Imagine paying every month for dozens of software licences that, as it turns out, were assigned based on default system settings rather than how your people actually work. That’s exactly the situation END. found itself in 0 one of the UK’s leading luxury fashion and streetwear retailers, with over 600 employees across the UK and Italy.
The result of a single audit? A 30% reduction in Microsoft D365 licence costs at renewal. No new system, no process overhaul, no months-long project.
The trigger: Microsoft tightens the rules
This wasn’t an internal cost-cutting initiative – it was prompted by a shift in Microsoft’s own licensing policy. Microsoft moved to enforcing named-user licence tiers, meaning specific users needed to be correctly assigned to specific licence levels. For companies running Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, the message was clear: either you know exactly who uses what — or you’ll overpay at your next renewal.
Three problems standing in the way
Before END. could make any rational licensing decisions, it had to confront three gaps. No one in the organisation knew which D365 modules and functions individual users actually accessed day to day. Licence assignments were based on system defaults, not real activity – creating a silent overspend that nobody could quantify. And without hard data, there was no way to make the case to Microsoft that a large portion of users only needed a lower-tier licence.
What XPLUS did
XPLUS deployed USG Advanced directly into END.’s D365 F&O environment. The tool recorded granular, per-user system activity across all modules and functions – every screen accessed, every action taken. From that data, it became clear which licence tier each user genuinely required. Right-sized security roles were then built for each user, aligned to the minimum necessary access.
The results
A 30% reduction in total D365 licence spend at renewal, a material annual saving. Full visibility into system usage for the first time. Complete compliance with Microsoft’s new enforcement policy. And two additional benefits that weren’t the original goal: improved security, since users now only have access to what they actually need, and faster onboarding for new starters thanks to cleaner, more focused roles.
Promise Roland, Operations Manager at END., put it simply: the company needed to understand what it was paying for and whether it reflected how the team actually used D365. USG Advanced delivered that clarity – with minimal effort from the internal team.
IT cost optimisation doesn’t always mean replacing a system or running a transformation programme. Sometimes it means getting data you didn’t have before. If your organisation runs D365, doesn’t have clear visibility into user activity, and has a licence renewal on the horizon – a usage audit might be the simplest investment with the fastest return you’ll make this year.
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