A 200-person tech company was paying for software seats nobody had opened in months. We built a monthly audit that compares real usage against paid licenses, asks owners on Slack, and downgrades unclaimed seats — reclaiming $3,900 every month.
Typical results
127
Seats reclaimed in 6 months
18
SaaS tools monitored
-14%
Total SaaS spend
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
SaaS spend crept up with every new hire and tool, but nobody tracked whether seats were actually used. People changed roles, kept licenses, and renewals auto-charged for ghosts. The IT manager's quarterly spreadsheet review took a full day, covered only the biggest tools, and still found the same problem every time: paying for seats nobody touched.
Before and after
Monthly spend on unused seats
−85%Inactive seats across the stack
−91%License review time
−88%The automation
We connected SSO login data and usage APIs from 18 SaaS tools into a monthly audit that compares activity against paid seats. Licenses untouched for 45 days are flagged with owner, cost and last-active date; each owner gets a one-tap Slack message to keep or release the seat. Unclaimed seats are downgraded automatically before the renewal date, and a monthly report tracks the running savings.
How it works
- 01
Usage pulled monthly
Login and activity data from SSO and 18 SaaS tools is compared against paid seat counts every month.
- 02
Inactive seats flagged
Licenses untouched for 45 days are flagged with their owner, cost and last-active date.
- 03
Owners asked on Slack
Each owner gets a one-tap Slack message: still need this? Keep or release in one click.
- 04
Unclaimed seats downgraded
No answer after two reminders means the seat is reclaimed before the renewal date — not after another year's invoice.
- 05
Savings reported
A monthly report shows reclaimed seats and running savings, turning license hygiene into a visible win.
Starts from
- SSO & SaaS usage data
- Paid seat counts
Delivers
- Slack keep-or-release asks
- Seats downgraded pre-renewal
- Monthly savings report
The impact
In six months the audit reclaimed 127 inactive seats — cutting spend on unused licenses from about $4,600 a month to $700, a steady $3,900 in monthly savings and 14% off total SaaS spend. License review now takes the IT manager an hour a quarter instead of a full day.
Questions about this automation
Where does the usage data come from?
Login and activity data is pulled from the SSO provider and from the usage APIs or admin reports of each SaaS tool. Every month the automation compares that activity with the number of paid seats and flags any license that has not been used for 45 days, along with its owner, cost and last-active date.
Will someone lose access they still need?
No seat is removed without asking first. The owner gets a one-tap Slack message to keep or release it, followed by two reminders. Only a seat with no answer is downgraded, and that happens before the renewal date. Anyone who needs it back can request it again through the normal process.
Which tools can be included in the audit?
Any tool that exposes login or activity data through an API, an admin export or the SSO provider can be included. Tools without usage data can still be listed with seat counts and owners, so they appear in the monthly savings report. Coverage usually starts with the most expensive tools and grows from there.