Your next renewal is already on the calendar. Are you ready to negotiate it?
Fifty-six checks across the seven things that decide whether a telecom, cloud, or security renewal goes your way or the vendor's. Check what is true today, not what you plan to do before the date. Your section scores update as you go.
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Why renewals go the vendor's way
The deadline is not the renewal date
Most contracts require notice 30 to 90 days before they renew. Miss that window and many roll over for another full term, often at a higher rate. The real deadline is the notice date, and it is usually in the fine print.
Contracts drift from the market
Pricing set three years ago rarely matches what a new customer pays today, and escalators compound quietly. In our bill analyses the gap is typically 15 to 30 percent on telecom and 20 to 40 percent on SaaS. On cloud, VMware license increases of 3x to 30x have turned some renewals into a platform decision.
You pay for what you stopped using
Seats for people who left, circuits to offices that closed, capacity bought for a forecast that never came. A renewal is the cheapest moment to take it out.
The vendor prepares, and you are busy
The account team knows your contract, your usage, and your alternatives better than you do. Readiness is simply closing that gap before the conversation starts.
What renewals look like now
Vendor loyalty is at a low, renewal prices are rising, and most contracts carry spend nobody uses. Four numbers set the stage, two of them from our own reviews.
of IT buyers saw renewal costs rise over the past twelve months, and 84% say they are open to switching vendors at renewal.
Telarus, 2026-27 Tech Trends Reportof SaaS licenses go unused on average, and most of them renew anyway unless someone takes them out.
Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Indexis the range we typically find in a properly benchmarked renewal: 15 to 30 percent on telecom, 20 to 40 percent on SaaS.
The Deady Group bill analysesVMware license increases we are seeing at renewal. The options are converting licenses, renegotiating, or moving platforms.
The Deady Group client reviews, 2026How to use this assessment
Quick and practical. About ten minutes if the inventory exists, longer if it does not, which is itself a finding.
Pick one contract
Score against the renewal that is coming up next, or the largest one. You can take the assessment again for the next.
Answer for today
Check an item only if it is done and written down. Planned, partial, or someone-probably-knows stays unchecked.
Bring finance and IT
The contract, the last three invoices, and the usage report answer most of these in minutes.
Use the result
Your weakest sections are what to close before the notice window, in that order.
Section scores, weakest first
Where to start
Want a benchmark before you talk to the vendor?
Send one invoice and the contract. We benchmark the pricing line by line, mark the dates and exit terms that matter, and lay out renew, renegotiate, and replace side by side. If an option would pay us, we tell you in writing before you decide.