Renewal season is the moment every AI investment gets its reckoning — or, in most organizations, its rubber stamp. The difference is whether the renewal review is built on evidence or on momentum.
A real renewal review has three inputs: the cost trend over the contract period, the adoption curve across the licensed population, and the measurable impact on the metrics the tool was supposed to affect. If you have all three, the renewal conversation takes ten minutes. If you're missing any of them, you're negotiating in the dark.
Before the renewal call, every finance team should be able to answer: how much did we pay, who used it, what changed, and what would a like-for-like replacement cost. Anything short of that is a gut call dressed up as a process.