Gong User Management Guide

• Model type: role-based
• Description: Gong uses a fixed set of built-in roles (Technical Administrator, Manager, Sales Rep). Permissions are assigned at the role level and are not individually configurable per user. Data visibility is further scoped by org hierarchy (team structure) synced from CRM or configured manually. There are no fully custom roles.
• Custom roles: No
• Custom roles plan: Not documented
• Granularity: Role-level only; no per-user permission overrides. Data access scope is controlled by team hierarchy configuration, not individual permission grants.

1. Log in as a Technical Administrator.
2. Navigate to Settings → Company Settings → Users.
3. Click 'Invite Users' or 'Add User'.
4. Enter the user's email address, first name, and last name.
5. Select the user's role (Technical Administrator, Manager, or Sales Rep).
6. If applicable, assign the user to a team or manager in the org hierarchy.
7. Click 'Send Invitation'. The user receives an email to activate their account.

Required fields: Email address, First name, Last name, Role

Watch out for:

• Users provisioned via SCIM are created with no Gong access by default; a Technical Administrator must assign a role and license after provisioning.
• If SSO is enforced, users cannot set a password and must authenticate via the configured IdP; invitation emails direct them to SSO login.
• Adding a user consumes a licensed seat immediately upon invitation, not upon first login.
• Team/manager hierarchy assignment must be correct at time of creation or data visibility will be misconfigured.

• Can delete users: No
• Delete/deactivate behavior: Gong does not permanently delete user accounts. Users can only be deactivated (set to inactive status). Deactivated users cannot log in and do not consume a billable seat, but their historical call data, recordings, and activity remain in the system and are accessible to administrators and managers.

1. Log in as a Technical Administrator.
2. Navigate to Settings → Company Settings → Users.
3. Locate the user by name or email using the search or filter.
4. Click the user's name to open their profile.
5. Click 'Deactivate User' (or the equivalent action button).
6. Confirm the deactivation in the dialog prompt.

Watch out for:

• Deactivation does not automatically reassign the user's team members to a new manager; org hierarchy must be manually updated.
• If the user was the sole Technical Administrator, deactivating them without first promoting another admin will lock out admin access.
• Seat count reduction for billing may not take effect until the next billing cycle or contract renewal; confirm with Gong account team.
• SCIM-based deprovisioning (via IdP) triggers deactivation in Gong automatically when the user is removed from the IdP, but only if SCIM is correctly configured.

• Where to check usage: Settings → Company Settings → Users - filter by Active/Inactive status to review current licensed seat consumption. Billing summary may also be available under Settings → Billing (availability depends on contract type).
• How to identify unused seats: Filter the Users list by 'Last Active' date to identify users who have not logged in or recorded calls recently. Gong does not provide a native 'unused seat' report; admins must manually review last-activity data.
• Billing notes: Gong pricing is contract-based with three components: annual platform fee, per-user license fee, and a mandatory implementation fee. Seat counts are typically locked for the contract term. Adding seats mid-term is prorated; removing seats generally does not reduce cost until renewal. Auto-renewal uplifts of 5–15% are common. Early termination penalties of 50–100% of remaining contract value have been reported. All pricing requires direct negotiation with Gong sales.

Gong's pricing has three mandatory components: an annual platform fee, a per-user license fee, and a mandatory implementation fee. Seat counts are locked at contract signing; removing users mid-term does not reduce billing until renewal, and auto-renewal uplifts of 5–15% are standard.

SCIM provisioning is gated behind the Enterprise plan, which also requires an active SAML SSO configuration before it can be enabled.

Without SCIM, every onboarding and offboarding action is manual. Users provisioned via SCIM still require a follow-up step: a Technical Administrator must manually assign a role and license after provisioning, or the user lands in Gong with no access.

There is no native unused-seat report; identifying inactive users requires manually filtering the Users list by last-active date.

Recurring friction points reported by Gong admins center on the two-step SCIM onboarding gap (provisioned users arrive with no access until a role is manually assigned), and the absence of automated SCIM token rotation - an expired token causes silent provisioning outages.

Org hierarchy cleanup after deactivation is fully manual; deactivating a user does not reassign their direct reports.

Contract rigidity is a consistent complaint: seat counts locked at signing, no mid-term reduction, and early termination penalties reported at 50–100% of remaining contract value. Viewer/non-recording seat types are not universally included and must be negotiated at purchase.

Common complaints:

• Users provisioned via SCIM receive no Gong access by default and require a manual role assignment step after provisioning, creating a two-step onboarding process.
• SCIM token management requires manual rotation; there is no automated token refresh, which can cause provisioning outages if tokens expire unnoticed.
• Enterprise pricing is not publicly listed; total cost of ownership is difficult to estimate without a sales engagement due to the three-part fee structure.
• Deactivating a user does not automatically reassign their direct reports, requiring manual org hierarchy cleanup.
• No native 'unused seat' report; identifying inactive users requires manual filtering by last-active date.
• Seat counts are locked at contract signing; reducing headcount mid-term does not reduce billing until renewal.
• There are no custom roles; the fixed role set (Admin, Manager, Rep) does not accommodate nuanced permission requirements for some organizations.

Gong is well-suited for large, stable sales teams where headcount changes are infrequent and the contract economics are justified by call intelligence value. The all-or-nothing Technical Administrator role and the absence of granular permission controls make it a poor fit for organizations that need delegated or scoped admin access.

Teams that need automated, zero-touch lifecycle management across every app in their stack should confirm Enterprise plan availability and SSO readiness before committing, since SCIM requires both. The manual role-assignment step post-SCIM-provisioning is a process gap that must be accounted for in any onboarding workflow.

Bottom line

Gong delivers strong call intelligence for large sales teams but imposes meaningful administrative overhead: a fixed role model with no partial admin options, a mandatory manual step after SCIM provisioning, no permanent user deletion, and contract terms that lock seat counts regardless of headcount changes.

Organizations that prioritize automated, auditable user lifecycle management across every app should validate Enterprise plan access, SSO readiness, and the post-provisioning role-assignment gap before deployment.