Sourcing Transformation

Few areas of procurement have grown as much as IT sourcing over the last few years. As enterprise IT initiatives have increased in both scale and complexity, so has the risk of overspending. That’s driven many companies to think twice about how they validate whether they’re getting a good deal for their largest IT purchases.

“If you don’t want to overbuy or overspend with vendors like Microsoft or Oracle, you need a PhD in the hundreds of different licensing and subscription permutations available to you, as well as the pricing and terms for each. Most companies don’t have this expertise in-house. There is no Kelley Blue Book for IT buying,” says Jon Winsett, CEO, NPI.

NPI closes this knowledge gap to help companies optimize their IT purchases and renewals. Backed by a network of more than 200 vendor-specific experts, the company provides benchmark pricing analysis, licensing/subscription optimization expertise and transaction-specific negotiation intel. According to Winsett, “It takes all three to move the needle.” The company’s clients include over 50 Fortune 500 companies, and more than 400 large and medium-sized enterprises.

Last year, Atlanta-based NPI reviewed more than $1.5 billion in IT spend. On average across all clients, the company finds material savings opportunity for 65 percent of the transactions it reviews—with savings ranging generally ranging from 10 to 40 percent per transaction for new purchases, and from 6 to 14 percent for renewals. Through NPI’s intel and guidance, most clients realize aggregate savings of seven- to eight-figures. These savings can be reallocated to unfunded IT projects or drop directly to the client’s bottom line.

Driving inefficiencies out of the purchasing process to provide best-in-class pricing and terms, NPI makes sure that “the client is getting a good deal, and if not, a roadmap for how they can achieve it,” as described by Winsett.

Because of our deep vendor intelligence, we know exactly how clients should structure IT purchases to make sure the total cost is minimized

“Because of our insight into how individual vendors make pricing decisions and what motivates them to concede, we know exactly how clients should structure deals to make sure the total cost is minimized. We make recommendations in real-time as clients are engaged in the final stretch of the negotiations with the vendor.”

Winsett is quick to point out that it’s not just savings the NPI team delivers: “Misalignment between IT and IT sourcing is a common issue for most enterprises today, and vendors profit from it. We teach our clients how to align these functions so they can deliver the most value to their business.”

The culture at NPI plays an important role in how the company brings value to its clients. A strong culture of “working hard and having fun” has earned them a consistent ranking as one of the best places to work in Atlanta. “Every quarter and every year, we hold ourselves accountable to specific goals—many of them client-service related. Teamwork and collaboration are highly valued, and we have fun striving to reach goals together. We bring that energy to our client interactions,” says Winsett.

Looking ahead, a focus on IT sourcing transformation is what shapes NPI’s future roadmap. After providing sourcing analysis and intelligence for over ten years, “we are focusing on not just the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ required to keep IT sourcing organizations operating at the highest efficiency level,” concludes Winsett. “We are very excited about where the market and profession are heading. A new age of IT sourcing is upon us, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”