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First Capital REIT Inc. | Case Study

The Customer: First Capital REIT

First Capital REIT saved $750,000 on IT solutions (and found an amazing Microsoft reseller) with 3Quotes’ RFP management and Procurement Services

First Capital REIT is a leading owner, operator, and developer of mixed-use real estate in Canada’s most densely populated cities. FCR focuses on creating thriving urban neighbourhoods to generate value for businesses, residents, communities, and investors with unique procurement services.

The Goal

Streamline RFP cost management and find the best partner to move Microsoft services to the cloud

Renegotiating an IT contract when you move from legacy services to the cloud can be a complex and time-consuming task.

Just ask Ian Turnbull, CIO at First Capital REIT. In 2018, FCR planned to move from an on-premises Microsoft install to Office365 and needed a multi-year enterprise agreement that would lock in decent pricing.

But there was just one problem…

FCR wasn’t a large enterprise.

“I knew that large enterprises could get discounts,” said Ian. “But since we were much smaller, I didn’t know what kind of leverage we had or how aggressively we could push for discounts.”

Since FCR didn’t have a formal procurement service department, Ian’s time-strapped team had to fit IT procurement into their already lengthy “to-do” lists. They didn’t have the resources to research vendors, determine what others pay for similar services, and conduct due diligence to make sure they got a good deal. They also didn’t have the bandwidth to create and manage RFPs.

“We are a very lean IT group and don’t have the capacity to manage a complex RFP. We needed someone to take this task off our plate while helping us find the best partner and price.”

Ian Turnbull, CIO, First Capital REIT Inc.

The Solution

Partner with 3Quotes for RFP cost management and IT price benchmarking

Ian had worked with large IT procurement firms at a previous job. Since FCR was a smaller company, Ian no longer had those relationships in place. Luckily, he found 3Quotes.

“3Quotes is extremely flexible and can bring their IT procurement expertise to organizations of all sizes,” said Ian.

Here are three more reasons why Ian partnered with 3Quotes:

  • Expertise in managing competitive bidding. 3Quotes has overseen thousands of RFPs for IT products and services. The 3Quotes team also has experience negotiating with Microsoft, which would give FCR an edge when renegotiating its contracts.

“3Quotes brought in expertise and exposure to new vendors that we didn’t have internally,” said Ian. “They’ve run a lot of RFPs and can manage the process much better and faster than we can.”

  • No heavy lifting. FCR’s small IT team doesn’t have the time to deal with paperwork and overhead. 3Quotes is easy to work with and removes the heavy lifting from the RFP process. With 3Quotes, the IT team can quickly get RFPs into the market while staying focused on what matters. 
  • Real-time price benchmarking. 3Quotes has a massive database of recent IT transactions that lists how much organizations pay for products and services. The 3Quotes team leverages this data—along with their relationships with leading vendors — to get FCR the right solutions at the best price.

“3Quotes is a great sounding board when I need to know if a quote is reasonable. They will review our quotes and get back to us within 24 hours to let us know if we’re getting a good deal or if we should push for a greater discount. It is beneficial to have a responsive partner we can turn to when we need immediate advice.”

Ian Turnbull, CIO, First Capital REIT Inc.

3Quotes started by issuing an RFP for a new Microsoft reseller. The 3Quotes team provided Ian with price benchmarking data so he could see what his peers were paying for Microsoft services. 3Quotes also brought a range of new vendors to the table with procurement services.

“3Quotes introduced us to vendors that we wouldn’t have found on our own. This is invaluable to us, as we’re not in the business of negotiating deals and don’t know all the players in the market. We’ve been very happy with our new Microsoft partner.”

Ian Turnbull, CIO, First Capital REIT Inc.

The Results

Saved $750,000 on IT solutions

Based on the initial project’s success, FCR brought in 3Quotes to manage RFPs for other mission-critical applications. 3Quotes has also reviewed FCR’s Microsoft EA and Premier Support contracts, along with its wireless agreement.

Partnering with 3Quotes has given FCR the IT procurement capabilities of a much larger organization. FCR's new formal IT procurement services have helped it achieve the following results:

Massive cost savings.

3Quotes has saved FCR about $750,000 on Microsoft and other IT solutions.

Time savings.

Outsourcing RFP management to 3Quotes has allowed Ian’s team to save hundreds of hours creating RFPs and analyzing the responses.

Great vendor relationships.

Initially, Ian saw 3Quotes as a negotiating partner to get FCR the best pricing. But 3Quotes has since become an invaluable advisor on cost management and a source of information about vendors in the market.

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*The 20% cost savings were calculated from 32,000+ IT transactions we’ve conducted for organizations of all sizes and across all industries.