01
Counted what was actually in use
A licence-by-licence review against sign-in activity over 90 days. Around a third of licences hadn't been used in three months.
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Charities and nonprofits
A charity that made its licensing budget stretch further
The charity knew its Microsoft bill had crept up. What it didn't know was that it was paying commercial rates on licences it was entitled to get at nonprofit pricing, and paying for around 40 accounts belonging to people who had left.
- Organisation
- National charity
- Size
- 120 staff, 400 volunteers
- Location
- North West England
£31k
annual licensing cost removed
40+
dormant accounts closed
100%
staff on multi-factor authentication
Where they started
- Licences were bought ad hoc over six years, through two different resellers.
- Leavers' accounts were disabled but never removed, so billing continued.
- Nobody internally owned the renewal date, so it passed each year unexamined.
- Security improvements had been deferred twice because there was no budget for them.
What we did about it
02
Checked eligibility properly
The charity qualified for nonprofit grant and discounted licensing across most of its estate. It had been claiming this on some products and not others.
03
Set a leaver process that actually removes cost
A short written process covering account, licence, kit and access, with a named owner. Ten minutes per leaver, and the licence goes back into the pool.
04
Redirected the saving, rather than banking it
We recommended spending most of the saving on multi-factor authentication rollout, conditional access and a tested backup for Microsoft 365. The board agreed because it wasn't new money.
Where they are now
- Renewal now has a named owner and a diarised review six weeks before the date.
- Security work that had been deferred twice was funded and completed inside one quarter.
- Volunteers moved onto a lighter, cheaper licence that still gives them what they need.
"We assumed the bill was the bill. Finding out a third of it was avoidable was uncomfortable, but it paid for the work we actually needed."
The part that didn't go to plan
Removing dormant accounts surfaced two mailboxes that still held live casework. We paused, exported them properly, and it added a fortnight. Worth doing slowly.
Recognise any of this?
Tell us what's getting in the way and we'll talk through what's realistic - no pressure, no jargon.