As new businesses are acquired and onboarded, teams are often left with limited visibility into Microsoft license usage across the growing organisation. Without a clear understanding of what licenses are being used, by who and at what cost, organisations run the risk of overspending, underusing assets and losing operational efficiency.

This is where Soft-ex comes in. We help businesses address three key challenges that often arise in during the M&A process.
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1.      Understand what you own and what you use

Enterprises house a complex web of licenses in their own right – now imagine adding multiple entities to the mix, each with its own Microsoft licensing environment. That’s the reality many companies face then going through an M&A. Without proper oversight, it's almost impossible to accurately measure what's being used against what’s being paid for.

With Soft-ex however, it becomes a much clearer picture. Our 365 Analyser allows IT teams to quickly understand what licenses are active across the merging entities, how they are being used and where the costs are accumulating. This clarity enables more strategic decision-making, budget forecasting and identification of redundant assets that can be reassigned or retired.
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2.     Manage license assignments with ease

With visibility comes the need for simplicity. After an acquisition, IT teams often inherit multiple disconnected systems and manual tracking processes. Managing licenses across several business units — each potentially using different license types or subscriptions— becomes a painful task.

Soft-ex simplifies Microsoft license management. Our platform gives businesses a single, unified view of all licenses across the organisation to help IT leaders stay in control, avoid unnecessary purchases and uncover opportunities for greater cost savings. No more cases of being under licensed and at risk of fines, or over licensed and wasting money.
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3.     Get the right people the right tools

One of the biggest contributors to poor license management – and commonplace during M&As – is team changes.When employees join, move roles or leave, licenses are usually the last thing on the list to check. It falls to IT departments to keep these in check, but without the right systems, managing licenses during these transitions can quickly become a logistical nightmare.

To help with joiners and leavers,Soft-ex helps organisations map out their licenses, allowing them to see what’s available, what’s been assigned and where there may be spares. This avoids the mistake of purchasing new licenses when it’s not needed. For leavers, it ensures licenses are reassigned immediately, keeping teams compliant and reducing unnecessary costs.
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Is an M&A on the horizon for you? Get in touch to find out how Soft-ex can help you improve visibility, simplify management and optimise your Microsoft licenses today.

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Modern organisations rely heavily on Microsoft technologies like Office 365, Azure, E5 suites and more. But this reliance brings with it an equally long list of licensing agreements. Most large businesses find themselves juggling several Microsoft licenses, each with different start dates, renewal cycles and terms and conditions.

Some contracts renew monthly ,others quarterly or annually; it all depends on when they were initially signed. As the number builds up, it quickly becomes a complex web of renewals that is almost impossible to track manually.

When poorly managed, these contract dates slip by unnoticed and automatically renew by default, even if they’re not being used. What we often see is smaller contracts being easily forgotten, but still renew at full cost, and teams missing the opportunity to downgrade, optimise or reallocate licenses based on current usage.

In short, IT and finance teams lose visibility of what they’re paying for, resulting in redundant licenses and gross overspend.

Businesses find themselves locked into contracts with license types or quantities that no longer match their workforce needs. Over time, these missed renewals add up to significant financial waste, sometimes hundreds of thousands annually across global enterprises. Security suites like Microsoft E5 can be underused if not monitored carefully, leaving businesses at risk of missing out on critical protection while still paying premium prices.

A lack of visibility can also leave IT and financial directors incapable of forecasting or budgeting accurately for future licensing needs. Instead, forecasting becomes guesswork and strategic planning suffers without a clear picture of what tools are being used and by who.

Take back control of your Microsoft licenses

What businesses need above all else is visibility.Having a clear map of all Microsoft licenses and renewal dates helps organisations answer questions like: are we allocating our software budget efficiently? Can we reduce licensing costs without sacrificing team productivity? Where will we be in 12 months and how do we get there?

That’s why at Soft-ex, we’ve created a solution to bring clarity to chaos. Our UCC Analyser enables businesses to track all Microsoft contracts and renewal dates in one place. Aspart of that, our clients:

·      Receive advance notifications before anyrenewal dates

·      See exactly which licenses are included ineach contract

·      Monitor usage trends to determine what’sworking and what’s not

·      Can decide whether to renew, reduce, reassign or retire licenses

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What really sets Soft-ex apart is our ability to support long-term planning and forecasting. By capturing historical licensing and usage data, we provide trend reports showing usage rates and unassigned licenses, as well as insights into license growth, especially around high-value suites like Microsoft E5. Our clients also receive recommendations on whether they’re rolling out licenses quickly enough, or holding onto expensive excess.

In our minds, Microsoft licensing shouldn’t be a hidden cost for any business. With Soft-ex, you’ll never miss another deadline, lose sight of license usage or get caught off guard again.

If you’re ready to regain control of your Microsoft contracts, talk to Soft-ex today and make missed renewals a thing of the past.

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Organisations house huge quantities of communication and collaboration data, from voice calls to chat messages and contact centre engagements. Yet for so many businesses, this information remains inaccessible, working in isolation or buried under layers of complexity.

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This data is key to unlock greater value and enhance business decision making; it’s time to recognise the actionable intelligence that lies beneath the surface.

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Here’s what you can do in three simple steps, and how Soft-ex helps at each stage.

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Step one: Consolidate your data

Data siloes are the enemy of true visibility. Enterprises operate across multiple platforms, including MicrosoftTeams, Cisco Webex, Zoom, legacy PBX systems and contact centres. The insights gathered from each individual channel is valuable, but it still leaves businesses with a fragmented view of their customer engagements and operations.

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Soft-ex simplifies data integration across multiple disparate systems, giving organisations a central view of every customer interaction. Teams will gain full visibility into usage patterns, customer engagement and service quality, rather than manually collating data from different platforms.

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Step two: Apply business logic – yours and others’

Unlocking data is only the first step; extracting value from it and applying it to genuine business cases is the ultimate objective. And your own business experience is crucial for doing this successfully.

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The expertise your team brings to the table should not be overlooked and instead championed. At the same time, external partners like Soft-ex come armed with a wealth of insight that can elevate the experience your own team offers, based on years of solving specific customer challenges. In the pursuit of better customer experience, don’t be afraid to bring in outside support.

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Step three: Deploy AI-powered analytics

Artificial intelligence is the final missing piece of the puzzle. AI-backed analytics helps businesses go beyond basic, manual reporting and replace it with real-time, data driven intelligence.

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With tools like Soft-ex’s intelligent analytics platform, organisations can gain detailed analytics on voice, video and conferencing channels, and use AI-powered insights to save costs and inform critical business decisions. Having access to personalised dashboards and informative visualisations also helps make sure stakeholders at every level have access to the right data to drive greater efficiencies, cut costs and improve overall customer service.

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Ready to take the first step?

Let us help you turn your data into a competitive advantage. If you want to get the most out of your communication and collaboration data, get in touch with Soft-ex today.