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When someone leaves your company, the natural step is to disable their Microsoft 365 account. But what many businesses don’t realize is that they often continue paying for that user’s license — just to retain access to their OneDrive files, Teams chats, and emails. Over time, this adds up to thousands in unnecessary costs. In this article, we’ll explain.

When someone leaves your organization, the first step IT usually takes is to disable their Microsoft 365 account. But have you ever stopped to ask: The answer might surprise you. If you’re not actively managing this, Microsoft will automatically delete that data — often in as little as 30 days. This post explains exactly what gets deleted (and when), why this is a problem, and what you can do to protect that data — without paying for unnecessary licenses.