Insights · License optimisation · October 2026
Licenses get added the day someone starts. They rarely get removed the day someone leaves. Repeat that asymmetry over a few years, and a gap opens between what you are assigned and what you actually use. In practice, a review rarely comes back empty. The question is usually how much.
Microsoft's admin tools will happily show you what is assigned. They are far less eager to point out what you could drop. And because the renewal quote is built on your current counts, the slack rolls forward, year after year, until somebody actually looks.
A few exports, and someone who knows what each plan actually contains. It is days of work, not months. What comes back is a single list: keep, downgrade or remove, with the yearly saving on each line. On annual subscriptions, a removal saves money from the next renewal, so start well before it.
Send us your current license list. We'll show you where to look first.