Global energy business: taking control of IT supplier spend to deliver sustainable savings worth hundreds of millions

How do you move beyond one-off savings and create cost control that lasts?

As a global energy leader, our client invests billions of dollars every year in digital tools and services to boost efficiency and improve decision-making. But as business demand for IT services continued to grow, so did costs. Escalating demand and supplier pricing trends meant software and SaaS spend alone was forecast to hit over $1bn a year by 2030 – equivalent to around 12% annual growth. Left unchecked, this trajectory risked squeezing future digital investment and impacting financial performance.

Without a joined-up technical and commercial approach, the business was missing opportunities to plan and negotiate successfully, manage vendors consistently and make its buying power really count year on year.

Building a strategy for impact

We worked closely with the client to design a single, global strategy to bring growth in Software and SaaS costs under control to ‘bend the curve’ on IT spend. Our team brought together our leading capabilities in IT, procurement, AI, data and cyber, backed by our experience and insight across the energy industry.  

Collaboration from day one

Designing a strategy and implementation framework that would work in practice and remain sustainable over the long term meant bringing people along on the journey. From day one, we engaged stakeholders at every level – from senior leaders to IT and procurement teams across continents – to understand on-the-ground realities and build confidence in the new approach.

As the strategy took shape, we stress-tested it with two strategic suppliers to check it was robust and capable of delivering the anticipated results. This testing used Baringa’s AI-enabled proprietary tools to analyse and identify over $10m in SaaS and cloud savings which were subsequently realised by the client during the project timeline. The testing acted as a showcase for the strategy. It helped strengthen the case for change and played a key role in securing united, senior-level backing. At the same time, ongoing engagement across the IT organisation created a strong sense of ownership, setting the new approach up for successful implementation.

One clear way of working, globally

The final strategy gives the business a clear, consistent way to manage IT suppliers and demand for IT services globally. It also defines key enablers for embedding the new approach, such as cultural change and the right tools and data.

At the strategy’s core is a new supplier segmentation model, scalable across more than 1,000 vendors. This brings greater consistency to how suppliers are managed and shines a light on medium-spend suppliers, which often get overlooked but offer real value potential. On the demand side, the focus is on better control of what’s being used – from consumption management to tighter software asset management. Bespoke frameworks designed by our IT specialists will maximise cost savings associated with high-growth cloud and data providers.

Real savings, not just once

By improving how suppliers are managed and how software is consumed, the new strategy will unlock over $100m in annual savings by 2030, reducing Software and SaaS spend to around nine per cent annual growth and freeing up budget for wider digital investment. Beyond the numbers, the business now has a clear framework for keeping IT spend under control and a practical roadmap for turning ambition into reality.