Unused software licences are found and reclaimed every month

Each month the AI finds paid licences that have gone unused, asks each person on Teams whether they still need theirs and, once IT approves, returns them to the pool for new requests.

Used day to day by
  • IT asset team
  • IT head
  • Purchase team

How it runs with AI

Each month, the AI checks when each person last used each paid licence, sets aside people on approved leave and asks the rest on Teams whether they still need it. After the IT asset manager approves the list, it removes those licences in Entra ID and returns them to the pool, so new requests are filled before anything is bought.

How it is done today

Paid licences such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Visio and Project are given out on request and seldom taken back. Once a year, just before renewal, someone exports the usage reports to Excel, checks who is on leave and emails people one by one. Through the rest of the year, new requests are met by buying more licences.

Step by step

Where the work happens, what the AI does, and where it hands over to a person.

  1. Step 1, AI

    Pulls every paid licence and the date each person last used it

    Needs to know: Paid licences in scope

    In Microsoft 365 admin

  2. Step 2, AI

    Sets aside people on approved leave and flags the rest

    Needs to know: Unused period limit, Who is on leave, Quarter-end users list

    In Microsoft 365 admin , Darwinbox

  3. Step 3, AI

    Asks each person on Teams whether they still need the licence

    Needs to know: Reporting lines

    In Microsoft Teams

    Exception to step 3

    Asks the person's manager when the reminder gets no reply

  4. Step 4, Person

    Reviews the replies and approves the licences to reclaim

    In Microsoft Teams

  5. Step 5, AI

    Removes the approved licences and returns them to the pool for new requests

    Needs to know: Open licence requests

    In Entra ID , Microsoft 365 admin

What stays with a person

  • Reviews the replies and approves the licences to reclaim

Apps in this example

  • Microsoft 365 admin
  • Entra ID
  • Darwinbox
  • Microsoft Teams

The same flow works with the apps you use.

This fits you if

  • You pay for more than 100 add-on licences such as Copilot, Visio or Project
  • Licences are given out on request and reviewed once a year, if at all
  • New licence requests are usually met by buying more
  • HR records leave in Darwinbox and IT manages licences in Microsoft 365

What to watch for

  • The automation works on add-on licences. Mailbox licences stay with your leaver process, because Microsoft deletes a mailbox's data 30 days after its licence is removed
  • Most annual licences can be reduced only around renewal. Reclaimed licences fill new requests first, and IT lowers the count it renews by what is left in the pool
  • IT sets the rules, such as how long a licence can sit unused, and keeps a list of people who use an app only at quarter end or year end, so their licences stay
  • The IT asset manager approves every removal. A person who needs the licence back gets it through the usual request on Teams

Read more

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