"We never paid close enough attention to the invoices... Once we engaged Catalyst, we discovered we had overpaid by a significant amount"
The Challenge
Most institutions have large contracts with technology providers that are complex. To make matters worse, these contracts vary depending from vendor to vendor. Each contract contains differing components such as;
- Term
- Service Level Agreements
- Activity Based Pricing
- Maintenance Rates
- Termination Clauses
- Hourly Services Charges
Keeping up with the intricacies of these contracts often proves too cumbersome and in many cases the institution simply trusts that the vendor is billing them according to the contract. However, most vendors use automated billing that does not account for special contract provisions.
Some institutions have created departments to handle this issue, but these are rarely staffed with individuals who understand how to decipher a complex bill (i.e. core processing, online banking, etc.) or to recognize when a term of the complicated contract is not being followed.
Catalyst Response
Catalyst understands the complexities of large, complicated and in-depth contracts. We rely upon our hands-on experience gained from negotiating these contracts as well as auditing them. Catalyst not only reviews your monthly, quarterly and/or annual bills, we will also audit all relevant components that present a challenge (listed in above section). Through contract servicing, Catalyst has found discrepancies as high as hundreds of thousand of dollars for a single client and discovered hundreds of terms and SLA's that were not in force.
Benefits
Catalyst’s value comes from our extensive knowledge of the vendors and familiarity with their contracts and billing methods. Catalyst will ensure that your institution is being charged in accordance with all contractual terms and provide you with ample notice when key contracts are set for renewal. This will save your institution a great deal of time and money and will ultimately create a greater amount of trust with your vendors.
