Nashville, TN. – CoreTrust, a premier group purchasing organization (GPO) managing $7 billion in aggregated spend, today announced a partnership with Deal IQ, a leading provider of final-stage negotiation services for enterprise IT contracts. Integrating Deal IQ into CoreTrust’s IT procurement offering expands its savings capabilities within indirect spend, providing members and private equity partners with an agile, high-velocity mechanism to optimize complex enterprise software contracts and renewals amidst accelerating IT cost pressure.
The rapid rollout of AI features across major platforms is adding new layers of licensing complexity, and enterprise software pricing has become increasingly opaque as a result. List prices rarely reflect what’s negotiable, discount structures shift deal to deal, and vendor incentives shift in ways that aren’t visible to buyers. Benchmarking data alone can only show what others have paid; closing that gap requires negotiators who know how vendors build and defend their final offers.
Through this partnership, CoreTrust and BuyQ—its network of private and charter school members—gain access to that expertise on-demand: Deal IQ’s success-based model pairs proprietary benchmark data with a network of 350+ subject matter experts to secure better terms at the final stage of a deal, working alongside existing value-added resellers (VAR) and benchmarking services, at no cost to members unless Deal IQ delivers savings.
“Our members count on us to bring them practical, high-impact ways to reduce costs and create value across every category of indirect spend,” said James Hallock, CEO of CoreTrust. “Enterprise software purchases and renewals are complex, high stakes, and time-consuming. Partnering with Deal IQ gives our members instant access to specialized negotiation expertise at the final stage of a deal, helping them secure the right pricing and terms without adding friction or overhead.”
Engaging as late as after a vendor’s best and final offer, Deal IQ’s negotiators routinely secure an additional 13 percent in savings on average, and up to 15 percent or more, on enterprise IT contracts. Designed as a risk-free, success-based model, the service requires zero upfront cost and consistently delivers finalized contractual terms in under two weeks.
“Partnering with CoreTrust allows us to bring our negotiation expertise and intelligence directly to an expanded network of growth-minded organizations and private equity portfolio companies,” said Aaron Kotick, Founder and Managing Director at Deal IQ. “CoreTrust’s deep relationships across its member base, paired with our specialized process, ensures members get maximum bottom-line value from their IT contracts without delaying contract execution.”
This partnership reinforces CoreTrust’s ongoing commitment to expanding member value, backing its 125+ pre-negotiated supplier contracts with specialized negotiation expertise that delivers measurable, risk-free savings. That commitment extends across CoreTrust’s full network, including BuyQ’s 4,000+ charter and private schools, where software and technology costs represent a growing share of already tight, mission-driven budgets, making Deal IQ’s risk-free model a natural extension of the work CoreTrust does on their behalf.
About CoreTrust
CoreTrust is a premier strategic group purchasing organization (GPO) leveraging $7 billion in annual purchasing power to secure price stability and operational leverage on indirect spend for more than 4,000 impact-driven members. CoreTrust provides pre-negotiated contracts and specialized solutions across key enterprise categories, including corporate services, facilities, technology, and logistics, delivering curated supplier solutions and actionable insights to accelerate value realization. Learn more at www.coretrustpg.com.
About Deal IQ
Deal IQ provides high-velocity, final-stage contract negotiation services for enterprise software purchases and renewals. Trusted by Fortune 500 enterprises and leading private equity firms, Deal IQ combines proprietary benchmark data with expert negotiation strategies to optimize IT contracts. Operating on a 100% contingency basis, Deal IQ delivers rapid, risk-free cost discipline directly to the bottom line.
