Free tool · 5 minutes · Microsoft 365 licensing
Most Australian mid-market tenants have 8–15% of Microsoft 365 spend recoverable in the first audit. Score your licensing discipline across SKU rationalisation, add-on hygiene, inactive seats and renewal posture in five minutes.
8 questions · 4 domains
Score your Microsoft 365 licensing discipline across SKU rationalisation, add-on hygiene, inactive seats, and renewal posture. Most AU mid-market tenants find 8–15% of M365 spend recoverable in the first audit.
Domain 1
Right-sizing M365 SKU mix — are users on the appropriate plan, or over-provisioned on E5 / Business Premium when E3 / Business Standard would suit?
Have you reviewed SKU-to-user fit in the last 12 months?
Source: Microsoft Learn — M365 admin centre licensing reports.
How is the E3 vs E5 (or Business Standard vs Premium) decision made for new starters?
Source: Microsoft Licensing Guides; Frontrow AU mid-market SKU benchmark.
Domain 2
Discipline around add-on SKUs — Visio, Project, Power BI Pro, Teams Phone, Defender plan upgrades.
How are add-on licences (Visio, Project, Power BI Pro, Teams Phone) audited?
Source: M365 admin centre product usage reports.
How are Microsoft 365 Copilot seats audited?
Source: Microsoft Copilot Analytics in Viva Insights.
Domain 3
Process for finding and reclaiming licences assigned to inactive users — departed staff, contractors who finished, shared accounts no longer needed.
How is the M365 Active Users report used to find inactive licences?
Source: M365 admin centre — Active Users report.
Is HR offboarding connected to M365 licence removal?
Source: Entra ID Lifecycle Workflows; Frontrow offboarding benchmark.
Domain 4
Negotiation discipline at renewal — vendor benchmark comparison, multi-year vs annual, EA vs CSP, true-up planning.
How is M365 renewal pricing benchmarked?
Source: Frontrow AU mid-market renewal benchmark.
How is the EA vs CSP commercial model evaluated?
Source: Microsoft Volume Licensing comparison guides.
This is an indicative self-assessment. It is not a substitute for a tenant-level licence audit. For verified results Frontrow runs an in-tenant audit using M365 admin centre + Microsoft Graph signal.
What the audit covers
Domain 1
The most expensive SKU mistake in AU mid-market is everyone-on-E5 by default. E5 is correct for users who actually use the E5 features (Defender for Endpoint P2, Defender for Office 365 P2, Power BI Pro, Audio Conferencing, Phone System, Information Protection P2). For users who don't, E3 or Business Premium plus targeted add-ons is materially cheaper.
Domain 2
Add-ons accumulate. Visio assigned to someone two roles ago, Project Plan 3 for a project that finished, Power BI Pro for users who only consume reports. Frontrow audits routinely surface 20–30% of add-on assignments that are no longer in use.
Domain 3
M365 admin centre Active Users report and Microsoft 365 usage analytics surface inactive accounts. The discipline gap is usually not data — it's the lifecycle workflow connecting HR offboarding to licence removal.
Domain 4
Most AU mid-market tenants renew on autopilot. The lever is preparation: benchmark pricing against a CSP partner quote, model 1-year vs 3-year commitment, plan true-up vs true-down per the contract, and run the renewal conversation 90 days early.
Frequently asked questions
The Frontrow benchmark across AU mid-market is 8–15% of total M365 spend recoverable in the first audit. The recoverable spend sits in four predictable places: over-provisioned SKUs (E5 assigned where E3 fits), unused add-ons (Visio, Project, Power BI Pro, Copilot), inactive seats (departed staff, contractors who finished), and sub-optimal commercial model (EA where CSP fits, or vice versa). At an enterprise tenant of 500 users on E5, that's typically AUD $50,000–$90,000 per year in recoverable spend.
E5 is approximately 1.7x the per-user cost of E3 in AU pricing. The delta funds Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Power BI Pro, Audio Conferencing, Teams Phone Standard, Information Protection P2 (auto-labelling) and Customer Lockbox. For users who don't use those features, the delta is pure waste. The Frontrow benchmark: fewer than 30% of AU mid-market users actually use the E5-only features. Everyone-on-E5 is the most expensive single licensing mistake.
M365 admin centre Active Users report (filter by sign-in activity within the last 30/60/90 days) and the Active Users report in Microsoft 365 usage analytics. Cross-reference with the assigned licences view. The classic gotcha: 'inactive' on M365 admin centre means no sign-in. A user could be assigned a licence but never have signed in. Both patterns are recoverable spend.
Below 500 users, CSP is usually cheaper and more flexible (monthly true-up, partner support, no commitment minimum). Above 1,000 users, EA typically pays back (volume discounts, 3-year commitment certainty, internal procurement preference). Between 500–1,000 it depends on commitment appetite — multi-year forecast confidence pushes toward EA; flexibility need pushes toward CSP. Run the model annually.
Yes. Copilot is the single most expensive M365 add-on in 2026, and the most prone to waste because of the gap between assigned and active seats. The Frontrow benchmark across AU mid-market is 15–30% of Copilot seats inactive 30+ days post-rollout. For a dedicated Copilot-only assessment use the Copilot Adoption & Waste Detector tool.
Indirectly. Cleaner licence allocation supports better access governance: removing licences from departed staff reduces orphaned account risk; rationalising SKUs simplifies the M365 service surface; documenting the audit improves the OAIC 'reasonable steps' position under the Privacy Act. The audit's primary motive is commercial, but the compliance side-effect is real.
A direct review using Microsoft Graph + M365 admin centre + Power BI usage analytics. Output: line-by-line list of recoverable seats and add-ons, modelled annual saving, and a 30-day reassignment-or-remove workflow. Most engagements pay back the audit fee within the first month from recovered spend. Indicative pricing on request.
Every scoring threshold cites a primary source: Microsoft Learn for M365 admin centre licensing reports, Microsoft 365 usage analytics for active users, Microsoft Licensing Guides for SKU comparison, and the Frontrow AU mid-market audit benchmark for the recoverable-spend percentages. Methodology authored by Daniel Brown (5x Microsoft MVP), Graeme Lodge (Managing Director), and Sam Williams (Investor & Executive Consultant).
