Productiv workflows: United Talent Agency (UTA) case study
United Talent Agency (UTA) reduces time spent on renewals by 50% with Productiv Enterprise Suite.
Challenges
- Inconsistent processes that relied on manual reminders
- Disparate teams needing to come together to make decisions
- Surprise renewals and limited resources to complete due diligence
Results
- Decreased average time spent on renewals by 50%
- Increased collaboration with automated Slack channels and shared data
- Decreased total systems used from 6 to 2
United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent and entertainment company with more than 1,400 employees that represents pioneering artists, storytellers, entertainers, and brands.
UTA had already began their journey on Productiv’s Core Platform to manage their SaaS applications, seeing impressive success in increasing application use and decreasing duplicate apps. When their procurement team was looking for a solution to streamline renewals processes, implementing Productiv Enterprise Suite was the clear next step.
Why UTA Needed Productiv:
The UTA procurement team was previously managing software renewals through email, Slack messages, and calendar reminders. With over 75 applications set to renew in the year, accounting for over 11 million in spend, they needed a better way to manage this process to properly support internal teams and strategically manage vendors. They looked to Productiv to help them build consistent, repeatable processes with automation to alleviate the bulk of the manual work so the team could focus on staying ahead of renewals and more effectively managing spend.
Streamlined processes with no-code workflows
Prior to implementing Productiv, the UTA procurement team was navigating in and out of more than 6 platforms to try and gather the data they needed ahead of renewals. This process was time intensive and relied on the team sending out one-off emails and Slack messages trying to get stakeholders to complete their tasks on time. The team initially attempted to build out a workflows solution in another tool, but it rapidly became too complex and required a developer to maintain.
Productiv’s Enterprise Suite was the perfect solution as the workflows were easy for the Procurement team to stand up themselves, and could easily adapt to different renewal types. The team has been able to take a step back, evaluate their processes, and implement changes in real-time. Now, renewals only require the team to use 2 platforms.
Aligning teams with shared insights
A typical renewal process for UTA requires stakeholders from Procurement, IT, Infosec, Legal, and Finance as well as the application owner themselves. It was becoming more and more difficult to manage each of these team’s steps. With Productiv’s direct Slack integration, the Procurement team is able to send automated reminders with each owners’ tasks, so they can meet the team where they work and ensure they have plenty of lead time. Historical tracking has also been a valuable addition for stakeholders, where they can see the progress the team has made ahead of their designated task.
While UTA has been utilizing Productiv’s trusted usage insights and bench-marking data in their renewals for some time, having these steps incorporated into their renewals workflows helps to make sure proper diligence has been completed well in advance of renewal deadlines for maximum negotiation leverage. Having these steps built in also allows other teams to have visibility into the data and understand why decisions are being made around downgrading tiers or rightsizing licenses.
Leveraging automation to stay ahead of renewals
The UTA procurement team uses Productiv’s 30-60-90 day reminders to stay on top of upcoming renewals. They no longer rely on calendar invitations and now have automatic kick-off reminders scheduled with all stakeholders in a designated Slack channel. Additionally, having all contract data, application usage metrics, and benchmark recommendations automatically pulled into the workflow saves the team time and the manual effort of pulling that data from various sources.
With increased automation and visibility into data, UTA’s Procurement team has been able demonstrate significant cost savings and increased governance to their executive teams. The team has received increased recognition for their efforts and are regarded as strategic partners across the company.
"To have that integration with Slack and automated workflows gives us peace of mind that we will never miss a renewal, and that we can prepare our teams with the data they need to make the right decisions.”
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