Agent count is the largest line in almost every InvGate contract, and it is the one nobody watches between renewals. People leave, change roles, or get added "just in case" during a project and never removed. By the time the renewal lands, the seat count is a record of everyone who ever needed access, not who needs it now. Right-sizing is the work of replacing that inflated number with the real one before the vendor sets a price off it. The licensing mechanics behind this sit in InvGate agent and node-based licensing explained.
Export the agent list with two fields: last login and tickets resolved in the last 90 days. You cannot right-size what you cannot see, and that one export drives every step below.
How do I find unused InvGate agent seats?
Sort the agent export by last login. Anyone who has not logged in for 60 to 90 days is a candidate to remove, and anyone who has logged in but resolved no tickets is a candidate to reclassify. These two filters alone usually surface a meaningful block of seats. The reasons are always the same: leavers who were never deprovisioned, project staff who finished, and managers who hold an agent seat but only read reports.
Do not delete blindly. Take the flagged list to the team leads and confirm each one. Some will be legitimate low-volume agents you want to keep; most will be dead weight. The point is to walk into the renewal with a confirmed, defensible count rather than a guess.
What to do next: build a three-column sheet, agent name, last login, tickets in 90 days, and mark each row keep, remove, or reclassify. That sheet is your negotiation evidence.
Who should be an end user instead of an agent?
InvGate does not charge per-seat for the people who only submit requests through the portal, so anyone who raises tickets but never resolves them belongs on the end-user side, not the agent side. This is the single most common source of overspend: staff classified as agents because that was the default when they were added, even though they have never actioned a ticket in their lives.
Approvers are the classic case. A department head who approves change requests does not need a full agent license to click approve; that workflow can usually run through the end-user experience. Every approver, requester, and read-only stakeholder you move off the agent roster is a seat you stop paying for.
| Role | Resolves tickets? | Correct classification |
|---|---|---|
| Service desk analyst | Yes | Agent |
| Change approver | No, approves only | End user |
| Requester or reporter | No, submits only | End user |
| Manager reading dashboards | No | End user or read-only |
| Project staff, contract ended | No longer | Remove |
What to do next: filter the agent list for anyone with zero resolved tickets and reclassify them as end users. Confirm with their lead, then submit the change before the renewal quote is built.
Should I use named or concurrent InvGate licenses?
InvGate has historically supported both named and concurrent (floating) agent licensing, and the right choice depends on how your team works. Named assigns one license to one person. Concurrent counts the maximum number of agents logged in at the same time, so a pool of fifty part-time agents who never exceed twenty simultaneous logins can be licensed closer to twenty.
Concurrent wins for shift-based teams, follow-the-sun support, seasonal coverage, and any group where many people touch the tool but rarely together. Named wins for a stable team of full-time agents who are always on. The vendor will usually default to named because it produces a higher count, so you have to ask for the concurrent quote.
What to do next: pull a month of concurrent-login data and find your true peak. If peak concurrency sits well below your named-seat count, ask InvGate to quote concurrent and put the two totals side by side.
When should I do this work?
Sixty to ninety days before renewal, at the latest. The reason is mechanical: InvGate quotes the renewal off your current entitlement, so if you clean the count after the quote is built, you are arguing the vendor down from an inflated figure instead of starting from the truth. Clean it first, submit the changes, and let the corrected count be the number on the table.
Right-sizing also feeds directly into the wider renewal. Once the agent count is real, the per-agent rate, the term, and the add-ons all negotiate from a stronger position. The full sequence is in how to negotiate an InvGate renewal, and the broader pricing context sits in our InvGate Service Management pricing guide for 2026. For a repeatable method, our gated ITSM Shelfware Reclamation Toolkit includes the seat-reconciliation worksheet we use on these engagements.
What to do next: put the reconciliation on the calendar at the 90-day mark and assign one owner. Unowned, it slips, and a slipped reconciliation is a renewal at full price.
Book a contract negotiation review.
We reconcile the agent and node counts, choose the right licensing model, and rebuild the InvGate quote at a defensible number. Fixed fee or gainshare.
Book a contract negotiation review →Frequently asked questions
- How do I find unused InvGate agent seats?
- Export the agent list with last-login and ticket-activity data, then flag anyone with no login or no resolved ticket in 60 to 90 days. Confirm with team leads before removing.
- Should I use named or concurrent InvGate licenses?
- Concurrent suits shift-based or part-time teams where peak simultaneous logins sit below the headcount. Named suits full-time agents. Pull concurrent data and compare both quotes.
- When should I right-size InvGate agents?
- Sixty to ninety days before renewal, so the corrected count becomes the baseline InvGate quotes from instead of the inflated one.
Turn dead seats into real savings.
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