Here's what renewal looks like without independent data: A company has a legacy telco circuit. The vendor warns that month-to-month means a price increase. The customer panics and signs. A benchmark of competitors in the same building showed the same service available for 87% less.
That's not an edge case. That's how vendor renewal is designed to work.
Auto-renewal means silence equals commitment. Escalation clauses mean costs increase 5% annually whether the market justifies it or not. Switching costs are baked in to make the alternative feel worse than it is.
By the time the renewal conversation starts, you're negotiating from weakness (against a price anchor the vendor set for you). And calling it a win when you get 15% off a number that was inflated to begin with.

