Selected Engagements
While every client environment is different, Wilverley Consultancy has supported organisations across complex sourcing, outsourcing, transformation, and commercial governance initiatives.
Our approach combines independent commercial challenge, practical delivery experience, and a focus on achieving sustainable business outcomes.
Turning €74M of Supplier Claims Into Under €1M, and a Relationship Worth Keeping
Independent commercial leadership that protected the balance sheet and kept a critical service running
A global financial institution faced escalating commercial tension within a strategically critical infrastructure outsourcing arrangement after the incumbent supplier submitted cost claims exceeding €74M. The relationship had become increasingly adversarial, with rising operational risk, deteriorating governance, and growing concern around potential litigation exposure.
Wilverley Consultancy was engaged to provide executive-level commercial leadership and support a structured remediation programme focused on stabilising the relationship while protecting the client’s commercial position.
The Challenge
- Significant disputed supplier claims exceeding €74M
- Increasing operational and delivery risk within a critical infrastructure environment
- Weak alignment between contractual mechanisms and operational delivery
- Deteriorating governance and stakeholder confidence
- Potential exposure to formal dispute escalation and litigation
Our Approach
Working alongside executive stakeholders, Wilverley Consultancy led a structured commercial remediation programme involving:
- Forensic contractual and commercial analysis
- Technical validation of supplier cost assertions
- Executive negotiation and dispute management
- Redesign of governance and commercial controls
- Alignment of operational delivery with contractual obligations
Rather than focusing solely on dispute reduction, the engagement concentrated on creating a sustainable, long-term commercial framework to stabilise the relationship and improve future governance maturity.
Outcomes
- Supplier claim exposure reduced from over €74M to under €1M, protecting roughly €73M of value
- A business-critical infrastructure service kept running throughout
- The strategic supplier relationship stabilised and made governable for the long term
- Litigation avoided entirely, along with its cost and distraction
- Commercial governance and supplier accountability strengthened, executive confidence restored
“The engagement combined deep commercial expertise with calm executive leadership during a highly sensitive and commercially distressed situation.”
Securing a £280M Contract Extension by Clearing £40M of Entrenched Disputes
Independent commercial leadership that turned a relationship heading for breakdown into a secured, long-term partnership
A major technology services provider was managing a commercially fractured defence-sector relationship, marked by long-running disputes, operational tensions, and a strategically important contract extension valued at approximately £280M.
Wilverley Consultancy was engaged to support executive negotiations, dispute resolution, and commercial restructuring activities aimed at stabilising the relationship and securing future strategic continuity.
The Challenge
- More than £40M of accumulated outsourcing disputes
- Highly adversarial supplier-customer relationship
- Critical contract extension at risk
- Operational and reputational exposure across both parties
- Entrenched historical commercial disagreements were limiting progress
Our Approach
Wilverley Consultancy restructured the negotiation strategy to address historical disputes and future commercial arrangements as part of a single, integrated commercial reset.
This included:
- Executive-level commercial negotiation support
- Commercial restructuring and remediation
- Alignment of future incentives and governance mechanisms
- Stakeholder engagement across operational and leadership teams
- Development of a sustainable long-term commercial framework
The approach helped move both parties away from adversarial positioning toward a more collaborative and commercially balanced operating model.
Outcomes
- Secured a £280M strategic contract extension, retaining a critical capability on better terms
- Eliminated more than £40M of accumulated disputes as part of the same reset
- A relationship moved from adversarial to collaborative and commercially balanced
- Litigation and reputational escalation avoided across both parties
- Stronger long-term governance foundations established
“The engagement demonstrated how strategic commercial leadership can transform distressed supplier relationships into sustainable long-term partnerships.”
Delivering a 26,000-VM Cloud Transformation Through COVID-19, With €20M of Exposure Taken to Zero
Commercial leadership that protected the value of a Tier 1 cloud programme through the most disruptive period it had faced.
A transformation of this scale only creates value if it actually lands. This one did, on time and without dispute, while the commercials were quietly turned from a €20M liability into a controlled cost.
The Challenge
A global enterprise was midway through a major cloud transformation when the commercials began to work against it. Scope ambiguity, unmanaged change, and weak supplier accountability had built around €20M of exposure into the programme, and the disruption of the pandemic made a cost overrun or a stalled migration a real prospect. The transformation was meant to create value. Left unmanaged, it was about to destroy it.
Our Approach
We took independent commercial ownership of the supplier arrangements and ran the reset as a collaboration rather than a confrontation. We tightened scope and change control, rebalanced risk and obligation, and renegotiated the terms so the supplier was incentivised to deliver the outcome the client was paying for. We also rolled up our sleeves and actively managed the programme. Throughout, we kept the relationship working, because no transformation is delivered through a supplier you are fighting.
Outcomes
- Programme delivery maintained throughout COVID-19 disruption, across more than 26,000 virtual machines
- Forecast commercial exposure reduced from approximately €20M to zero
- Supplier coordination and governance strengthened across global teams
- Executive visibility and commercial assurance improved
- A stable supplier relationship is retained for the next phase of the programme
“Wilverley Consultancy helped restore commercial control and delivery confidence during one of the most operationally challenging periods faced by the programme.”
Please get in touch to discuss a similar challenge confidentially and see how we can help.
We recognise that every client and situation is unique and will seek to understand and provide honest, clear advice aligned with your circumstances and the information provided.