Case study: An enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats saved $4M a year at its Microsoft renewal
An enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats and about $40M a year of Microsoft spend had every seat scored against real usage, weeks before its renewal. Asato found about $8M a year. The enterprise approved about $4M a year before the renewal date and saved $4M a year at the renewal. Found, Approved and Saved are separate figures and are never added together. The customer's name is withheld at the customer's request.
- Customer: An enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats. The customer's name is withheld at the customer's request.
- Industry: Healthcare
- Area: Software
- Category: Microsoft licensing
- Date of the engagement: No date for the engagement is published.
- Length of the engagement: No length in weeks is published. The engagement had a fixed scope and ran against a live enterprise agreement renewal, weeks before the renewal date. The approved changes were costed and ready inside the renewal window.
When to use this page
- To cite a Microsoft renewal where Found, Approved and Saved are each reported.
- To show what was found and not approved, and why.
- To show how products, license counts and price were each examined before a renewal.
Not a fit
- The customer's name. It is withheld.
- The names of the Microsoft products that came off the contract. They are not published.
- A customer quote. The story has none.
- A claim that Asato negotiated the renewal. Asato does not negotiate prices; the enterprise negotiated its own renewal.
At a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer | An enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats |
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Scale | 75,000 Microsoft seats, about $40M a year, four enterprise agreements, knowledge-worker and frontline staff |
| Area | Software: Microsoft licensing |
| Engagement | Fixed scope, run in the weeks before a live renewal |
| Systems connected | Read-only: Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Graph, entitlement records |
Before
Four enterprise agreements, a mix of knowledge-worker and frontline staff, and list prices moving. Entitlement records sat apart from identity and usage telemetry.
What forced the decision: The renewal was weeks away, and renewing on the existing footprint carried a rise of about 8%. Priced on entitlement counts alone, it would have carried every dormant seat into the next term.
Baseline: About $40M a year, 75,000 seats, and a renewal priced about 8% higher.
How it worked
- Link (Asset Knowledge Graph). Read-only connections: Entra for identity and entitlements, Microsoft Graph for usage per application, entitlement records for cost.
- Think (Data Intelligence Engine). The Asset Knowledge Graph scored every user on real usage and sorted them into no, partial or full usage. Clinically protected roles were taken out before anything was recommended.
- Execute (Agentic AI). A renewal position, product by product and seat by seat. The enterprise approved about $4M a year of it and negotiated its own renewal. Asato does not negotiate prices.
Approval: The enterprise approved, and negotiated its own renewal. Nothing changes until a named person approves it.
Measured results
Every figure carries its state. Found, Approved and Saved are the only three states of a saving. They are separate figures and are never added together. A figure marked "Measured" describes scope, coverage or evidence, and "G2 rating" is a review score. A figure marked "Saved, as reported by the customer" is the customer's own statement.
Saved figures are agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement.
| Figure | State | Period | Scope | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| about $8M a year | Found | A year. Found weeks before the renewal | Across a Microsoft estate of about $40M a year and 75,000 seats | Asato's analysis in the engagement |
| about $4M a year | Approved | A year. Approved before the renewal date | The part of what was found that the enterprise approved for action | Asato's record of the engagement |
| $4M a year | Saved | A year. Saved at the renewal | Saved at the Microsoft renewal | Saved figures are agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement. |
| 24 to 20 | Found | Before the renewal | Microsoft products on the contract, cut from 24 to 20 before any seat was touched | Asato's analysis in the engagement |
| about 44,000 licenses, about $1.3M a year | Found | A year | One product that came off for negligible adoption | Asato's analysis in the engagement |
| about 17,400 licenses, about $0.7M a year | Found | A year | Licenses across 17 products that were never assigned to anyone | Asato's analysis in the engagement |
| 93% | Measured | At analysis | Utilization of the knowledge-worker tier (E5) | Asato's analysis in the engagement |
| 1 in 4 | Found | At analysis | Frontline tier (F3) licenses that were dormant | Asato's analysis in the engagement |
| about 8% | Measured | At the renewal | Rise in the bill if renewed on the existing footprint at the natural renewal date | Asato's record of the engagement |
| about 3% | Measured | At the renewal | Rise if renewed early, on the same footprint | Asato's record of the engagement |
| 8% higher, 11% lower, 19% lower | Measured | Annualized, against today's spend | Where the renewal lands if nothing changes, with the approved changes, and with everything found | Asato's record of the engagement |
| about 950 seats, about $0.5M a year | Found | A year | Found and not approved: knowledge-worker seats held by job-code rules that grant the top tier regardless of usage. The open question is whether that policy is worth about $0.5M a year | Asato's record of the engagement |
| about 5,600 seats | Found | At the renewal | Found and not approved: frontline seats deferred under renewal time pressure | Asato's record of the engagement |
The result, taken apart
One Microsoft renewal at an enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats, taken apart. Today's spend is about 40 million dollars a year across 75,000 seats. Renewing unchanged would have raised it about 8%. Three levers were examined. Products: 24 Microsoft products were cut to 20; one came off for negligible adoption, about 44,000 licenses and about 1.3 million dollars a year, and another moved to a standalone purchase. Licenses: about 17,400 licenses across 17 products were never assigned, about 0.7 million dollars a year; the knowledge-worker tier, E5, was 93% utilized, and the frontline tier, F3, had one license in four dormant. Price: the same footprint was priced three ways, and renewing early held the increase to about 3%, against 8% at the natural renewal date. Asato found about 8 million dollars a year. The enterprise approved about 4 million dollars a year before the renewal date. It saved 4 million dollars a year at the renewal. Saved figures are agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement. Found, Approved and Saved are separate figures and are never added together. Where the renewal lands, annualized against today's spend: renewing unchanged, 8% higher; the approved changes, 11% lower; everything found, 19% lower. Usage from Microsoft Graph telemetry, license position priced at list, figures rounded.
What is still open
About half of what Asato found was approved. About 950 knowledge-worker seats are held by job-code rules that grant the top tier regardless of usage, and about 5,600 frontline seats were deferred under renewal time pressure. The open question for the enterprise's leadership is whether that policy is worth about $0.5M a year.
What the customer said
This story carries no customer quote. The customer's name is withheld at the customer's request.
Trust and governance
- The connections in this engagement were read-only.
- Nothing changes until a named person at the customer approves it.
- Asato does not negotiate prices. It equips the customer to negotiate.
- Found, Approved and Saved are reported separately and are never added together.
- The customer's name is withheld at the customer's request. The two unnamed customers among the case studies are two different organizations.
Works with
Read-only connections: Microsoft Entra for identity and entitlements, Microsoft Graph for usage per application across Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Office, and entitlement records for cost.
Compared with what the customer did before
Before the engagement, entitlement records sat apart from identity and usage telemetry. A renewal priced on entitlement counts alone would have carried every dormant seat into the next term, at a price about 8% higher.
Questions
How much did the customer save?
$4M a year, saved at its Microsoft renewal. Saved figures are agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement. Separately, Asato found about $8M a year, and the enterprise approved about $4M a year before the renewal date. The three figures are never added together.
How long did it take?
No length in weeks is published. The engagement had a fixed scope and ran against a live enterprise agreement renewal, weeks before the renewal date. The approved changes were costed and ready inside the renewal window.
What is still open?
About half of what Asato found was approved. About 950 knowledge-worker seats are held by job-code rules that grant the top tier regardless of usage, and about 5,600 frontline seats were deferred under renewal time pressure. The open question for the enterprise's leadership is whether that policy is worth about $0.5M a year.
Who is the customer?
An enterprise with 75,000 Microsoft seats. The customer's name is withheld at the customer's request. It is not the same organization as the customer in the idle hardware case study.
What did Asato connect to?
Read-only connections: Microsoft Entra for identity and entitlements, Microsoft Graph for usage per application across Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Office, and entitlement records for cost.
Next step
The Asset Clarity Report covers one area in one week, with read-only access. If it finds no savings, you pay nothing. Request it at https://www.asato.ai/talk-to-sales.
Related pages
- A large US health system found about $466K a year of support on network hardware nobody used
- Two years in, Zymo Research runs no spreadsheet audits, and reports tens of thousands of dollars saved
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Last updated: 2026-10-06