Agent Cost and Vendor Exposure Review (Retention)

Agent Cost and Vendor Exposure Review (Retention)

1. 01

   Pull the last 90 days of usage, seat, and overage charges for every agent platform in the client stack

   Reconcile invoiced amounts against the metered usage the vendor reports, and flag any line where the invoice exceeds reported consumption by more than 10 percent.

2. 02

   Map who controls pricing, feature access, and dispute resolution for each platform

   Forrester's research on vendors holding the meter, the gate, and the referee role shows that concentration turns a routine price change into a delivery risk with no independent recourse. Record the three roles per vendor in one table.

3. 03

   Score each platform on switching cost using build hours, data portability, and white-label exposure

   A white-label shell with custom domains and client-facing branding carries higher exit cost than an internal orchestration layer, so weight it accordingly when ranking renewal priority.

4. 04

   Confirm the client's retainer still covers the agent's true run cost at current volume

   Recalculate cost per resolved task or per completed workflow, then compare against the fee line that funds it. Escalate any agent running at a loss for two consecutive months.

5. 05

   Test one degraded-mode scenario per critical agent before renewal

   Simulate a model outage or a rate-limit cap and confirm the workflow fails gracefully with a human fallback rather than silently dropping client requests.

6. 06

   Document the exit path for the single highest-exposure platform

   Name the replacement candidate, the migration effort in hours, and the data export format. An exit path that exists only in conversation is not an exit path.

7. 07

   Present a one-page exposure summary to the client with renewal recommendations

   Lead with cost per outcome, then concentration risk, then the recommended action for each contract. Keep it to decisions the client can approve on the call.