If you only look at licence usage in the weeks before a renewal, you have left yourself very little time to do anything about what you find. Notice periods may have passed. Quantities may be locked. The vendor’s proposal may already be on the table, with your current numbers as its starting point. A usage review is most valuable when there is time to act on it.
This article explains what to compare, how often to look and what to do with the answers, so that the renewal becomes a confirmation of decisions already made rather than the moment you discover a problem.
Why timing matters
Unused licences found early can be reassigned, removed at the next opportunity or used as evidence in a negotiation. Found late, they are often simply renewed. The same applies to over-spend. A consumption charge that is growing faster than planned is easy to address in month three and awkward in month eleven.
The scale of the issue is well documented. Zylo’s 2026 SaaS Management Index reports that organisations leave an average of 36 percent of SaaS licences unused against recommended utilisation levels. Waste on that scale rarely comes from one big mistake. It builds up through small gaps that nobody reviewed.
What to compare
There are four comparisons worth making regularly. The first is assigned against active: how many people hold a licence, and how many have used it recently. The second is entitled against deployed: what the contract allows, and what is actually installed or switched on. The third is committed against consumed, for services you pay for by usage. The fourth is classified against needed, for products where the category of a user changes the price.
That last one is easy to overlook. In SAP’s model a user’s cost depends on the authorisations assigned to them, not on how much they use the system, and one licensing specialist notes that consumption under SAP Cloud ERP Private is monitored monthly. A role change made in March can shape what you are asked to pay for in November.
How often to look
A sensible rhythm has three layers. A light monthly check covers the numbers that move fastest, such as consumption charges and new assignments. A fuller quarterly review compares assigned with active and entitled with deployed for each major product. A deeper review six to nine months before each renewal builds the position you will take into the negotiation.
The monthly and quarterly checks do not need to be elaborate. A short report, an owner and a standing meeting are usually enough. What matters is that the same measures are compared in the same way each time, so that you can see change.
What to do with what you find
Reclaim licences that have not been used for a defined period, such as 60 or 90 days, after giving the user a chance to object. Reassign them to people who are waiting. Remove authorisations that push users into more expensive categories without need. Raise consumption that is running ahead of plan with the budget holder while there is still time to adjust it.
Keep a record of each action and its value. That record is useful twice: it shows the benefit of the review, and it gives you facts to use when the vendor proposes quantities at renewal.
AI makes this more urgent
New AI products add consumption-based and add-on costs that change from month to month. Microsoft said on 28 October that the number of Copilot customers consuming credits through usage-based billing grew more than 75 percent in the quarter. IBM has launched a tool aimed at connecting token spend to business outcomes, which is a sign of how much attention the topic is getting. Whatever tools you use, an annual look at AI spend is too slow.
Make it visible
A simple dashboard makes the habit stick. For each major vendor, show the quantity you hold, the quantity in use, the trend over the last six months, the renewal date and the owner. Colour is helpful: highlight anything where use is falling or consumption is rising faster than planned. A one-page view that the right people see every month is worth more than a detailed report that nobody opens.
Give someone ownership
Regular reviews fail when nobody is responsible. Name an owner for each vendor, with a deputy, and make the review part of their normal work. The owner does not need to do everything. Their job is to make sure the numbers are produced, the questions are asked and the actions happen.
It also helps to agree what triggers escalation. A consumption charge rising by more than a set percentage, a renewal inside six months or a sudden rise in assigned licences should each prompt a conversation, not wait for the next scheduled meeting.
What it looks like in practice
Suppose a review in March finds 150 licences of a premium product that have not been used for three months. They can be reassigned to a team that has been waiting, or removed from the next billing cycle where the contract allows. If the same finding is made in the final month before the renewal, the realistic options are fewer and the money has already been spent. The finding is identical. The value of acting on it is not.
Conclusion
Checking usage only before a renewal is like checking the fuel gauge when you are already on the forecourt. By then the choices are limited. Regular reviews turn usage data into decisions while there is still time to act.
Set a rhythm, compare the same four things each time, record what you do and bring the results to your renewal. When did you last compare your licence usage with what you are paying for?
