'Lock the multi-year deal, you beat the price hikes' — the renewal trap

'Lock the multi-year deal, you beat the price hikes' — the renewal trap
Heard this week from a procurement desk: teams still prepay three years to dodge increases. Word is the new private-equity owners changed the renewal mechanics, not the intro rate. A source near one deal says the contracts now renew at then-current list, and the 'locked' price only covered the prepaid term — overage, add-ons and migrations reprice freely. The myth is that prepaying freezes your cost. It freezes one line item while the rest float.
Watch this: hosts pushing aggressive three-year discounts right now usually have a list-price jump scheduled.