Most of ELEVATE 2026 looked at value from the seller's side. The buyers panel turned it around. Martin Dove, Founder and Principal Advisor at It's The Outcome, asked three technology buyers what earns their trust, what a good business case looks like and what happens when a vendor misses its promise.
The panel was Jochen Jaser, Chief Information Officer at SUSE; Mike Flanagan, Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Compucom; and Callum McGregor, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Westcon-Comstor.
All three also sit on the selling side, which is unusual for a buyers panel. SUSE is an enterprise Linux company. Compucom is a managed service provider and value-added reseller that runs what Mike called "a true client zero," using everything it sells. Westcon-Comstor is a value-added distributor that represents many of the vendors it might buy from. They know how a business case gets built, and how it gets read.
What Tips the Decision for Technology Buyers?
Fit, cost and a vendor who listens. Jochen described buying a new learning management system. His team needed to be excited about it, because "that buys the time that you really listen longer." After that came strategic fit, which for a CIO means cost, efficiency and reliability, and then the relationship. The vendor listened closely to what SUSE needed. There was no formal business case.
Mike's example was choosing a frontier AI lab. Compucom scored three providers on ease of use, capability, price and roadmap. "Price was a heavy hitter," he said. All three ran a 30-day proof of value at no cost, and they trained Compucom's people to use the product.
Callum's team consolidated a security stack of nearly two dozen vendors. He asked his CIO to be "super agnostic and independent and objective," since Westcon-Comstor represents many of those vendors. The company picked one provider, and its spend doubled year over year. The case was strong enough to justify it.
Why Generic Business Cases Fail
Buyers can tell when a business case was built from someone else's numbers. Jochen said many cases are based on a pattern from other organizations and leave him asking what it means for SUSE specifically. "So it's too generic," he said. Reworking them costs time on both sides.
He also wants a step most vendors skip: reviewing the business case together after the sale. Six, nine or twelve months later, he asked, "who is brave enough from the vendor side to ask, have we done it right? Did we prove the value?"
What a Co-Developed Business Case Looks Like
Mike gave the best example of one. A licensing change from a major vendor was about to raise Compucom's costs, so it went to cloud providers for a plan. One offered to build the business case with Compucom, run a proof of concept and pay for the evaluation, because it wanted the future spend.
The case projects about $200,000 less spend in 2027 and roughly neutral cost in 2026, and Mike said the results have tracked the plan. The provider also brought partners with more experience than his own team had. Compucom kept checking actuals against the plan month by month. Because the case was built together, it was "an easy thing to sign."
Callum explained why that matters to a CFO. When his team brings him a business case, he works through the obvious questions, and he can tell quickly "if our own team believes in this business case or not." Over time, his teams coach providers on what he'll test.
What Happens When a Vendor Misses the Promise?
"It's usually terminal," Callum said. He described two SaaS point solutions that failed. One underestimated the requirements and took years to sort out. The other oversold its capability, including geographic coverage.
Mike inherited a vendor that sold two point solutions outside its real strength. Neither delivered, so Compucom rebuilt both itself while running out the rest of a five-year contract. Jochen's team found a large vendor's promised agentic integration wasn't there. They worked out a compromise ("it's IT, it's not emergency room," he said), but SUSE now signs contracts of one year at most, so it can react as AI changes.
Renewals Now Get Much More Scrutiny
Budgets are flat, and buyers expect vendors to justify every renewal. Mike said scrutiny has gone up "significantly." Budgets aren't growing for Compucom or for the 38 clients he's met with since May, and AI spending has to come from somewhere. "Every vendor I deal with wants a 30% raise," he said.
His team cut its software titles from 177 to 143 and tracks renewal dates so it knows when it can negotiate. The vendors he wants to renew run a real QBR with tangible ways to save money or add value, and he estimated only about 10% of his vendors do. His message to sellers:
"Give me a reason not to go to somebody else, or give me a reason not to do it myself."
— Mike Flanagan, Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Compucom
He also questioned how vendors pay for renewals. If reps only earn when revenue goes up, they push price increases on customers who are trying to stay flat.
One Thing to Do Differently
Martin closed by asking each panelist for one change sellers could make next week.
- Jochen: Listen more and listen longer before offering a solution. And show "how you drink your own champagne" by using your own product the way you're asking the buyer to.
- Mike: Bring a well-defined starting point the customer can consume and prove out. Inside your own company, give a cross-functional team the authority to drive AI adoption.
- Callum: Do the basics well, and give buyers cost predictability. "The providers that can come in and give me predictability over a multi year period are usually winning."
None of the three asked for a better slide. They asked for evidence, built with them and checked after the sale.
Watch the Session
Watch the full buyers panel from ELEVATE 2026. Chad Quinn's keynote covered what a validated record of the value promise needs to hold, and our recap, Closing the Promise Gap, covers the themes of the whole day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do technology buyers look for in a business case?
They want one built for their company, with their numbers. SUSE CIO Jochen Jaser said generic cases based on other organizations' patterns don't tell him what the result means for SUSE. Westcon-Comstor CFO Callum McGregor said he can tell quickly whether his own team believes in a case, which usually depends on how closely they built it with the vendor.
What is a co-developed business case?
It's a business case the vendor and buyer build together, with the buyer's data and assumptions. Compucom's Mike Flanagan described a cloud provider that co-developed a migration case, ran a proof of concept and paid for the evaluation. Because Compucom's team helped build it, the case was easier to sign, and Compucom checked results against the plan monthly.
How are CIOs handling software renewals?
With much more scrutiny. Compucom CIO Mike Flanagan said budgets are flat while vendors ask for increases, so his team cut its software titles from 177 to 143 and tracks renewal dates so it knows when to negotiate. He wants to renew vendors that run real QBRs with tangible ways to save money or add value.
What happens when a vendor doesn't deliver what it promised?
Often the relationship ends. Westcon-Comstor's Callum McGregor called it "usually terminal." Compucom rebuilt two failed point solutions itself. SUSE worked out a compromise with one vendor but now limits contracts to one year so it can change course quickly. Proving value after the sale is how vendors avoid that outcome.
Keep the Conversation Going
The conversations that started at ELEVATE continue all year with peers who are solving the same problems. Join the Customer Value Community to be part of them. And if you'd like to see how teams use Ecosystems to build business cases with buyers and review them after the sale, book a demo.
