Cost, value, and use it or lose it

Seat counts stand in for realised value. Renewals arrive without a frozen case. Cost per active user rises while stories stay anecdotal.

Usage theatre defined

Seat counts stand in for realised value. Renewals arrive without a frozen case. Cost per active user rises while stories stay anecdotal.

McKinsey’s gap between use and EBIT impact is the backdrop. About 88 percent use AI somewhere. About 39 percent report any enterprise EBIT impact. About 6 percent are high performers. (McKinsey)

Freeze the value case

Cost and Value asks what you spend, forecast, and actually realise. Publish a short case and freeze assumptions before spend grows. See AI value case.

Reconcile monthly. Kill vanity metrics that cannot connect to the case.

Use it or lose it

Licence doctrine: reclaim dormant seats on 30/60/90 cycles so spend follows active work. Run the idle-seat reclaim runbook. Expand only on proof.

Gartner’s 28 percent success / 20 percent fail pattern rewards realistic cases and preparation, not hopeful seat spray. (Gartner)

Steward dial at renewal

Dial Steward up when renewals and reclaim waves land. Chair closes with owners and dates. Pulse notes fear when reclaim feels like punishment. Pair reclaim with clinics for the active cohort.

Measure plane

Before: demos without owners, seat counts as success. After: frozen case under reconcile, reclaim dates on a rhythm, cohort expansion gated on Steady.

See Measuring benefit without vanity metrics.

FAQ

What belongs in the frozen case?

Assumptions, owners, benefit lines, and what you will not count as value.

How aggressive is reclaim?

Thresholds you can defend. Notice periods. Exceptions with owners.

FinOps link?

Treat AI spend as a cost stack you can forecast. See FinOps for AI.

Can value be qualitative?

Some signals can be. The case must still say what you will reconcile.

Where next?

Redesigning work with SFIA ESCO O*NET.

Related reading?

Use it or lose it · Value realisation.

Next: Redesigning work · Cost pane · Licence pane

DIGITAL SKILL WORKS LTD / 12 PANES