Glossary

License reclamation

The process of identifying SaaS seats that aren't being used and recovering them, either by deprovisioning the user or downgrading the tier.

Also known as: seat reclamation, license harvesting

License reclamation is the mechanical fix for SaaS waste. You measure activity, flag the seats that have been dormant past a threshold (usually 30 days), and revoke or downgrade them before the next renewal.

Done manually it's a quarterly fire drill — IT exports activity reports from each tool, finance reconciles them against the contract, and nobody ever finishes the list. Done automatically it's a continuous process: usage is monitored daily, candidates surface in a queue, and one click revokes the seat through the vendor's API.

The savings compound at renewal. Vendors price on committed seat count, not active seats — reclaiming 38% of dormant licenses turns into a 38% smaller contract the next time you negotiate.

Examples

Related terms

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