How Checkr Automated 20% of IT Tickets While Slashing $230,000 in SaaS Costs

What is it like being an IT Operations Manager for a company with over 1000 people? Imagine trying to fill a bucket with water while more and more holes keep appearing. Every single day, more and more access request tickets landed on our desk in IT. It felt endless.

Then 2022 rolled around, and the word of the year was “profitability”. So, while my IT crew and I were trying to keep up with these endless tickets, the higher-ups were eyeing the bottom line, asking us to make things leaner. I remember one afternoon, staring at my screen after spending half my day on software access requests. I thought, "There’s got to be a better way."

As we grew, so did the number of software tools we used. And as you can guess, with more apps came more requests and more spending. Balancing skyrocketing software costs with a tidal wave of requests became really challenging. We asked ourselves how to do both at the same time?

Priorities

1. Automation

Every ticket felt like an alarm, yelling "inefficiency". We had to automate this. By enabling self-service, we'd grant IT a much-needed breather and let folks help themselves.

2. Savings

Here's my dream: A workspace where only the essential apps are at play, ones that genuinely drive us forward. And, only with the exact licenses we need.

3. Fast Implementation

The clock was ticking. Investing tons of time into a brand-new system wasn't on the cards. Our pick needed to seamlessly integrate with our stack - Okta, Slack, and JIRA.

1. Saying Goodbye to IT Tickets with a Self-Service AppStore

To tackle software costs, we first had to get the time. This meant We had to automate as many IT tickets as possible. I've always been a big believer of self-service, which led us to the Lumos AppStore.

2. Driving Costs Down with Time-Based Access & Inactivity Workflows

Before Lumos, software costs felt like a leaking tap that we couldn't tighten. We were able to turn things around here. Through dozens of integrations, Lumos helped us analyze when an employee last used an app. Let's say an employee hasn’t used Miro or Zoom for 90 days. Lumos will reclaim that license through an automate workflow.

And then there are apps like Lucidchart that are a bit secretive about usage. To address that, Lumos allows employees to request time-based access. For example, we started seeing many requests for Lucidchart just for a month-long project. The result? A dynamic license pool that constantly adjusted, leading to actual savings.

3. Accelerating Adoption by Using AI in Jira

Here’s my highlight about Lumos: its seamless rollout. It integrates with all our tools. Lumos flawlessly added employees to Okta groups to automate provisioning and was ready to take access requests straight from Slack. Plus, it logs all requests in Jira, which is our source-of-truth for compliance purposes.

Initially, I was a bit concerned about initial adoption. Rolling out a new system can be like convincing a cat to love water. Lumos' AI-driven ticket interceptor was a life saver. The AI would funnel requests that came via Jira through Slack. Organically, people got to know Lumos thanks to this seamless process.

Automated 20% of IT Tickets

With Lumos by our side, we witnessed a significant 20% decline in IT ticket volume. This wasn't merely about reducing numbers; it gave our IT team room to breathe. The automation of access requests meant we could divert our attention to more strategic tasks without the need to expand our team.

Trimmed $230,000 in Software Costs

Through strategic features like time-based access and inactivity workflows, a staggering $230,000 in cost savings was unveiled. This figure not only covered the cost of Lumos but also represented significant additional savings. The financial impact was a testament to the effectiveness of the solution.

Up and Running in Just 90 Days

Time was of the essence, and lengthy implementations were a non-starter. With Lumos's team hand-in-hand in a shared Slack Channel and dozens of out-of-the-box integrations to our current systems, we were off to the races and fully operational in less than 90 days. It was a game-changer to fully roll out within a single quarter.