Discovery benchmark
SAM calculator
Enter your annual software spend for a directional three-year optimisation range. Built for framing scope in a discovery conversation — deliberately not a sales number.
Your inputs
Annual software spend
Include licences, subscriptions, maintenance and support. Exclude infrastructure and people costs.
Lower maturity usually means more recoverable waste. See the maturity ladder.
Concentrated estates carry more audit exposure but also more negotiation leverage.
This is a directional benchmark, not guaranteed ROI. It is not an Effective Licence Position and does not replace entitlement reconciliation.
Executive snapshot
Typical 3-year value
$450,000
Based on an annual spend of $1,000,000 at Level 3 maturity with a mixed publisher estate, across a three-year horizon.
Method
What drives the estimate
- Unused and underutilised licencesSeats assigned but not consumed, and licences held for departed staff.
- Edition and tier optimisationDowngrading where product use rights permit it.
- Renewal waste reductionBetter inventory quality ahead of the renewal date, not after it.
- Duplicate and overlapping toolingConsolidating functionally equivalent products across business units.
- Audit risk reductionIndirect value: avoided true-up costs and penalty exposure, not counted in the ranges above.
Honest limits
What this number is not
The ranges apply published optimisation bands to your stated spend. They are for scoping a conversation, not for a business case.
- Not an Effective Licence Position
- Not entitlement-aware or contract-aware
- Does not account for bundles, virtualisation, failover or regional terms
- Does not include the cost of the work required to realise the savings
A scoped estimate requires an entitlement-aware review. That is what a consultation is for.