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Software Optimization Experts

Reduce costs, manage risk, and simplify your software licensing.

Book a Discovery Call 

Proven Results. Global Impact. Unmatched Value.

At 2Data, our independent, data-led approach to software licensing drives measurable savings for clients around the world. From reducing overspend to optimizing contract terms, we ensure every decision is backed by clarity and driven by results.

Why We Exist

Software is one of the most ubiquitous resources in modern enterprises, and one of the largest expenses. Global spending on software hit $1.3 trillion this year.

Contract costs are rising 20-50% year-over-year.

Licensing complexity continues to multiply.

Depiction of overlapping demands placed on IT budgets.

IT budgets are tight and taxed by other initiatives.

We saved €1.2 million with 2Data in just a short 6-month project. The team are exceptional at what they do.

- Group Procurement Manager, Financial Sector

Comprehensive Optimization

Across All the Major Software Vendors

Our licensing experts specialize in all the major software vendors, applying decades of experience and the proven 2Data methodology to achieve best-in-class agreements and reclaim IT spend.

01    Microsoft
02    SAP
03    Oracle
04    Salesforce
05    IBM
Microsoft Dynamic Ribbon

Microsoft Optimization Services

Optimize, negotiate and maintain best-in-class Microsoft agreements that cost less and give your business more. Get coverage for EA, M365, Azure,

Explore Microsoft optimization 
SAP Dynamic Ribbon

SAP Optimization Services

Maximize the value of your SAP ecosystem with comprehensive lifecycle support - from migrations to audits and more.

Explore SAP optimization 
Oracle Dynamic Ribbon

Oracle Optimization Services

Defend against audit risk, optimize costs, and simplify your Oracle licensing with full-spectrum coverage.

Explore Oracle optimization  
Salesforce Dynamic Ribbon

Salesforce Optimization Services

Cut through the complexity, right-size your licenses, and unlock real value from your Salesforce ecosystem.

Explore Salesforce optimization 
IBM Dynamic Ribbon

IBM Optimization Services

Align IBM entitlements to actual usage and optimize deployment, cost, and compliance.

Explore IBM optimization 

The 2Data Methodology

Customize Your Optimization Plan

Optimization as a Service

Safeguard your software environment with full spectrum optimization, ongoing risk assessment, and overspend prevention on major vendors.

Learn More  

Once-Off Optimization

Safeguard your software environment with full spectrum optimization, ongoing risk assessment, and overspend prevention on major vendors.

Learn More  

2Data’s Microsoft Methodology

01 The Data Layer

Formulate a data-driven overview of your Microsoft pricing, license entitlements, and actual usage of on-premise installations, Server, and Cloud subscriptions.

02 Operational Needs Assessment

Map operational needs against current usage across the business to craft an ideal deployment plan that aligns with user persona profiles.

03 Optimization Analysis

Identify a comprehensive set of optimization strategies to reduce your Microsoft licensing costs and reclaim overspend.

04 Negotiation Support

Create a unique Negotiation Playbook aligned to your organizational needs, backed by global market insights, and executed with hands-on support from our Microsoft experts.

05 Futureproofing

Ensure optimal continuity of your Microsoft environment with annual usage analysis, contract optimization, license, portal and chargeback management, access to our License Helpdesk, and more.

Historical Pricing Analysis

We begin by analyzing your current Microsoft Contract, assessing the pricing structure, any amendments in place, and reviewing the Customer Price Sheet to determine what’s included. This analysis provides insight into the current commercial structure and serves as the foundation for optimizing your estate.

License Entitlement Analysis

Based on our assessment of the current Microsoft contract, we generate the current Bill of Material, which includes the list of products, licenses, and amendments that could potentially provide license entitlements too.

Server & Cloud Subscriptions Analysis

We then delve deeper into the actual installations and usage of the software. This is where the ‘data’ comes into play. We analyze three different areas:

- On-premises installations
- Microsoft Cloud Subscriptions
- Azure Consumption

The on-premises data comes from your existing tools such as vCenter, Active Directory, SNOW, Flexera, SAM Pro, Lansweeper, or other tooling. To analyze Microsoft Cloud Subscriptions and Azure, we use our tooling to provide us with the necessary data to analyze the current usage of the Cloud platforms.

Operational Needs Assessment Workshops

Through hands-on workshops, we define personas within your organization, mappingoperational roles and technology requirements for each persona. These workshops alsoserve as knowledge-sharing sessions to outline more cost-effective licensing potentials.

Optimal Deployment Planning

Based on your company’s current and future operational needs, and informed by realworld persona behaviour, we outline an optimal deployment scenario that will inform theoptimized Bill of Material.

Cost Reduction and Optimization Strategies

After analyzing all the data and determining current and future demand, we will assessall possible cost reduction and optimization strategies. This information will bepresented in a management summary.

The Optimized Bill of Material

Next, we combine the operational needs assessment with possible optimizationstrategies to perform a cost modelling exercise. This results in the new Bill of Materialsthat covers the current costs and licenses, the minimum license scenario, the requiredlicense scenario, and a licensing scenario to account for potential future demand.

Negotiation Playbook

The 2Data team will work with you to create a unique Negotiation Playbook that reflects the optimal position you’d like to achieve with Microsoft. It incorporates our global market insights and tested strategies for securing best-in-class agreements.

Negotiation Support

2Data’s Microsoft experts offer step-by-step support throughout the negotiation process, either in an advisory capacity or through hands-on participation in your negotiations with Microsoft.

Annual Usage Analysis

Have annual usage analyses conducted to ensure usage and license entitlements are continually rationalized.

Licensing Helpdesk

Get perpetual, responsive access to our team of Microsoft experts for licensing queries.

Annual Contract Optimization

Run an annual contract optimization to keep your licensing cost, compliance and operational effectiveness in check.

License, Portal, and Chargeback Management

Accurately track Microsoft licenses, keep your Microsoft admin portal clean and compliant, and allocate costs back to departments based on actual usage.

2Data’s SAP Methodology

01 The Data Layer

Gather and validate contractual and software usage data from across the SAP ecosystem.

02 Operational Needs Assessment

Map operational needs against current contractual entitlements,  assess deployment, and indirect and digital access impact.

03 Optimization Analysis

Identify remediation and optimization opportunities, including compliance assurance, audit readiness, S/4HANA migration support, and renewals.

04 Negotiation Support

Create a unique Negotiation Playbook aligned to your organizational needs, backed by global market insights, and executed with hands-on support from our SAP experts.

05 Futureproofing

Ensure optimal continuity of your SAP environment with annual usage analysis, contract optimization, license, portal and chargeback management, access to our License Helpdesk, and more.

Data Gathering and Validation

Get a baseline establishment of your SAP licensing environment built from all relevant contractual documents as well as software usage data for review by our SAP experts. Our experts will validate the completeness and accuracy of all data provided.

Contractual and Entitlement Analysis

Get a Contractual and Entitlement overview summarizing the current state of your SAP licensing.

Deployment and Compliance Analysis

Get a Deployment and Compliance Analysis report created by our SAP experts based on actual software usage patterns.

Optimal Deployment Planning

Receive an optimal deployment plan that will inform any upcoming SAP renewals or migrations, based on your company’s current and future operational needs, and informed by real-world persona behaviour in your company.

Indirect and Digital Access

Determine the non-SAP applications interfering with the SAP systems, and count the number of digital documents to be licensed.

Remediation & Optimization Advisory

Mitigate any existing compliance risks and optimize license consumption, software deployment, and usage.

S/4HANA Migration & Roadmap Planning

Review and plan possible options for migrating your on-premise estate to S/4HANA, either on-premise or cloud.

Audit Support

Receive hands-on guidance in communicating with SAP throughout the audit process and set up an effective audit defense strategy.

SAM Tool Configuration

Configure the entitlement, deployment and compliance of your SAM tool.

Negotiation Playbook

The 2Data team will work with you to create a unique Negotiation Playbook that reflects the optimal position you’d like to achieve with SAP. It incorporates our global market insights and proven strategies for securing optimized agreements.

Negotiation Support

Receive guidance on negotiating the best possible deal, with hands-on advice throughout the commercial process (financial analysis, negotiation points tracker, key discussions, etc.)

Managed Services

- Quarterly License Inventory Updates
- Ongoing Data Collection and Validation Ongoing
- Deployment and Usage Assessment
- Expert Advisory & Quarterly Business Review
- Dedicated Account Management
- Support for Unexpected Critical Events

2Data’s Oracle Methodology

01 The Data Layer

Identify all entitlement sources across your Oracle ecosystem, and analyze deployed and used Oracle software.

02 Operational Needs Assessment

Map current and future operational needs against current Oracle licensing entitlements to assess optimization opportunities.

03 Optimization Analysis

Determine remediation and optimization opportunities across your Oracle ecosystem, aimed at cost reduction and compliance management.

04 Negotiation Support

Negotiate from a position of strength with full-spectrum commercial negotiation support from seasoned Oracle experts.

05 Futureproofing

Ensure ongoing compliance assurance and cost control with full coverage of Oracle management and optimization activities.

Contractual and Entitlement Analysis

Identify all the entitlement sources (OMA, OLSA, Agreements, Addendums, Appendixes, Support Renewals, Cloud Subscriptions Invoices, etc.,) in order to build a comprehensive Bill of Material of current license entitlements/subscriptions.

Provide detailed overview of the terms and conditions, use rights, metrics & metric definitions, limited use, full use,  and historical discounts.

Software Deployment, Usage & Compliance Analysis

Analyze the deployed  and/or used Oracle software (Database, Middleware, Java, Oracle Applications).

Look into the hardware discovery, software inventory, software configuration, installation and usage (active vs. authorized) information and non-system data(e.g. revenue, employees, etc.)

Current and Future Deployment Planning

Based on the current BOM, assess future deployment needs across the Oracle ecosystem to determine a financially and operationally optimal product roadmap.

Remediation & Optimization Advisory

Provide clean-up instructions, advisory for the different compliance issues that can be mitigated or how the risk can be decreased as much as possible.

Provide a manual to be further used by the customer in implementing internal procedures to maintain the compliance state after the engagement is finalized.

SAM Tool Configuration

Upload your Oracle license entitlements into the SAM tool, ensuring accurate configuration of deployment, usage, and compliance.

Our service includes detailed setup and continuous monitoring to help you maintain compliance with Oracle software licensing requirements, optimizing your software asset management processes for efficiency and accuracy.

Negotiation Playbook

The 2Data team will work with you to create a unique Negotiation Playbook that reflects the optimal position you’d like to achieve with Microsoft. It incorporates our global market insights and tested strategies for securing best-in-class agreements.

Negotiation Support

2Data’s Microsoft experts offer step-by-step support throughout the negotiation process, either in an advisory capacity or through hands-on participation in your negotiations with Microsoft.

Annual Internal Audit

Maintain audit readiness with an annual internal audit.

Ongoing Optimization

Control costs with continual optimization monitoring and remediation.

Commercial Negotiation Support

Prepare for upcoming renewals or negotiations with hands-on commercial negotiation support.

Licensing Helpdesk

Access a team of seasoned Oracle experts for ongoing licensing and optimization queries.

2Data’s Salesforce Methodology

01 The Data Layer

Astablish a complete view of your Salesforce estate by extracting license, usage, and access data across all orgs.

02 Operational Needs Assessment

Map user roles and business functions to actual Salesforce activity to expose over-licensing.

03 Optimization Analysis

Get a detailed license reallocation and downgrade plan based on real usage patterns. Quantify projected savings and flag compliance risks before audit exposure.

04 Negotiation Support

Deploy Salesforce pricing benchmarks, deal strategy, and term redlines to challenge sales-led proposals and secure favorable terms.

05 Futureproofing

Implement license governance and a forecasting model to maintain alignment as your needs evolve. Renewal visibility, policy controls, and planning frameworks sustain long-term license efficiency.

License & Org Discovery

Identify all active Salesforce licenses across your instances, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, CPQ, Experience Cloud, and add-on modules. This includes reviewing legacy contracts, license bundles, and Salesforce Order Forms.

Usage & Access Data Extraction

Collect and normalize license usage data across all users, roles, and permission sets. This includes login trends, API consumption, feature use, and login history, giving a full picture of what’s being used vs. what’s paid for.

Entitlement & Contract Mapping

Entitlements are reconciled against actual usage and business needs. We map SKUs to real user roles, enabling early detection of over-licensing and dormant allocations.

Persona & Role Profiling

Define user personas through interviews and workshops with business units to map their daily workflows to license types. Identify mismatches where features are over-licensed and underutilized.

Functional Coverage Review

Assess use of Salesforce across business functions (e.g., sales, service, marketing) to determine whether the current license configuration reflects actual operational needs.

User Segmentation Analysis

Segment user base by usage intensity and access requirements. This enables strategic down-tiering or consolidation of license types (e.g., moving from Enterprise to Platform or from full user to Chatter).

License Reallocation Plan

Realign license assignments based on usage data and operational mapping, identifying where licenses can be downgraded, consolidated, or reassigned.

Compliance Risk Review

Flag any areas of overuse, unauthorized access, or non-compliant configurations (e.g., custom app access on a restricted license type), helping to preempt audit exposure.

Cost Modeling and Savings Forecasting

Create a detailed financial model of current vs. optimized licensing scenarios, identifying short-term savings (via term adjustments or reductions) and long-term benefits.

Salesforce Pricing Benchmarking

Leverage market benchmarks and recent client deal data to provide pricing targets across SKUs, add-ons, and renewal terms. This supports data-driven negotiations rather than sales-led guidance.

Commercial Strategy and Playbook

Get tailored negotiation strategies, including hard and soft concessions, bundling tactics, and contract clause analysis. We help clients challenge Salesforce’s pricing structures and avoid non-negotiable traps.

Procurement & Legal Enablement

We support your procurement and legal teams with terms review, counterproposal drafting, and internal business case documentation to accelerate internal approvals.

License Management Framework

Design a governance model for ongoing license tracking, usage reviews, and user onboarding policies. This includes guidance on internal roles for license assignment and periodic usage audits.

Renewal Calendar & Forecasting

Build a roadmap to anticipate key renewal dates and true-up events, giving clients time to evaluate cost drivers and revalidate needs.

Change Control & Demand Planning

Integrate Salesforce licensing into your broader IT planning, so growth initiatives (e.g., new modules or orgs) can be forecasted and budgeted with licensing implications in mind.psum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

2Data’s IBM Methodology

01 License Risk Assessment

Establish a detailed view of your current IBM license position and potential compliance exposure.

02 Internal License Audit & Reconciliation

Validate entitlements, reconcile deployments, and ensure accurate usage data across your IBM environment.

03 Optimization & Cost Reduction

Align IBM licensing with actual consumption patterns and evolving business needs to reduce waste.

04 Audit Defense & Commercial Negotiation

Receive expert support during IBM audits and drive favorable outcomes in contract negotiations.

05 Ongoing Compliance & Managed Service

Maintain continuous IBM license compliance and preserve optimization gains over time.

License Risk Assessment

Gain clear visibility into your Effective License Position (ELP), highlighting any areas of overuse, under-entitlement, or unlicensed deployments.

This baseline analysis identifies key compliance risks across IBM licensing models (especially PVU, VPC, and Cloud Pak)and flags ILMT gaps or subcapacity misconfigurations before they become audit issues. It also quantifies potential financial exposure, enabling proactive remediation planning.

Deliverable: License Position Risk Assessment Report

Internal License Audit & Reconciliation

Achieve a cleansed and reconciled licensing position by aligning entitlements with actual deployment across your hybrid infrastructure.

This phase resolves discrepancies between procurement records and deployment data, addresses dormant or misused licenses, and ensures ILMT is configured correctly for subcapacity eligibility. The outcome is a legally defensible license position that supports compliance confidence and simplifies audit readiness.

Deliverable: Effective License Position & Remediation Plan

Optimization & Cost Reduction

Drive substantial cost savings by identifying opportunities to reallocate licenses, consolidate product usage, and retire shelfware.

This includes analyzing PVU consumption, consolidating Cloud Pak workloads, and optimizing bundling strategies. The outcome is a leaner, rightsized IBM license estate, eliminating waste, maximizing value from existing entitlements, and avoiding future overcommitment.

Deliverable: License Reallocation & Cost Optimization Strategy

Audit Defence & Commercial Negotiation

Minimize financial and contractual exposure by proactively managing IBM audit engagements. We provide guidance on documentation, tool outputs (ILMT, BigFix), and technical configurations.

During contract renewals, we strengthen your negotiation position with pricing benchmarks, support for Cloud Pak consumption modeling, and legal review of ELA terms. The result: reduced penalties, better pricing, and a contract structure that reflects your true business needs.

Deliverable: Audit Support Playbook & Risk Mitigation Strategy

Annual Usage Analysis

Sustain compliance and cost control through continuous monitoring, periodic license reviews, and lifecycle governance.

We implement a management framework that includes renewal tracking, ILMT oversight, change control procedures, and license demand forecasting.

This prevents compliance drift, supports audit readiness year-round, and ensures your IBM estate remains aligned to business growth without triggering unexpected costs.

Deliverable: License Management Framework & Optimization Monitoring

Why Companies Choose 2Data

Customize Your Optimization Plan

Optimization as a Service

Safeguard your software environment with full spectrum optimization, ongoing risk assessment, and overspend prevention on major vendors.

Learn More  

One-Off Optimization

Safeguard your software environment with full spectrum optimization, ongoing risk assessment, and overspend prevention on major vendors.

Learn More  
Picture of man holding laptop

Independence

As an independent advisory, we safeguard your best interests by remaining totally vendor and tool agnostic. Our only aim is optimizing your agreements.

Added Value

Our priority is realizing added value in your software estate. Before engaging, we confirm a viable optimization opportunity - and if you don’t save we don’t get paid.

Agile Delivery

Our service delivery is designed to account for budget pressures and tight renewal timelines, with agile delivery of the needle-moving actions that optimize your software agreements.

2Data led a global deal with one of our main software vendors. They provided exceptional strategic, technical, and financial solutions to maximize profits while decreasing operational expenses. They generate significant savings, including on taxes and exchange rates. We would highly recommend 2Data.

- Global Lead IT Buyer, Global Bank

2Data led two consulting engagements for us, both very high profile and large dollar value. On both engagements they delivered significant value. We would recommend them to any company looking to obtain both strategic as well tactical guidance to optimize their licensing agreements

- Director of Software Asset & License Management, Financial Institution

2Data have the ability to quickly assess and understand complex situations and requirements, and engage all levels of stakeholders. They're an invaluable asset to any company looking for software licensing advisory and negotiation support. We would highly recommend them to any company.

- Director of IT Procurement, Global Telecoms Company

What is Optimization as a Service (OaaS)?

Optimization as a Service (OaaS) is a continuous, value-driven license optimization program that delivers end-to-end, customizable support across your licensing lifecycle. Get dedicated licensing experts in your corner to optimize license management, support critical events, and generate real savings year-round.

Why OaaS Saves You More

Continuous Optimization:

Regular assessments to identify and eliminate inefficiencies.

Ongoing adjustments to maximize license utilization and prevent waste.

Cost Savings and Overspend Prevention:

Proactive monitoring and strategic adjustments to reduce overspending.

Discover new savings opportunities with every cycle.

Self-Funding Model:

Savings achieved are reinvested into further optimization.

Optimization services become self-funding over time, continuously driving added value.

High-Touch Expertise:

Access to licensing expertise and negotiation support.

Stay audit-ready with proactive license management and vendor compliance.

Flexible Program Objectives:

Customizable service scope, cadence and vendor focus based on business needs.

Dynamic focus to address unexpected events like audits.

Move Beyond Legacy Licensing Services

The software landscape has changed, but software licensing services have lagged behind. With static project scopes built for static software environments, traditional MSPs offer limited flexibility, low realized value, and reactive remediation.

Criteria:

Optimization as a Service with 2Data

Traditional Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

Vendor Independence
100% vendor and tool agnostic
Often partnered or incentivized

Flexibility

Customizable service scope, cadence and vendor focus based on evolving business need
Lower service flexibility after signing

Enablement

In-house enablement via knowledge sharing from senior vendor experts available on demand
Siloed access to expert knowledge, typically of a limited depth

Remediation Style

Proactive value generation, cost avoidance and strategic licensing alignment
Reactive, scope-limited remediation due to SLA-driven tasks

Partnership Style

Long-term, strategic alignment across lifecycle
Time-bound service contracts, often siloed by function

Reporting & Visibility

Regular, actionable insights and recommendations with outputs tailored to stakeholder requirements
Standard reporting, often technical or operational

Approach

Data-first, advisory-led, outcomes-focussed
Process-first, tool-led, outputs-focussed

Focus

Proactive value generation, cost avoidance, strategic licensing alignment resulting in a self-funding SAM model
Operational, steady-state maintenance

Audit Defence

Specialized experience with all major vendors, supporting in-cycle and mid-term to ensure constant preparedness
General experience with many vendors, support often triggered at contract events

License & Contract Optimization

Deep, scenario-based savings strategies based on regular license assessments and cost saving cycles
Limited to basic licensing hygiene or milestone-based optimization reviews

Negotiation Support

Detailed negotiation support, including renewal benchmarking and negotiation playbook creation
Not typically offered

SAM Tool Selection & Integration

Unbiased and tool agnostic recommendations, ability to assist in configuration if required
Partnered with a tool provider or platform

Consolidate Support Around Critical Events

Scale back our OaaS program to consolidate support on once-off coverage of critical events like annual renewals, true-ups,
audit defence, and cost reduction projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to our FAQ section! Here you’ll find answers to some of the most common questions we receive. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to reach out to us directly, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

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Are optimizations successful with both SMBs and large enterprises?

We run successful projects across multiple organizational sizes, industries, and geographies. On average, companies reduce their contract costs by 32% with
2Data regardless of company size.

Read our success stories  
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Why choose an independent advisory instead of an LSP?

LSP’s can be helpful for compliance maintenance, but because they resell vendor licenses there’s an obvious conflict of interest. An independent advisor safeguards your best interests by remaining totally vendor and tool agnostic.

Read our success stories  
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What happens if we already have a reseller or LSP? Do you work with them or replace them?

An LSP is there to support you with the operational aspects of your contract. Our focus at 2Data is on helping you reduce costs through market insights, benchmark data, and proven tactics to support you in your contract negotiations separate to your LSP.

Read our success stories  
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What’s the average timeline for the delivery of an optimization project?

This depends on your organizational needs. Most once-off optimizations take between 3-6 months, while our Optimization as a Service offering gives you comprehensive coverage over a longer period.

Read our success stories  
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Do you charge a flat fee, time-based rate, or success-based fee?

We use an equitable pricing model that accounts for number of devices/users and geographic considerations. We offer the choice between a flat fee, or a success fee tied to the outcomes of the project.

On average, companies make back 25X their investment on optimization efforts through both cost savings and cost avoidance.

Read our success stories