{"id":24605,"date":"2026-07-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/find.codeghost.online\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=24605"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:01:41","slug":"taming-software-licensing-sprawl-at-microsoft-with-an-ai-driven-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/find.codeghost.online\/insidetrack\/blog\/taming-software-licensing-sprawl-at-microsoft-with-an-ai-driven-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Taming software licensing sprawl at Microsoft with an AI-driven solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s a common challenge at any large enterprise\u2014important, related data scattered across the organization, residing in disconnected silos. If only there was an efficient way to pull them together into a single system to aid transparency and business decision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter the power of sophisticated data tools and agentic AI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great example of this came when our Microsoft Digital engineers and product managers were trying to get a handle on our sprawling software licensing landscape\u2014thousands of third-party tools that our employees rely on in their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe realized there were all these fragmented, scattered repositories of licensing data across many teams, all with different ownership,\u201d says Ahmed Musa, a senior software engineer in Microsoft Digital, the company\u2019s IT organization. \u201cThere was no visibility into what contracts existed or how they were being used. We needed a single solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer was IntelLicense, an enterprise-wide intelligence platform that collects product information, licensing contracts, cost data, employee usage telemetry, and supplier details in one system. This all comes together in our Software Asset Management (SAM) portal, where we deliver enterprise-grade governance through a modern user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cIntelLicense is a game-changer for us. Before, internal software licensing was manual and labor-intensive\u2014it could take months to make sense of the data. Now, an answer that used to take up to six months for us to track down can be generated immediately using this platform we\u2019ve created.\u201d<\/p>\nAhmed Musa, senior software engineer, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our IntelLicense platform uses the advanced capabilities of agentic AI to answer queries and generate insights on the data, giving us much greater understanding and visibility while enabling us to reduce license duplication, simplify procurement, and cut spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This benefits our employees who need to license software, our software asset managers, and our Procurement team, which manages the process on our back end to make sure the company isn\u2019t wasting money and resources\u2014especially considering the company makes significant annual investments in third-party software licensing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This solution shows how at Microsoft we\u2019re constantly looking for ways to apply AI to help solve enterprise-level challenges at scale\u2014the hallmark of a Frontier Firm<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIntelLicense is a game-changer for us,\u201d says Musa, the principal architect for the project. \u201cBefore, everything around internal software licensing was manual and labor-intensive,\u2014it could take months to make sense of the data. Now, an answer that used to take up to six months for us to track down can be generated immediately using this platform we\u2019ve created.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncovering the challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With more than 200,000 employees working across over 100 countries worldwide, attempting to centralize information at an organization the size of Microsoft is never easy. The state of our third-party software licensing system was no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cAs we looked beyond just employees finding software and deeper into the process, we began to see the challenge was also about purchasing, how we dealt with suppliers, and how we managed the licenses at a higher level. That\u2019s where we saw the big opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\nRevanth Chandra Pydimarri, senior product manager, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We began this journey nearly three years ago. The first big need we identified came from employee feedback that indicated it was difficult to figure out how to identify and license third-party software tools. But as we began to analyze the larger picture, we realized that the problem was much more layered and complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we looked beyond just employees finding software and deeper into the process, we began to see the challenge was also about purchasing, how we dealt with suppliers, and how we managed the licenses at a higher level,\u201d says Revanth Chandra Pydimarri, a senior product manager in Microsoft Digital. \u201cThat\u2019s where we saw the big opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by expanding the scope of the project, we were setting off on a long and technically daunting quest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cI think we counted 19 different systems that contained relevant licensing data. Working with all the different teams to pull that data together was the first big challenge we had to go after.\u201d<\/p>\nJay Selveraj, principal software engineering manager, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tackling the data first<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first step was to gain visibility into all our third-party software contracts, our suppliers, and the actual product usage across the company. But our teams were operating in silos, each maintaining their own agreements and data about software licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was fundamentally a data problem,\u201d says Jay Selveraj, a principal software engineering manager in Microsoft Digital. \u201cThe enterprise data for license management is highly distributed, non-standard, and spread across the company. I think we counted 19 different systems that contained relevant licensing data. Working with all the different teams to pull that data together was the first big challenge we had to go after.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Software Asset Management (SAM) portal gives our asset managers and procurement agents rich data insights into our third-party software licensing across the enterprise.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To fully understand the software asset management process, Selveraj and Chandra Pydimarri were charged with creating a journey map to show the steps, dependencies, and stakeholders involved.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a very daunting task for us,\u201d Selveraj says. \u201cWe identified so many different bottlenecks. And that\u2019s when we decided we can\u2019t just troubleshoot the existing process\u2014we needed to build a new platform that would span the enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To accomplish this, they turned to Microsoft Fabric, which at the time was a relatively new product. Fabric provided the power and flexibility needed for this kind of project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cMicrosoft Fabric was designed as a unified data platform for engineers, making it an ideal fit for this project.\u201d<\/p>\nMisrak Ararso, senior software engineer, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And as Customer Zero for Microsoft<\/a>, we were excited to be early adopters of Fabric (it had just gone into public preview). The fact that we were able to try it out on a real enterprise challenge we were facing was both a strategic advantage and a bonus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMicrosoft Fabric was designed as a unified data platform for engineers, making it an ideal fit for this project,\u201d says Misrak Ararso, a senior software engineer in Microsoft Digital, who also worked on IntelLicense. \u201cIt has great features like Data Wrangler, which allowed us to drill down on the data and clean it up quickly. We also used Microsoft OneLake, which meant we avoided having to duplicate data before working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ararso appreciates how Microsoft Fabric continues to evolve with new AI capabilities, making it an increasingly powerful and beneficial tool for data engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarly adoption wasn\u2019t always smooth,\u201d she says. \u201cWe encountered challenges, sharing feedback when we did, and we benefited from improvements as the platform matured alongside our implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing waste and saving money in procurement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we developed IntelLicense, our Procurement team at Microsoft also struggled to answer basic questions about our software licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cIt was very difficult to gauge usage, consolidate agreements, and do cost optimization. And when we tried to audit our contracts and move licenses around, it all had to be done manually and took a lot of time and effort. IntelLicense addresses that.\u201d<\/p>\nRasa Amiri, senior sourcing manager, Financial Operations<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Procurement team is responsible for negotiating contracts, pricing, and terms and conditions with thousands of different suppliers. However, it can be difficult to negotiate volume discounts and manage the other aspects of licensing if you don\u2019t have a holistic view across the enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a typical example, one group at Microsoft might purchase 20 software licenses from a particular supplier, but then only use 15 of them. Another team needs 5 licenses, but they have no idea that there are unused licenses they could tap from the other group, so they purchase their own. And when an employee moves teams or leaves the company, their software licenses often go unused rather than get reassigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very difficult to gauge usage, consolidate agreements, and do cost optimization,\u201d says Rasa Amiri, a senior sourcing manager in our Financial Operations group. \u201cAnd when we tried to audit our contracts and move licenses around, it all had to be done manually and took a lot of time and effort. IntelLicense addresses that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IntelLicense structure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

UX layer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role-based portal and embedded Copilot that surfaces software insights, recommendations, and actions for employees, software asset managers, and procurement specialists<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

AI layer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multi-agent orchestration system that interprets user intent, calls plug-ins and APIs, and executes workflows<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Data layer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built on a unified Fabric\/OneLake foundation that includes entitlement (contracts), provisioning (users\/devices), and usage data<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The IntelLicense solution consists of three parts: a UX layer, an agentic AI layer, and a data layer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Amiri, one helpful feature of IntelLicense is the ability to see if a software license is not being used, and then directly contact that employee (or license owner) to say, \u201cHey, it looks like you\u2019re not using this license. Can we reallocate it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a real-time dashboard called the SAM portal that we can now use for that, focused on our top 200 suppliers,\u201d Amiri says. \u201cNow, every time we negotiate a deal, it\u2019s uploaded into IntelLicense with all the details\u2014the cost, the contract, the number of licenses. Not only does it help us with reallocation, it helps us quickly resolve issues we have with suppliers who want to charge us for overuse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musa agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe IntelLicense platform can identify overlapping tools already in use and surface relevant alternatives, enabling more informed, cost-efficient decisions across the organization,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing these kinds of efficiencies can quickly generate significant cost savings at an organization the size of Microsoft. Our internal data shows that IntelLicense drove substantial savings in software licensing fees over the last fiscal year. And we have greater ambitions for the future\u2014Chandra Pydimarri cited industry studies that show up to 20% of third-party software spending is unnecessary. That\u2019s huge potential savings for an enterprise organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cAs we evolved the platform, we realized that users don\u2019t want just another dashboard\u2014they need decision intelligence. They need a system that can connect signals across datasets, surface actionable insights, and guide decisions in real time, so they can move faster and act with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\nUrvi Sengar, senior software engineer, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Adding an AI layer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Software Asset Management portal was a strong foundation for centralizing licensing data, but we wanted to take the solution further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was one thing to centralize and surface data with all the relevant data about third-party software licenses. It was a whole different challenge to build a system that helped the user understand the data, ask the right questions, and turn insights into decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we evolved the platform, we realized that users don\u2019t just want another dashboard\u2014they need decision intelligence,\u201d says Urvi Sengar, a senior software engineer in Microsoft Digital. \u201cThey need a system that can connect signals across datasets, surface actionable insights, and guide decisions in real time, so they can move faster and act with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Sengar and her fellow engineers set to work adding an agentic layer to IntelLicense that could provide those AI-driven insights. They used Microsoft Foundry to create a multi-agent solution that could handle all the various needs users of the system might have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the multi-agent architecture that we followed, we have a workflow manager that delegates any user query to specialized agents,\u201d Sengar says. \u201cOne agent handles license management, another deals with supplier management, another can support audit scenarios. Each agent understands the user\u2019s intent and can call any deterministic workflows when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sengar sees the agentic layer as the transformation of IntelLicense from a reporting tool into an intelligent system that can deliver contextual, on-demand insights and help users take action through workflows. It also aligns with the growing expectations for a more conversational, Copilot-like AI experience, where users can ask questions naturally and receive meaningful, actionable responses in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe platform delivers proactive insights through the portal while also enabling users to explore them on-demand, in the context of their work,\u201d Sengar says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She goes on to describe a scenario where a software asset manager is in the middle of negotiating a contract with a supplier. If they have a new idea, question, or strategy they want to validate, the portal can surface relevant recommendations and insights right away. If they want to go deeper, they can use the chat interface to ask questions and get instant access to the latest context-aware information in a dynamic way, without having to leave the flow of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where we see the future of AI-driven work going,\u201d Sengar says. \u201cIt\u2019s using AI not only to surface insights, but to help people explore them further, act on them, and make better decisions faster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying intelligence across the enterprise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Large enterprise organizations like Microsoft face this kind of challenge in many areas: how to maximize efficiency by centrally managing a process that is scattered across many different teams and systems, with data that is often inaccessible or systems that are incompatible. Teams have often developed different ways of accomplishing the same task and are reluctant to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cWe want to make the biggest difference for the company\u2014that\u2019s the ultimate goal. At the end of the day, we want to make sure there is plenty of cost savings produced. Beyond that, we want to apply as much intelligence as possible to the problem, so that AI is impacting all aspects of the process.\u201d<\/p>\nSenthil Selveraj, principal group product manager, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our approach is to apply AI where it makes sense, using continuous improvement principles to guide us. We also look to our AI councils to make sure that we\u2019re following best practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ensures that when we at Microsoft Digital tackle something like software licensing, we\u2019re going to achieve a transformational result that will pay big dividends across the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to make the biggest difference for the company\u2014that\u2019s the ultimate goal,\u201d says Senthil Selveraj, a principal group product manager in Microsoft Digital. \u201cAt the end of the day, we want to make sure there is plenty of cost savings produced. Beyond that, we want to apply as much intelligence as possible to the problem, so that AI is impacting all aspects of the process. That\u2019s where we\u2019ll see the largest, most impactful benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in ways to address third-party software licensing management at your organization, keep in mind these learnings from our own experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n