Transforming ITSM at Jostens with Jira Service Management & Atlassian Cloud
Our client
Since its founding by Carl Jostens in 1897, Jostens has been helping generation after generation celebrate life’s milestones. Whether the company is creating and customizing yearbooks or professional sports teams’ championship rings, the mission remains the same: to help people capture moments that matter, celebrate them, and inspire future ones.
Challenge
When Keith Nichols, Vice President of IT who oversees every aspect of Jostens’ 200-person strong IT organization, first arrived at the company, he made it a top priority to modernize and streamline its ITSM and development technology platform. Jostens was using a variety of disconnected, on-premises point solutions, and needed a fully integrated, cloud-based platform of tools to streamline development and operations, scale delivery of services, and free the IT org from the burden of upgrades.
Jostens’ IT service desk was powered by a Windows-based solution called Cherwell, but Nichols felt it would benefit from a solution with more robust functionality. The service desk team needed greater customization and personalization, automation that would drive efficiencies, and the ability to manage both hardware and software assets, as well as other, non-traditional assets like contracts. The team also needed better reporting and metrics capabilities to help them measure both the volume and quality of work being done.
From a development standpoint, the organization was already using the Server version of Jira Software, but there was an opportunity to use it more efficiently. With more than 140 projects, the company needed to reduce that number, bring consistency to the way teams were working, and get better, high-level visibility into the work being done to ensure teams were working on the projects that would drive the most value for the company.
Solution
Nichols considered several Atlassian Solution Partners, but ultimately chose to move forward with Isos Technology because of the company’s deep Atlassian expertise and experience migrating Cherwell data. Jostens needed to migrate several years of historic data from its SQL database into its new Jira Service Management (JSM) instance, and Isos had developed proprietary, custom programming that enabled this type of migration.
Isos then implemented Atlassian Assets (formerly known as Insight) to help Jostens more closely manage both software and hardware, as well as non-traditional assets like contracts. Hardware and software are classified within the system by type and work, so the IT team is now able to see which assets have issues associated with them, determine how much time they are spending resolving those issues, and take proactive measures to prevent issues from occurring in the future.
Next, Isos migrated Jostens’ existing Jira Software Server instance to Cloud. In doing so, the team was able to reduce the number of projects from 140 to 12, and help Jostens put in place consistent practices around sprints, epics, and other ways of working across all teams. Isos then implemented Advanced Roadmaps so Jostens could tie work to key initiatives, and better plan, manage, and track it. Both Jira and Advanced Roadmaps provide Jostens with the improved visibility into work, reporting, and metrics that the company was looking for.
"We were looking for a strong partner with deep domain expertise and good project management practices who would be considerate of our budget in a time of unpredictable inflation—Isos Technology had all that. Not only would I work with Isos again, but I would also absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for an Atlassian Solution Partner.”"
Vice President of IT
Results
- Consistent workflows: Jostens went from 140 projects to 12, and now has consistent practices around sprints, epics, and other ways of working across all teams.
- Streamlined service delivery: With Jira Service Management, Jostens now benefits from streamlined ITSM service delivery, more automated processes, and increased scalability.
- Increased visibility: Using Advanced Roadmaps, Jostens can tie work to key initiatives, and better plan, manage, and track it, while JSM and Jira Software provide better reporting and metrics.
- Integrated, cloud-based technology platform: Jostens moved from a disjointed set of on-prem point solutions to a fully connected, upgrade-free, Atlassian Cloud platform.
- Fewer issues: By implementing Assets, Jostens benefits from streamlined asset management and a deeper understanding of which assets have issues, and can now proactively prevent them.
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