Licenses get assigned when a project goes live. They rarely get reviewed again. Six months later, a client — or your own firm — is paying for seats nobody’s touched in weeks, and often paying for the wrong module tier on top of it, and nobody notices, because Dynamics 365 doesn’t surface either gap on its own.
That’s the problem the License Intelligence Accelerator was built to solve — giving partners real D365 license ROI visibility, at the seat level and the module level together — and it’s why we’re opening the beta to more Microsoft partners this month.
The Problem: Licenses Get Assigned, Rarely Reviewed
Ask most delivery leads how many of their client’s D365 or Business Central seats are actually in active use, and you’ll get a guess, not a number. License assignment happens at go-live and stays static — usage doesn’t. Roles change, projects wind down, people leave. The subscription keeps billing at the original headcount regardless.
This isn’t a client problem or a partner problem specifically — it’s a visibility gap built into how licensing works. Nobody’s watching usage after day one because there’s nothing that watches it for them.
What the License Intelligence Accelerator Does
The License Intelligence Accelerator looks at actual usage telemetry, not assignment records, and surfaces where licensed seats and real activity have drifted apart. Instead of relying on admin center reports that only show what’s assigned, it tracks what’s actually being used, so partners can go into a licensing conversation with data instead of a guess.
It doesn’t stop at seat counts. It also breaks down usage by module — which parts of D365 (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, SCM, Finance, and others) a given user or team is actually touching, versus what they’re licensed for. A user with a full Sales license who’s only ever opened Customer Service is a different problem than an unused seat entirely, and most admin center views don’t separate the two. This is where the real license-tiering conversations happen — not just “is this seat active,” but “is this person even licensed for the right module.”
Where the ROI Comes From
We’re not putting a savings percentage on this yet — no real number is credible before real beta data exists, and we said we wouldn’t make that claim until it does. But it’s worth being clear about where the ROI comes from once the data’s in hand, so partners know what they’re actually evaluating:
- Seat-level waste — licensed users with no meaningful activity in a defined window
- Module-level mismatch — users licensed for a higher tier or a module they don’t use, versus what their actual activity shows they need
- Right-sizing at renewal — instead of renewing at last year’s headcount by default, renewing against what usage data actually shows
The ROI case is straightforward once you can see the gap — the point of the beta is turning that into a real number instead of an assumption.
Why We Built It on Telemetry, Not Guesswork
The F&O version of the License Intelligence Accelerator is close to market-ready. The Business Central version is being built on a telemetry-first design — pulling usage signals through Azure Application Insights alongside a lightweight AL extension, rather than inferring usage indirectly. We’re treating per-user data carefully in that design too: attribution at the individual level in BC telemetry raises real data-handling questions, and we’re working through that deliberately rather than shipping something that cuts corners on it.
What’s Available Today
- F&O: Near market-ready — this is the most mature part of the accelerator right now.
- Business Central: In active build, with the core telemetry architecture defined. This is the part we’re recruiting beta partners for.
We’re not going to tell you this saves you a specific percentage on your license spend — we don’t have real beta data yet to back that up, and we’re not going to make that claim until we do. What we can say is that the visibility gap is real, and this is built to close it.
Check Module ROI at Go-Live — Not Just at Renewal
Most partners only revisit licensing when a renewal notice forces the conversation. By then, a project’s been live for a year and the usage pattern is whatever it’s become, waste included.
The better window is right at go-live. That’s when a client’s actual usage of the modules just implemented can be checked against what they’re licensed for — before the gap has time to compound. If a Sales module rollout only sees real adoption in two of five configured workflows three months in, that’s a signal worth acting on immediately, not something to notice at the next renewal cycle. Building this check into a standard post-go-live step, rather than treating it as a renewal-time afterthought, is one of the more direct ways the module-level view earns its keep.
Join the Beta
We’re looking for a small group of Microsoft partners to run the License Intelligence Accelerator against real environments and tell us what it gets right and wrong before a wider release. If you manage D365 or Business Central licensing for your own firm or your clients and want early access, this is the moment to get in before it’s generally available.
[Join the License Intelligence Accelerator beta — reach out to MTC]
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the License Intelligence Accelerator available for both D365 F&O and Business Central?
F&O is near market-ready. Business Central is in active development and is the focus of the current beta.
What does joining the beta involve?
Running the License Intelligence Accelerator against a real (or sandbox) environment and giving us feedback on accuracy and usefulness before general release. Details are confirmed directly with the team once you reach out.
Does the License Intelligence Accelerator show usage by module, or just overall seat activity?
Both. It breaks activity down by module (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, SCM, Finance, and others), so partners can see not just whether a seat is active, but whether the person is even licensed for the module they’re actually using.
Does the License Intelligence Accelerator replace the Microsoft admin center license reports?
No — it works alongside them. The admin center shows what’s assigned; the License Intelligence Accelerator is built to show what’s actually being used, which is the piece that’s currently missing.
Conclusion
Most partners aren’t overpaying for D365 licenses because they’re careless — they’re overpaying because nothing in the stack tells them where the gap is. The License Intelligence Accelerator is our attempt to close that gap, starting with F&O and now extending to Business Central. If you want to be part of shaping it before it’s widely available, the beta is open now.
[Join the License Intelligence Accelerator beta — reach out to MTC]
