Datacom helped Santos engage a cloud first strategy with licensing
Santos employs approximately 4000 people and is SA’s largest corporate business. Datacom has had a long term ongoing relationship with Santos over the past three years. This expertise and experience in the market meant that Datacom was appointed to help with Santos’ licensing requirements, and look at boosting the efficiencies and cost effectiveness of its operations.
The Challenge
Santos was looking for an experienced partner to work with them to best put forward a solution for their upcoming Microsoft Enterprise agreement renewal. Due to budget cuts and a new business cost saving focus, our specialist team created a model that not only provided the savings required, but produced a more flexible cloud solution to meet the customer’s current requirements, while also futureproofing it. This meant a focus on Santos’ cloud first strategy, which was about choosing the right platform that wasn’t a locked-in model.
The Datacom Difference
This project best demonstrated the “One Datacom” model by bringing our specialist skillsets from around Australia. Our specialists working in similar industries across West Australia collaboratively worked together with the South Australian team, pooling resources nationally, and engaging Santos every step of the way.
Datacom’s Santos team built the solution around a customer focused delivery that included no lock—ins, pulled together our software license delivery operations with proactive notifications, and provided neutral advice on future options that may suit the business better. This willingness to focus on the customer’s agenda first and foremost saw Datacom successfully win the right to be Santos’ LSP for their Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.
“This really has been a really tremendous effort and a great show of teamwork between information systems, Datacom and procurement, and is a very good outcome for Santos. We are very pleased with the effort the Datacom team put in, and for expediting to get it over the line before the price increase.”
Karen Wotherspoon, ICT Manager, Santos Ltd.
Results
The overall engagement process for the Microsoft Enterprise Renewal was approximately six months from start to finish, which saw Datacom directly negotiating discounts on the client’s behalf. Datacom reviewed Santos’ current licensing architecture and produced alternative solutions that better fit Santos’ requirements in forming its cloud first strategy.
This benefited instantly, with over $700,000 in savings to the business. Additionally, Datacom negotiated an early
commitment between Santos and Microsoft before a price increase that will see it produce further cost savings into the future.
The multi-million dollar contract sees Datacom representing Santos as a Microsoft Partner over three years.