How to reclaim excessive license costs with Axonius

What if your biggest IT cost isn’t what you’re buying, but what you’re not using?

From unused licenses and duplicate tools to over-permissioned and inactive users, bloated software spend can quietly pile up. And without full visibility into your environment, there’s no way to know what’s being wasted, or how to fix it.

This is a challenge we see all the time, and it’s one you can solve.

By connecting to your entire technology stack, we give you a complete view of your software assets, licenses, and users. With that visibility, you can reduce waste, reallocate more effectively, and align your IT spend with real business needs.

Watch James Flores walk through how to reduce software licensing waste with Axonius. Keep reading for a step-by-step breakdown.

Step 1: Get a real view of your software footprint

It’s hard to manage licenses when you don’t have the full picture. Most teams are piecing together reports from disconnected systems and still missing the context that matters.

Axonius aggregates software and SaaS data from across your environment — including expense reports, user activity, vulnerability info, and end-of-life details — and enriches it with context like permissions and device status. This gives you a complete picture of your licensing landscape, including unmanaged and shadow IT.

More than just a list of what’s installed, it’s a window into what’s redundant, risky, or ready to be retired: redundant apps, inactive licenses tied to dormant users, over-permissioned users, and more.

It’s the kind of clarity that makes budget conversations a lot easier.

Put it into practice:

Spot unused Microsoft 365 licenses. Build a query that highlights Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 licenses assigned to users who haven’t logged in within the last 30 days. See exactly what is and isn’t being used.

Trigger deprovisioning for inactive accounts. Find users active in your identity provider who haven’t logged in over a defined period. Use the Enforcement Center to initiate deprovisioning workflows and reduce unnecessary license usage.

Step 2: Translate waste into dollars

Knowing what’s underused is useful, and knowing what it costs you is even more powerful.

Use Axonius to instantly visualize the financial impact of licensing waste using consolidated cost dashboards. These dashboards tie real usage data back to spend, so you’re not guessing where your budget is going.

We group software and SaaS tools by category — productivity, dev tools, collaboration, and more — so you can easily:

• Spot overlaps and underuse

• Understand where spend is (and isn’t) delivering value

• Prioritize what needs a closer look

And with real-time usage insights, you can see exactly how much waste you're carrying into each renewal cycle.

Put it into practice:

Prioritize high-cost, low-usage tools. Filter your dashboard by spend category, sort by usage, and flag high-cost, low-usage tools for review before renewal season hits. 

Identify untracked SaaS spend. Find SaaS-related expenses (for ex., Slack, Zoom, Dropbox) not connected to SSO, using data from your expense management systems or corporate spend platforms.

Refine your analysis with user activity filters. Add parameters like “inactive users” or “users with unused email accounts” to narrow down excess licenses. 

Step 3: Reclaim unused licenses automatically

Noticing the waste is a good start, but it’s what you do next that counts.

Use built-in automation workflows to take action, whether that’s reclaiming licenses, reassigning entitlements, or removing inactive users. The Enforcement Center streamlines it all. No spreadsheets needed.

Put it into practice:

Automate license reclamation. Create an enforcement set that removes inactive users from license groups or deactivates accounts tied to unassigned devices. Run it on demand or schedule it monthly to keep waste from creeping back in.

Ready to take control of your licensing costs?

No more hidden spend. Just clear visibility, smarter decisions, and real savings, all without compromising performance.

Let’s make your next renewal cycle smarter. Get a product demo or speak with a representative to see how you can eliminate wasted spend and finally gain control over your software licensing.