The Economic Impact of Jira Service Management

The Economic Impact of Jira Service Management: A Case Study

A recent study by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Atlassian, highlights the significant economic impact of investing in Jira Service Management (JSM). To understand the tangible benefits, costs, and risks, Forrester interviewed five organizations using JSM. The findings were consolidated into a single composite organization for this study. This article shares the key findings of the study.

Background of the Client

The composite organization is a hospitality and food service technology vendor. It employs 14,000 staff and generates an annual revenue of $3.51 billion. Before adopting Jira Service Management, the organization relied on a mix of complex, often underutilized, traditional ITSM solutions or various disconnected tools for service management across its global operations.

Problem

The previous service management landscape led to several critical challenges:

• Fragmented Support: Disjointed support delivery methods resulted in inconsistent service levels and fragmented processes across departments and regions.
• Inefficient Workflows: Disconnected workflows limited organizational visibility and hindered efficient service delivery.
• Slow Response Times: The use of multiple, non-integrated tools caused worsening inefficiencies and prolonged response times.
• Lack of Scalability and Usability: Existing tools were not scalable or user-friendly, complicating support for a large, global user base.

Solution

The organization addressed these challenges by investing in Jira Service Management. This strategic move facilitated:

• AI-Driven Automation: Implementation of AI-driven automation capabilities to enhance self-service options and streamline service delivery.
• Improved Interface and Scalability: Leveraging JSM’s user-friendly interface and scalability to support global operations effectively.
• Integrated Platform: Seamless integration with existing Atlassian solutions (e.g., Jira Software) and other collaboration platforms to improve teamwork and centralize service management. For more on integrating JSM, visit our Jira Service Management solutions page.
• Enhanced Visibility: The Atlassian platform, as an enterprise management solution, provided better visibility into service levels and performance across all regions and departments through automated workflows, standardized processes, and robust governance practices.

Results

The adoption of Jira Service Management yielded substantial benefits and efficiencies across the organization.

Quantified Financial Benefits (3-Year Risk-Adjusted Present Value)

The composite organization realized significant financial gains over three years:

• Improved Service Desk Productivity: Over $2.9 million

  • JSM reduced the number of IT support requests logged and improved efficiency. By Year 3, ticket deflection reached 30%, and ticket-handling efficiency improved by 30%.

  

• Improved End-User Productivity Savings: $3 million

  • The intuitive interface, improved request visibility, automation, and AI-assisted self-service options saved employees an average of up to 25 minutes per request.

• Improved IT Operations Team Productivity: $866,000

  • JSM significantly enhanced incident and change management through increased visibility into risks and improved collaboration. AI-driven features and native CMDB capabilities boosted efficiency.

• Improved Software Engineer and Decision-Maker Productivity: Over $362,000

  • JSM streamlined work intake, improved collaboration, and expedited incident resolution, benefiting software developers and business decision-makers. Features like automated routing, escalation, and AI-driven ticket summarization contributed to these efficiencies.

• Cost Savings from Retiring Previous Solutions: Approximately $2.3 million

  • By switching from traditional solutions, the organization eliminated $867,000 per year in license costs and $235,000 per year in management labor and services.

Unquantified Benefits

Beyond direct financial returns, Jira Service Management delivered several unquantified but valuable benefits:

• Enhanced Consistency and Collaboration: A consistent approach to service management and improved inter-team communication and collaboration across the company.
• Better Visibility and Data-Driven Decision-Making: Centralized tracking of work, incidents, and service requests led to better knowledge-sharing, more consistent service levels, and improved data-driven decision-making.
• Greater Operational Resilience and Service Delivery: Improvements in service delivery and core technology operations, allowing teams to operate autonomously while maintaining consistent service management practices.
• Improved Employee and Customer Experiences: Reduced manual effort, streamlined processes, and better tools led to increased employee satisfaction and productivity, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Costs (3-Year Risk-Adjusted Present Value)

The investment in Jira Service Management involved the following costs over three years:

• Jira Service Management Solution Costs: Just under $1.2 million
  • This includes an annual enterprise plan for 1,200 service desk agents, covering comprehensive capabilities like change, problem, incident, asset, and knowledge management. It also accounts for consumption-based costs for assisted conversations and stored objects beyond free thresholds.
• Implementation and Training Costs: $626,000
  • This covers nine months of internal labor (four full-time equivalents) for implementation across various management capabilities, $100,000 for an Atlassian services partner, and minor internal labor for agent and end-user training.
• Ongoing Management Labor: $737,000
  • Costs associated with one dedicated employee and two to three part-time employees for basic maintenance, support, administration, process optimization, and new service desk deployments.

Overall Financial Impact

The comprehensive analysis of benefits versus costs reveals a strong return on investment for the composite organization:

• Total Benefits: $9.50 million
• Total Costs: $2.54 million
• Net Present Value (NPV): $6.97 million
• Return on Investment (ROI): 275%

This study is a great example of how Jira Service Management delivers substantial economic value, enabling organizations to streamline operations, reduce costs, and significantly improve productivity and service delivery.

If your organization is considering adopting Jira Service Management, we can help you license JSM, create service management best practices for your teams and develop a tailored implementation plan.