A major public sector entity faced significant challenges in managing its ServiceNow licenses, particularly with the allocation of its fulfiller-based ITSM licenses. The lack of visibility into user roles and license consumption led to inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, and potential security risks. CloudNuro was brought in to provide the organization with greater control over their license management, enhance security, and reduce overall spend.

The Challenge: License Inefficiency, Security Gaps, and Lack of License Visibility

The organization encountered several key issues, including:

• License Misassignment: Many users were assigned costly fulfiller roles when they only required basic functionality, such as viewing incidents or performing approvals, which could have been handled with less expensive business stakeholder licenses.

• Inactive Users Consuming Licenses: A significant portion of users who were no longer actively engaging with the platform continued to consume licenses, contributing to unnecessary costs.

• Security Risks: Orphaned users who had been offboarded continued to have access to ServiceNow, and admin roles were misassigned to groups that did not need administrative privileges, creating security vulnerabilities.

• Direct Role Assignments and Service Account Mismanagement: Some users had been assigned fulfiller roles directly, bypassing group-level role management, and service accounts held expensive licenses that were not necessary.

• License Overprovisioning: The organization maintained a substantial license buffer, leading to overprovisioning without clear visibility into whether these extra licenses were required.

The Solution: CloudNuro's Comprehensive License Management Approach

CloudNuro introduced a data-driven, automated solution to help the organization optimize license consumption, mitigate security risks, and reduce costs. Key actions included:

1. License Optimization and Right-Sizing

• Role Downgrades: CloudNuro identified users who only needed to view incidents or perform approvals and recommended downgrades from expensive fulfiller licenses to more cost-effective business stakeholder licenses.

• Addressing Dormant and Inactive Users: CloudNuro provided insights into user activity, revealing that 30% of users were dormant and 5% had never logged in. This allowed the organization to reclaim and repurpose licenses for active users.

• Reclaiming Orphaned Accounts: CloudNuro flagged 2% of users as orphaned—users who were offboarded but still retained active licenses. The organization was able to reclaim these licenses based on CloudNuro's analysis.

• Service Account Audits: Out of 7 service accounts holding fulfiller licenses, only 2 required them. CloudNuro recommended the decommissioning of 5 unnecessary licenses, resulting in reduced costs.

2. Strengthening Security and Role Management

• Orphaned Users: With CloudNuro’s insights, the organization identified and deactivated orphaned users who still had access to ServiceNow despite being offboarded, mitigating security risks while reclaiming licenses.

• Admin Role Mismanagement: Admin roles were discovered to be misassigned to multiple groups without administrative responsibilities. CloudNuro’s platform enabled the organization to correct these assignments, ensuring admin privileges were only granted to the necessary users.

• Direct Role Assignments: CloudNuro highlighted 5 users who had been assigned fulfiller roles directly instead of through group-based role management policies. These assignments were adjusted, improving both security and control.

3. Eliminating Overprovisioning and Reducing License Buffers

• Managing License Buffers: CloudNuro provided real-time visibility into the organization’s license position, allowing them to reduce the 20% buffer previously maintained. The organization could now operate with a minimum buffer, reclaiming licenses as needed to meet demand.

• Continuous License Monitoring: Instead of relying on manual audits or requesting reports from ServiceNow, the organization could now monitor its license position in real time, eliminating the need for reactive license purchases and further reducing costs.

The Outcome: Significant License Reduction and Long-Term Cost Savings

Through these optimization and management efforts, the organization realized significant benefits:

• 20% Reduction in License Requirements: CloudNuro’s detailed analysis and real-time visibility led to an immediate 20% reduction in licenses, driving substantial cost savings.

• 10% Additional Potential Savings: Further opportunities were identified to reduce licenses by downgrading additional roles and rightsizing licenses based on actual usage.

• Improved Security Posture: By correcting misaligned admin roles, deactivating orphaned users, and eliminating direct role assignments, the organization not only optimized license consumption but also strengthened security controls.

• Streamlined License Management: With continuous visibility, the organization no longer needed to approach ServiceNow for periodic license audits, ensuring they always had an accurate license position and better control over their IT environment.

Conclusion: A Proactive and Holistic Approach to License Management

CloudNuro’s platform provided the public sector organization with a holistic approach to managing their ServiceNow licenses, combining license optimization with enhanced security and simplified management. Through detailed insights and proactive license management, the organization reduced unnecessary spend, improved its security posture, and gained greater control over its license environment.

By leveraging CloudNuro’s automation and data-driven approach, the organization is now equipped to continuously monitor and optimize their license usage, ensuring that they only pay for what they need, while maintaining the flexibility to adjust as demand changes.