Automox Uses Tropic Intelligence to Build the “Game Plan” for Negotiation Success

About Automox

Automox is the IT automation platform for modern organizations. Next-generation human-controlled automation empowers IT professionals to prove vulnerabilities are fixed, slash cost and complexity, win back hours in their days, and delight end users. The Austin-based company has more than 200 employees. 

JB Snodgrass is the Vice President of Financial and Sales Operations at Automox. He has 2 decades of accounting and procurement experience, including Dell and VRBO. At Automox, he is responsible for managing procurement, primarily for software purchases. 

The Challenge

Wild West procurement led to inefficient time and spend management

Prior to Tropic, Automox realized they needed more visibility into their spend. Missing contract documentation and last-minute requests resulted in limited leverage for supplier negotiations.

Contracts were scattered across different systems, and important renewal dates were often missed. This lack of visibility and structure resulted in redundant purchases and missed opportunities for cost savings.

"We were moving fast and signing deals quickly, but we didn't have the visibility to track contracts and upcoming renewals," said Snodgrass. "If you miss an opt-out date, you lose leverage in negotiations. We knew we needed a solution to centralize and streamline procurement."

Snodgrass was tasked with reining in this chaotic process to ensure Automox was getting the best possible deals and eliminating unnecessary costs. He also needed to evaluate the efficiencies around spending and put more structure around the company’s “Wild West” procurement process. 

"I'm a one-man band here, so I don't have the time to constantly train or retrain people on how to use a solution or explain what everything means," he added. "We needed to centralize our process — there's so many benefits to having a really good repository and a good approval flow."

The Solution

Gain strategic leverage for negotiations and avoid redundant purchases

Staying ahead of renewals is difficult to manage manually. Tropic gives Snodgrass piece of mind by auto-extracting Automox’s key contract data and sending reminders when a purchase is nearing its opt-out date. 

“Anyone who's a procurement professional knows: If you pass an opt-out date, you really lose your leverage in negotiating," Snodgrass said. "Understanding what are the key dates around the renewal, who the signatories are — that's been critical for my effectiveness in procuring and getting the best deal."

He added that compared to larger (and more expensive) industry research providers, the data provided is more valuable to those managing procurement on a day-to-day basis.

“Tropic provides more actionable insights that are useful for a procurement professional,” Snodgrass said. "Items like common line-item median prices, negotiation tips, billing frequency and payment terms, and price benchmarks are so helpful."

Prepare for negotiations with comprehensive supplier insights and negotiation strategies

As Snodgrass prepares for negotiations, he immediately turns to Tropic to build his initial strategy, which gives him the supplier’s competitive landscape, benchmark pricing, and successful negotiation tactics. The insights are tailored to Automox’s procurement preferences and past purchase history. 

"Supplier Intelligence is my initial source of understanding a game plan. It’s not just the pricing information and competitors, but also tips on negotiating with a particular supplier," he added. "How do you approach a bundled offering or a complicated offering? It gives us a game plan to go in and effectively get what we want. Having that detail helps me really understand what am I being uplifted by and what's happening to the rate."

The Outcome

Significant cost savings from proactive procurement, powered by Tropic’s commercial intelligence 

The combination of centralized contract management with embedded supplier insights gives Snodgrass an even playing field for procurement. 

"The most elegant systems are those that are simple, intuitive, and easy to use but provide outcomes that are very key to what you're trying to get done," he explained. "The cost savings are material – beyond my wildest dreams. … It’s been really impressive. Tropic’s a big reason for that."

Effective use of legal resources with fewer last-minute requests 

Streamlining software requests through Tropic gives Automox’s legal team enough time to review purchase agreements. 

In a cross-functional role like procurement, this smoother collaboration leads to less stress and better purchase outcomes for the company.

"Getting requests in as soon as possible allows my legal team to get to these important contracts over time instead of a surprise at the last minute because we didn't realize there was a renewal or we got blindsided," Snodgrass explained.

Less time spent onboarding employees to procurement process

Because Tropic is intuitive to use, Snodgrass says he can spend less time bogged down in admin needs and procurement training, and more time on strategic work. 

"When we have new employees, I just send them a link to Tropic and it's so intuitive," he said. "I've been very impressed with how people just can come in and immediately start using the tool."