License harvesting allows organizations to optimize their software investments and reduce overall IT costs. Detecting unused licenses is especially relevant since roughly half of all installed software and licensed SaaS applications are unused by employees (Nexthink) – costing organizations millions per month.
This process is central to an efficient Software License Management strategy, but this is not always easy or straightforward – especially if you don’t have any IT Asset Management tools in place.
In the following article, we will further explore the operations involved in detecting unused software and show you how to optimize the process with InvGate Asset Management.
Let’s jump right in!
What is software harvesting?
Under the realm of Software Asset Management, license harvesting looks to identify application licenses that are not currently in use and take the appropriate actions to reallocate them.
Software can go unused for many reasons, and it’s quite easy for it to go unnoticed. Sometimes, the license might be uninstalled from the machine, the user can be no longer active, or they are just not using it.
Whichever the reason, this process allows you to recover these licenses to either retire them or assign them to a different user, thus reducing software spend on new licenses and annual maintenance costs.
The cost of unused software licenses in businesses – and how to reduce it
Unused licenses are not just a visibility issue, they represent a direct and ongoing financial drain. According to Nexthink’s analysis of more than 30 popular software tools, unused software licenses cost IT organizations an estimated $44.7 million per month, adding up to over $536 million per year in wasted spend. These losses often stay hidden in renewal cycles and bundled contracts, quietly inflating budgets without delivering any real business value.
What makes this problem even harder to tackle is the lack of clear insight. In the same study, only 5% of IT leaders reported having complete visibility into which software licenses are actually being used by employees. This is exactly why software harvesting deserves attention, it turns guesswork into measurable action and transforms wasted licenses into immediate savings.
How software harvesting works
The software harvesting process starts by identifying unused or underutilized applications across your environment. Once these licenses are detected, the next step is to classify them, deciding whether they should be reassigned to another user or removed altogether.
Before taking action, it’s good practice to validate usage with the business or end users, since some tools may be used infrequently but still be critical. From there, licenses can be reclaimed and their ownership or availability updated in your Software Management records.
While it’s possible to meter usage and reassign licenses manually, by accessing individual devices or using directory tools, this approach is time consuming, error prone, and difficult to scale. That’s why most organizations rely on License Management software to centralize usage data, track license status, and turn harvesting into a continuous optimization process that also supports smarter renewals and vendor negotiations.
Implementing a License Management tool gives you a bird’s eye view of your entire software landscape, ensuring no license is overlooked, and that’s exactly what InvGate Asset Management does. So, let’s see how it works.
How to identify devices with unused software licenses with InvGate Asset Management
There are several ways to identify devices with unused software licenses in InvGate Asset Management. Here are two practical approaches:
- Quick visibility from the Software Compliance module – This gives IT teams instant insight into unused licenses while also showing how many active assignments exist for each application, helping prioritize recovery opportunities.
- Detect unused software using filters in the Explorer – This lets you pinpoint devices with inactive software, then easily decide whether to reassign the license or uninstall the application directly from the asset.
Note: Software Metering must be enabled and configured to calculate Low Usage and Potential Savings.
#1: Quick visibility from the Software Compliance module
The Software Compliance module gives IT teams a centralized view of software contracts, license usage, and potential savings, making it an ideal starting point for software harvesting.
From this section, you can quickly identify low-usage licenses, detect compliance gaps, and estimate how much money could be recovered by redistributing unused seats. It connects financial data with real usage, helping turn visibility into concrete optimization actions.
To access this view, follow the next steps:
1. Go to Contracts > Software Compliance.
2. Group by Contract. Once inside and grouped, you’ll see a summary at the top of the screen with key indicators:
- Out-of-compliance installations – Shows how many software installations don’t have a corresponding license, helping detect compliance risks and over-deployments.
- Out-of-compliance true-up cost – Estimates the annual cost required to become compliant based on current installations.
- Low usage – Highlights licensed installations that haven’t recorded activity in the last 30 days, your primary signal for identifying licenses that can be reclaimed.
- Potential savings – Estimates the annual savings you could achieve by redistributing low-usage licenses instead of purchasing new ones.
For each software, you’ll see key indicators (among others):
- Low usage – Shows installations of that software with little or no recent activity.
- Assigned – Displays the number of licenses currently assigned for that software.
- Available – Shows how many licenses are available for assignment.
3. Click on any contract to view key details. This will show you the software included in that contract, the total number of installations for each application, how many licenses are currently in use, and how many licenses are still available.
Note: On the right-hand side, you can use Quick Filters to narrow results by software category, license type, cost center, vendor, owner, or contract expiration, helping you focus harvesting efforts on specific tools or teams.
#2: Detect unused software using filters in the Explorer
The Explorer lets you move from visibility to action by analyzing software usage at the application level and reclaiming licenses directly from inactive devices. This is especially useful when new software requests come in and you need to determine whether a license is actually available, without immediately increasing your contract.
From here, you can review specific software titles, check real usage across devices, and identify machines that are no longer actively using an application. This makes it easy to reclaim licenses from inactive users and reassign them where they’re needed, turning software harvesting into a practical, day-to-day workflow.
To get started:
1. Go to Software.
2. Click “+” to create a New view.
3. Add the following filter:
a. Software Installations > Average use in the last 30 days > is less than > 2 hours.
Note: You can adjust both the number of days and the average usage threshold based on your own strategy and what your team considers “unused” or low-usage software.
4. Click “Update” and review the results.
Note: On this screen, you’ll see all software installations across your IT environment that qualify as potential candidates for license harvesting.
What you do next depends entirely on your License Management strategy and your IT team’s operational capacity. Here are a couple of practical paths you can follow:
- Export the list of software installations and validate usage directly with users, confirming whether the application is still needed now or in the near future.
- Uninstall the software directly, either one by one for tighter control or in bulk to speed up large-scale cleanup efforts.
Final thoughts
Software harvesting doesn’t have to be a one-time cleanup exercise. With the right data and tools in place, it becomes an ongoing process that helps you reduce waste, stay compliant, and make smarter licensing decisions over time.
If you’d like to see how InvGate Asset Management helps you identify unused software, reclaim licenses, and optimize your License Management strategy, you can request a 30-day free trial or talk to our team to explore your use case.
Start turning unused licenses into measurable savings.
Frequently asked questions
1) What are common reasons software licenses go unused?
Software licenses often go unused due to employee turnover, role changes, overlapping tools, or applications being installed “just in case” but never actively adopted. In many cases, licenses remain assigned even after users stop needing the software, simply because there’s no continuous visibility into real usage. Without regular monitoring, these unused licenses quietly accumulate and inflate IT costs.
2) Which platforms help eliminate underused IT licenses and software?
Platforms that combine IT Asset Management, Software Metering, and License Management capabilities are the most effective at reducing underused licenses. These solutions provide visibility into installed software, track actual usage, highlight low-usage applications, and support license reassignment or removal. InvGate Asset Management brings all these capabilities together in a single platform, helping organizations detect unused licenses, reclaim them, and optimize software spending on an ongoing basis.
