Business case
Estimate license waste. Build a business case from your own data.
What it costs, what comes back, and what stays at risk, in terms a board approves budget on.
The flow
License spend on people who have already left.
Four numbers from your own organization. If you do not know your revocation lag, that gap is itself the finding.
Annual spend on licenses for people who have left
Leavers per year × months until revocation × blended monthly seat cost. Cloud PCs, phone lines, and mobile plans count exactly like software: they sit in the same catalog and go through the same leaver workflow. This counts only the leaver leak. It excludes shelfware, overlapping tools, and underused premium tiers, all of which are real and none of which we are claiming here.
The stock
And the backlog you are carrying right now.
The flow above is what leaks from here on. This is what you are already paying. Only you can supply the second number, and if you cannot, that is precisely the gap TeamConnect AI closes.
Zylo’s 2026 SaaS Management Index puts unused licenses at an average of 36% measured against industry-recommended utilization. We default to 10% because that is conservative, not because we think it is your number. Put in your own.
Annual spend on seats nobody is using
This is your assumption, not our benchmark. The number is only as good as the seat count you put in.
Business cases
Four business cases, each counted once.
The same logic as the calculators above, run on your figures: 10,000 people at $250 a month per person in licenses and subscriptions. The $250 default is about a third of the $9,455 a year Zylo reports as the median for SaaS alone. The directory is priced at TeamConnect’s public price, since TeamConnect carries the same catalog. TeamConnect AI and TeamJML AI are quoted by our sales team: add your quote below, and the cases include it. Each case counts different seats or engagements, so the four can be added.
No quote yet? Talk to sales for your price →
TeamJML AI · Direct P&L
Licenses kept by people who have left
Someone who leaves but keeps their access keeps their paid licenses too, month after month, until somebody notices. TeamJML AI tracks every removal to a confirmed outcome and escalates what stays open, so the licenses end with the job. TeamConnect AI shows how many people this affects; the saving is counted once, here, because only the workflow stops it.
| People who have left but still hold licenses, 3% | 300 |
|---|---|
| Their licenses for a year, at $250 a month | $900,000 |
| Stopped: 75%, the rest falls away at renewal | $675,000 |
| TeamJML AI, 10,000 people at your quoted price | Add your quote |
| Cash return a year, before the TeamJML AI subscription | $675,000 |
Veza found former employees made up 3% of users in the environments it measured. The 3% is a point-in-time count, so it costs every month of the year.
TeamConnect AI · Direct P&L
Seats nobody holds
Subscription Analytics sets what every license costs beside who holds it, so seats assigned to no one are visible before the renewal, not after it. The catalog holds any platform and subscription, from Microsoft 365 to mobile and phone plans such as Microsoft Teams Phone. You decide which seats to release, reuse for the next joiner, or not renew; the case counts half of them.
| License spend, 10,000 seats at $250 a month | $30,000,000 |
|---|---|
| On seats nobody holds, 10% | $3,000,000 |
| Released, reused, or not renewed: half | $1,500,000 |
| TeamConnect for 10,000 people at $15 a year | −$150,000 |
| Net cash return a year | $1,350,000 |
Gartner expects organizations without centralized SaaS visibility to overspend by at least 25% through 2027. Zylo’s average for unused licenses, a broader measure than seats nobody holds, is 36%.
TeamConnect AI · Direct P&L
Contractor months you never buy
A program lead needs a data engineer with five years of SAP integration experience who can run workshops in fluent business English. Procurement scopes an external contract. TeamConnect AI finds two people already on payroll who match, one of them in a neighboring business unit nobody thought to ask. The case counts one contractor-year for every 10,000 people, and at least one month; the license cost is already counted in the case above.
| Contract months covered by colleagues | 12 |
|---|---|
| External contractor, at $15,000 a month | $180,000 |
| Cash return a year | $180,000 |
UK SAP consultants: median £581 a day (ITJobsWatch). German SAP freelancers: €111 an hour (freelancermap). Seagate reports saving $1.4 million by filling project work internally instead of externally.
TeamConnect AI · Direct P&L
Contractors whose manager has left
Contractors arrive on a purchase order, not through HR. TeamConnect AI shows every contractor in the org chart beside their manager, so when that manager leaves, an engagement nobody owns anymore is visible, not discovered at the next budget review. The case counts one such contractor for every 10,000 people, ended or reassigned two months sooner, and at least one month in total.
| External contractor, at $15,000 a month | $15,000 |
|---|---|
| Contract months saved, two for every 10,000 people | 2 |
| Cash return a year | $30,000 |
Each month sooner saves one month of the contractor’s rate.
Together, for 10,000 people
| TeamConnect and TeamConnect AI: seats nobody holds and both contractor cases | $1,710,000 |
|---|---|
| TeamJML AI: licenses kept by people who have left | Add your quote |
| Subscriptions: 10,000 TeamConnect | −$150,000 |
| Net cash return a year | $1,560,000 |
The cash return covers the subscriptions 11.4 times at full run-rate, before time back and before the access risk below. The first year reaches less, because savings arrive as contracts renew. Change any figure in the calculators above, and the four cases follow.
The TeamJML AI case is left out of the net return until you add your quote above.
Not counted, deliberately
The upside we leave out of the number.
A board will weigh these. None of them should have to carry a budget decision on its own, so none of them is in the cases.
Hours HR and IT get back
Monthly people reports assembled from several HR systems, directory updates raised as tickets, and joiner, mover, and leaver work chased by email. None of this time is counted in the cases above.
The next commitment, sized on headcount
Organization Insights shows headcount trend by department, so the next license commitment or renewal is sized on where the organization is going, not on where it was.
More from the Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses you already pay for
Skills approved in TeamConnect AI flow back to each person’s Microsoft 365 profile, and Microsoft 365 Copilot answers from them. Current people data makes the Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses you already hold more useful to the people who use them.
Reorganizations planned on today’s structure
Organization Insights shows reporting lines, departments, and headcount as they stand today, so reorganization options are modeled on the structure you actually run.
Access risk, considered separately.
Access after leaving is a liability, not a line in the return.
It reaches the P&L before any incident: in audit findings, in reserves, and in insurance terms. Under GDPR Article 32, fines for failing to secure personal data can reach €10 million or 2% of global annual turnover, whichever is higher.
Your statutory ceiling
At $1 billion in global annual turnover, 2% is up to $20 million. Below €500 million in turnover, the fixed €10 million is the higher figure. Both are statutory maximums, not predictions.
What to keep on record
Accounts and access that remain active after someone leaves deserve a documented review. Keep evidence of decisions, removals, and unresolved exceptions so your security and legal teams can assess the situation in context.
TeamJML AI keeps that record leaver by leaver: every removal is confirmed by your service desk or your ITSM.
3%
of users in the environments measured were former employees still holding active credentials.
Veza, 2025
18%
of organizations experienced a data breach caused by an offboarded user who still had access.
BetterCloud, State of SaaS 2026
247 days
average time to identify and contain a breach.
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026
$4.99M
global average cost of a data breach, up 12% year over year.
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026
Budget and approval
What finance needs to approve the budget.
A route procurement already knows, a budget line that may already exist, and proof on your own data before the first renewal.
Bought under the Microsoft Standard Contract
Buy through Microsoft Marketplace or the Microsoft Teams Store under the Microsoft Standard Contract. No Cubeet amendments and no separate contract to negotiate, and billing arrives on your Microsoft invoice.
Can count toward your Microsoft Azure commitment
Eligible Marketplace purchases can count toward your Microsoft Azure consumption commitment, subject to your agreement and purchase route.
Start with one country or company
Choose which countries, companies, offices, or departments come first. One national organization can start alone, and the rest follows as the case proves itself.
Replace assumptions with evidence in 30 days
The 30-day free trial runs in your own Microsoft 365, and Subscription Analytics shows the seats nobody holds, so the calculators above run on your numbers, not ours. A trial needs a valid Microsoft billing account; Microsoft does not charge during it. Choose the billing term you intend to keep when it starts.
Sources and method
Every figure, where it came from, and how the cases are calculated.
Third-party figures are labeled as research, never as Cubeet results. The numbers you enter in the calculators are the only figures here that describe your organization.
Veza, 2025 identity security research
Former employees still holding active credentials made up 3% of users in the environments measured; 38% of identities flagged inactive by HR still held live entitlements in business applications. Cubeet makes no claim that the 3% rate applies to your organization.
Zylo, SaaS Management Index 2026, and Gartner
Zylo puts unused licenses at an average of 36% against industry-recommended utilization, and median SaaS spend at $9,455 per employee per year. Gartner states that through 2027, organizations that fail to attain centralized visibility and coordinate SaaS life cycles will overspend on SaaS by at least 25%.
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, and BetterCloud
IBM: global average breach cost, its year-over-year change, and the time to identify and contain a breach, published July 29, 2026 from 602 organizations breached between March 2025 and February 2026. BetterCloud: breaches caused by an offboarded user who still had access, from the State of SaaS 2026 report.
Contractor rates and internal capacity
ITJobsWatch: median UK SAP consultant daily rate £581 in the six months to January 16, 2026. freelancermap: German SAP freelancers average €111 an hour. The cases use $15,000 a month, in line with both. Seagate’s $1.4 million saving from filling project work internally was reported by WorkLife in 2022.
How the cases are calculated
Your figures: the cases take people and cost per person from the first calculator, and seats, the share of seats nobody holds, and cost per seat from the second. The leaver rate and removal time drive only the first calculator; the cases use Veza’s point-in-time 3% instead.
Licenses kept by people who have left: people × 3% × cost per person × 12, of which 75% stops; the rest falls away as committed seats renew. The 3% is a point-in-time count, so it costs every month of the year.
Seats nobody holds: seats × cost per seat × 12 × the share nobody holds, of which half is released, reused, or not renewed.
Contractors: for every 10,000 people, one contractor-year covered by colleagues and two contract months saved on contractors whose manager has left, at $15,000 a month, rounded to whole months with a minimum of one.
Licensing on annual billing: TeamConnect for everyone at its public volume price: $15 a year per person from 1,000 people, $20 from 250, and $25 below, with a minimum of 20. TeamConnect AI and TeamJML AI are priced by quote. Add the price our sales team gives you, and the cases license TeamConnect AI for 10% of people and TeamJML AI for everyone, each with a minimum of 100. Until then, the TeamJML AI case is shown before its subscription and left out of the net return. Internal rollout effort is not included.
Adding them up: each case counts different seats or engagements, so they add without double counting. Cases are shown at full run-rate; the first year reaches less as contracts renew. Time back and access risk are never added to the return.
Take your own numbers to the board.
Bring your figures to a working session. We walk through every case with you and your finance team, and show where each piece of evidence comes from.