Independent Software Licence Advisory · IFS · Oracle · Microsoft · VMware · Java · Cloud

75% of enterprises are out of compliance with their software vendors.
Most won't find out until the audit letter arrives.

Software vendors don't audit you by accident. They track your downloads, your deployments and your renewals — and they send the letter when they know what they'll find. Kontribute gives you that same intelligence, on your side, before it's too late.

75% of organisations are currently out of software compliance
68% will receive an audit notice from at least one vendor in the next 12 months
21% of those audited are billed over £1M in true-up costs
32% of cloud spend is wasted on unused or overprovisioned resources every year
What we do

The vendor already knows where your exposure is. Now you will too.

Enterprise software vendors run audit programmes engineered to generate revenue. Their compliance teams track your environment, monitor your downloads, and flag your account long before you receive a letter. Kontribute has operated inside those programmes. We use that knowledge — and it now works entirely in your favour.

Oracle

Oracle Licence Optimisation & Audit Defence

Up to 75% of Oracle customers are non-compliant when they first engage an adviser.

Oracle's LMS team doesn't audit randomly — it targets organisations where the data already suggests exposure. A hardware refresh, a cloud migration, a new virtualisation layer: each can silently generate a six or seven-figure obligation. Our advisors have operated inside Oracle's audit and compliance programmes. We know how LMS builds its case — and we use that to dismantle it, before the audit starts or after the letter lands.

  • Asset and usage optimisation across on-prem and cloud
  • End-to-end audit response, scope control and navigation
  • ULA strategy, renegotiation and certification
  • Support cost reduction without operational disruption
IFS

IFS Licence Compliance & Commercial Advisory

7 in 10 IFS customers are non-compliant — and most have no idea.

IFS audits are methodical, metric-driven, and built on contractual clauses most customers have never read closely enough. Our advisors have designed and executed IFS compliance programmes from the inside. We know exactly what triggers an audit, how usage is measured, and where the exposure hides — and we use that knowledge to put you in control before the letter arrives.

  • Licence compliance reviews and entitlement mapping
  • Audit clause analysis, scope control and negotiation strategy
  • Remote telemetry and self-declaration compliance management
  • Contract structuring — integrations, API licences, entity changes and renewals
  • Renewal strategy, cost reduction and commercial restructuring
Microsoft

Microsoft Licensing & Audit Protection

Microsoft true-ups routinely run into the hundreds of thousands — often entirely unbudgeted.

Microsoft calls them Licence Compliance Verifications. They routinely run into the hundreds of thousands — sometimes millions — in unbudgeted costs. And your Licence Service Provider, who earns more when you buy more, is rarely the right person to lead your response. We are.

  • Entitlement and usage review across M365, Dynamics, Azure and server environments
  • Audit and SAM review defence with expert scope control
  • Shelfware elimination, user rightsizing and Azure spend optimisation
  • EA, CSP and MCA contract strategy at renewal
VMware

VMware Licence Optimisation & Audit Defence

Renewal quotes landed at 150% to over 1,000% higher than the prior bill.

When Broadcom acquired VMware in November 2023, they eliminated perpetual licences overnight and moved every customer to subscription-only. Customers who went in unprepared signed deals they didn't need to. Those who understood their position negotiated. We make sure you're in the second group.

  • Full licence inventory and usage mapping across vSphere, vSAN and NSX
  • Renewal negotiation strategy and Broadcom transition advisory
  • Audit protection with real-time usage reconciliation
  • Evaluation of alternative platforms and migration pathways
Java

Java Licence Compliance & Cost Optimisation

A 12,000-person enterprise now faces a Java bill of over £1M per year.

In January 2023, Oracle scrapped per-processor Java pricing and replaced it with per-employee billing — including every employee who has never touched Java. For most enterprises, that's a cost increase of 3x to 10x. Most still don't know it's coming.

  • Discovery of Oracle JDK, OpenJDK and third-party runtimes in use
  • Compliance risk assessment under the current employee-based Oracle metric
  • Migration strategy to OpenJDK, Amazon Corretto or Azul
  • Audit response, vendor handling and negotiation
Cloud

Cloud Consumption Licensing Review

Organisations waste an average of 32% of their cloud spend every year.

That figure has held steady since 2019 — not because the tools aren't there, but because no one with the right commercial lens is looking. We review your cloud licensing consumption across AWS, Azure and GCP: what you're contracted for, what you're actually using, and where the savings are.

  • Cloud licence entitlement and consumption mapping across AWS, Azure and GCP
  • Idle resource identification and rightsizing recommendations
  • Commitment and reservation optimisation — reserved instances, savings plans, EAs
  • SaaS licence rationalisation — shelfware, duplicate tools and inactive seats
Why Kontribute

We've sat inside the machine. Everything we learned now works against it.

Our advisors have operated within vendor licensing, audit and compliance programmes at IFS, Oracle, Microsoft and others. We don't speculate about methodology — we've applied it.

Inside knowledge, outside loyalty

We know what vendors look for, how they score it, and exactly where their claims fall apart. That intelligence now works entirely in your favour.

Genuinely independent

No resale agreements. No vendor referral fees. No financial relationship — direct or indirect — with the software companies we advise against. We earn nothing from your vendor relationships. Only from improving them.

Settlements, not slide decks

Engagements close with executed agreements, negotiated settlements and contract language you can rely on — not a report filed and forgotten.

About Kontribute

A decade advising enterprises on the side of the table vendors don't want you to have.

Kontribute has been protecting enterprises from software licence overexposure since 2017. We began as a specialist Oracle audit and asset management practice and now cover IFS, Oracle, Microsoft, VMware, Java and cloud licensing — with the same founding principle: your entitlements, properly understood and aggressively defended, are worth considerably more than most organisations realise.

Our clients span the UK, Europe and beyond. They came to us facing audit notices, surprise renewal demands, and licence positions they didn't fully understand. They left with clarity, savings, and agreements that finally worked in their favour.

Founded 2017, United Kingdom
Coverage IFS · Oracle · Microsoft · VMware · Java · Cloud
Client base Global enterprises
Background Former vendor audit & licensing executives
Affiliations Zero vendor relationships — ever
Talk to us

Your vendor already knows your position.
Shouldn't you?

Book a free 30-minute call. No obligation. No pitch. Just an honest read on where you stand from advisors who've been on both sides of the table.