Job it-unused-licences-and-seats-found-with-savings-worked-out · revised 12 October 2026
Find software seats nobody uses and work out what they cost from your invoices
Per-app tables of seats that are unused, duplicated or held by leavers, with each cost worked out from the invoice line shown beside it and the renewal date.
You might be seeing
- The seat count on the invoice is higher than the head count
- Nobody can say who still uses a tool
No passwords, keys, card details or admin invites needed to start.
What usually happened
Seats are added when someone joins and rarely removed. Every app shows its own last-use data, and the invoice shows only a total, so the gap between paid seats and used seats stays hidden.
Who it’s for: Founder or finance owner at renewal time who suspects the business pays for seats nobody uses.
Usually starts when: A renewal invoice arrived for more seats than you have staff, or the monthly software bill keeps growing.
The result: You receive a table per app listing each seat with its last use and status: used, unused, duplicate or held by a leaver. The cost of the unused ones is worked out from the invoice line shown beside it, with the renewal date. We cancel nothing.
Check whether this job fits
Answer these without sending files, logins or personal data. Nothing is submitted unless you choose to contact us.
What you get
- The per-app seat tables
- The invoice arithmetic
- A renewal date list
- A not-covered list of apps without an export
Included
- Up to 8 apps with a user export and the matching invoice
- A per-app table of seat, last use and status
- Arithmetic from invoice lines, with the line shown
- Renewal dates and notice periods from your invoices or order form; where only a vendor help page exists, the notice period is marked "general terms, check your contract" and the page is named
Not included
- Cancelling or downgrading any seat
- Negotiating with a vendor
- A promise that any amount can be saved
- Contract or legal advice on minimum commitments
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
Every cost figure in the tables is arithmetic on an invoice line that is shown beside it, and a second run reproduces each figure exactly.
Evidence: The invoice lines and the working for each figure.
Your admin picks 20 seats after hand-over and checks them against the live consoles, and the last-use date matches in all 20.
Evidence: Your marked sample.
Apps with no usable export are listed as not covered, and contracts with minimum commitments carry no saving.
Evidence: The not-covered list and the committed list.
Every renewal date and notice period names the invoice or order form it came from, or is marked "general terms, check your contract" where only a vendor help page exists, and your finance owner checks 5 of them and finds each correct.
Evidence: The source column and your marked sample.
Sign-off. Your finance owner checks the sample and signs off in writing; nothing is cancelled by us. The 20-seat check is a smoke test: 20 of 20 shows only that the true match rate is at least 86% at 95% confidence, and any cost figure that does not trace to an invoice line fails the whole test. Payment follows sign-off.
If it fails. If a test is not met, you do not pay for this fixed scope. We hand over what we found and agree whether to stop or re-quote; no surprise work.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- Each app can give a user export with a last-use date, or is listed as not covered
- You can send the invoice lines for each app
- Contracts with minimum commitments are flagged by you
We stop and tell you if
- Most of your apps cannot export users or last use
- You want us to deal with vendors or cancel anything
- The invoices cannot be matched to apps
What could go wrong
This job reads files you send and writes a report. It changes nothing in your systems, so there is nothing to revert. Our copies of your files are deleted when the job ends.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| A seat is called unused but a person needs it for a rare task. | Status is based on last use, shows the date, and your finance owner decides after asking the user. |
| An amount shown is read as a saving you will get. | The page says each figure is arithmetic from an invoice line, with no promise, and commitments are listed without a saving. |
| Exports hold personal data. | Only name or email, seat and last use are needed; other columns are removed before sending. |
A separate automated reviewer checks every output against the agreed test before hand-over. No person on our side reviews unless your agreement names one. Your named finance owner approves what is used.
How we deliver
We arrange the work and independent review, then show you the result against the agreed checks. You keep authority over your systems.
- Agree the apps, the exports and which invoice line belongs to which app
- Join each export to the invoice line by app and seat count
- Mark every seat used, unused, duplicate or held by a leaver
- Work out each unused seat's cost from the invoice line beside it
- Separate automated review that every figure traces to an invoice line
- Hand over the tables and the not-covered list; delete our copies
This is a one-off job, not emergency cover or a subscription. We confirm eligibility, the total price, a start window and a delivery date before you accept, and an enquiry creates no charge or booking. Work starts only after agreed inputs, secure access and any needed permissions are in place.
Need to keep it working?
Discuss a quarterly repeat of this check before each renewal.
Ongoing work is separately scoped and quoted: no monitoring, response-time guarantee or automatic subscription is included in this job.
Explore an ongoing managed lane, or mention the responsibility you need in your enquiry.
What you can check
This is a new service. We have not delivered this job for a client yet.
Other ways to get this done
- Each app's admin page shows last activity per user. Checking five apps by hand takes an afternoon and costs nothing.
- SaaS management platforms track seats automatically, at platform prices.
Questions
Will you tell me how much I will save?
No. We show what your own invoice lines say the unused seats cost. Whether you can reduce them depends on your contract.
Will you cancel seats for me?
No. Your finance owner decides and acts in each app.
What if an app cannot export users?
It is listed as not covered with the reason, so you can see what the table does not show.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The apps you want covered, up to 8
- Roughly what you pay for each, per month or year
- Whether each app can export its users
Later, once you agree
- A user export with last-use date from each app, run by you
- The latest invoice line for each app, and its order form if you have one
- The staff list with work email and leave date, to mark duplicates and leavers
- A named admin who confirms a sample against the live consoles
- The agreement that names the model provider, its country and how long it keeps data, settled before any real personal data is shared
You keep every account and every contract. We work from exports and invoices you send and change nothing in any app. Names in the exports are replaced by codes where you prefer.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “it-unused-licences-and-seats-found-with-savings-worked-out” as the subject.