The Challenge
Flexera helps organizations optimize the value they get out of their technology stack investments. They give visibility across the entire technology environment, including cloud, infrastructure, SaaS, on-premises software, and hardware. Flexera provides a detailed, accurate set of information at any time to help support better IT decisions and identifies where there might be a risk in the environment. They identify cost savings and where they can automate manual activities.
According to Dan Anderson, Business Value Advisor for Flexera, “we were challenged by the need to model out a lot of moving parts.” Their current ROI software solution was out of control. It involved a lot of complicated math, of which they had no way of showing or proving the outcomes. Also, they wanted to gain back control of the user interface.
Before ValueCore, Flexera used a commercially developed ROI software solution. They felt they needed more flexibility than they currently had. The math was limited to A times B equals C. In ValueCore, if it can be done in Excel, it can be done in ValueCore. Flexera does a lot of M&As, and they felt they needed the ability to control the Platform, accommodate more complex math, and have an excellent user interface.
The Strategy
“All things being equal, we would have stayed with what we had.” Because Flexera was coming off another ROI solution, they knew it would be a challenge to move to ValueCore. The strategy was simple, develop the models in Excel and upload them into the ValueCore Platform. All the complexity in the equations would be worked out in Excel first. Once the model was uploaded into ValueCore, a beautiful user interface was developed.
Dan explains, “ROI Selling is a core part of our sales methodology. Selling to value early is our focus. Our CRO drives the company in that direction, and ValueCore plays a critical role in that effort.”
The Result
“The previous ROI model had a bad reputation.” The adoption rate for ValueCore is much higher now. With ValueCore, they could take advantage of the multiple output sources, make changes to their Dynamic PowerPoint slides, and present a beautiful user interface to their prospect.
Of the nearly seven hundred models created in the past year, Flexera estimates that over 30% of the opportunities closed.
In the future, they want to leverage some of the CRM integration in ValueCore. Perhaps, some of the interoperability features too. They use a lot of data from sources like Gartner, Ponemon Institute, and others.
