Centralized And Scaled Administration

Evidence and data. Cloud Enterprise features centralized administration, which empowers Atlassian admins with visibility, control, and standardization across their organizations’ deployments. Interviewees explained this is particularly helpful when their organizations take advantage of Cloud Enterprise’s multisite licensing model and scale their Atlassian deployments.

They also highlighted Cloud Enterprise’s user management features, which enabled them to create, maintain, and control access across their entire organizations. Their organizations also leveraged automation for user provisioning, user access, and onboarding. Furthermore, they said having a single user subscription for users across multiple sites simplified the billing process.

• The Atlassian administrator for an IT organization explained: “We definitely save quite a lot of time because this is centrally administered. First of all, the licensing part can be done by one specific team, and not every site owner has to go through the process of purchasing [subscriptions]. Secondly, we can administer different sites — be it configuration — making sure that every project has the right permissions and the users are seeing what they are supposed to see.”

• The technology consulting manager at a professional services firm stated: “It’s much easier for us to open up permissions for doing certain things, such as managing multiple third-party apps that we locked down permissions for before. With automation, people are able to be more self-sufficient. And, with the added intelligence features, the hope is that we will continue to upscale those things and empower them to do a lot more on their own.”

• A consultant at the same IT firm said: “A big benefit is the automatic user provisioning [in Guard Standard], which basically saves us a lot of time to create users. As soon as they join the company, they automatically have an Atlassian account. [It’s] already active. We don’t need to receive tickets. Also, if they leave, [their account] gets automatically disabled. So, we don’t need to manually disable [the accounts of] people who leave the company.”

• Survey respondents reported a 32% average reduction in time spent on user management, a 34% average reduction in identity and access management policies, a 30% average reduction in provisioning, a 34% average reduction in billing, and a 42% average reduction in onboarding.²

• The director of engineering for a communications firm stated: “In a nutshell, it is certainly easier to manage because we have the one admin portal that we can [use] to manage access, manage permissions, and everything for our users.”

Modeling and assumptions. In modeling this benefit, Forrester makes the following assumptions:

• The composite organization has a team of five admins. Prior to using Cloud Enterprise, these admins spent 75% of their time managing the organization’s multisite deployment.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate for an Atlassian admin is $79.

• A 50% productivity capture rate is included since not all time savings translate to additional value-add work.

Risks. Centralized administration benefits may vary by organization. Specific considerations include:

• The size and scope of deployment.

• The organization’s prior deployment method and scope of support.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $247,000.

License And Subscription Consolidation

Evidence and data. Cloud Enterprise features a highly scalable multisite subscription model that allows organizations to have up to 150 sites for Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management on a single subscription. Interviewees noted that when using Cloud Premium or Data Center, their organizations would have had to purchase additional subscriptions for users who needed access to multiple sites simultaneously. Interviewees from acquisitive organizations said this model allowed their companies to absorb sites from acquired companies and discontinue payment for duplicate subscriptions. Teams could still be administered separately, but without additional cost.

Beyond cost savings, interviewees said the flexibility of the multisite licensing model allowed their organizations to more meaningfully create sites and avoid consolidating or discontinuing sites for the sake of savings. They also gained the freedom to establish sites for sensitive data or for M&A activity without incurring additional costs.

• A consultant at an IT firm stated: “The good thing about the enterprise subscription is that you have a tier, and when you acquire a company that also uses cloud apps, you basically are directly subscribed for them. Of course, it depends on the size of the company, but we usually can accommodate that without additional anything. It’s very convenient.”

• The same interviewee added: “If your organization uses Jira and uses it on multiple sites and [users] are using single sign-on, [the organization] must pay for separate Atlassian subscriptions. Combining those on two, three, or more sites versus one at the enterprise level can be cheaper at the end.”

• Interviewees also noted that app requests helped their organizations block the purchase of unnecessary subscriptions by individual teams and discontinue independent sites that had been procured outside their enterprise licenses. Survey respondents who indicated their organization reduced shadow IT with Cloud Enterprise said it dropped by an average of 18.2%.⁴

• A scenario frequently cited by interviewees was that users would try to sign in but accidentally create a new product outside of org admin control. Historically, if an admin noticed this, it would require investigation and realization of the error to disable the purchase. But interviewees said with Cloud Enterprise, app requests prevent this from happening in the first place. The global Atlassian administrator for a manufacturing firm explained: “[The user has] to request a product, and you can just follow up and say, ‘Hey, I think that you meant to request access or a new project for a new team to onboard into Jira and not request a new app be activated.’ And the answer is always, ‘Oh, yes, please. Let’s do that.’ Previously, the apps that were being created probably 75% of the time were [because] someone [created] a new app by accident.”

Modeling and assumptions. In modeling this benefit, Forrester makes the following assumptions:

• The composite organization has a multisite deployment with three separate instances/sites. Without Cloud Enterprise, the organization would have to purchase 300 additional licenses or subscriptions for each site.

• The annual cost of a discontinued license is $160. This is based on a blended list price of Cloud Premium and Data Center versions of Jira and Confluence.

Risks. License and subscription consolidation benefits will vary by organization. Specific risk considerations include:

• The size and scope of the organization’s Atlassian footprint prior to adopting Cloud Enterprise.

• Frequency of M&A activity.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5% yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $340,000.

End-User Efficiency

Evidence and data. Interviewees said a downstream effect of having more efficient administrators, better availability, and expanded access to Atlassian apps is improving the efficiency of end users. They noted that users had more stable, enjoyable, and productive working experiences upon adopting Cloud Enterprise.

• A global Atlassian administrator for a manufacturing company explained that their organization had experienced issues with permissions and users accidentally changing configurations that would impact global users. They said: “When I started, there were around 40 people with admin permissions. People have to be enabled, but I have definitely seen a big improvement with control over permissions. We are trying to safeguard people’s ways of working and ensure that there’s no inadvertent configuration changes that have a bad impact.” The administrator further said their organization has reduced the number of people with admin permissions to three.

• A director at a professional services firm said their organization’s users recognized benefits from Cloud Enterprise versions of Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management in myriad ways: “The UI is more intuitive, and better user experience improves efficiency. Power users would be immediately impacted by a system outage, right? When we talk about availability and reliability, we understand that not all users are the same, but all power users are probably impacted as much or very similar to admins. Users also spent minutes a day switching between apps. The casual user might save a minute a day, and a power user might save 5 minutes a day. And, obviously, some of those numbers are small. But when we think about how many thousands of people we have, there’s going to be a significant impact.”

Modeling and assumptions. In modeling this benefit, Forrester makes the following assumptions:

• The composite organization has 2,750 end users of Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management. Of these, 25% are impacted by context switching.

• Impacted users save 11 hours per year due to reduced context switching and they avoid 15 hours in outage time or severely degraded performance.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate for an end user is $31.

• A 50% productivity capture rate is included since not all time savings translate into additional value-add work.

Risks. End-user efficiency benefits may vary by organization. Specific risk considerations include:

• The size, scope, and usage of the organization’s Atlassian deployments.

• The average downtime the organization experienced in its legacy environment.

• Prevailing labor rates for end users.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.7 million.

Eliminated Spend

Evidence and data. Cloud Enterprise comes with Guard Standard and a host of features and functionality not included in other subscriptions. Interviewees said prior to upgrading to Cloud Enterprise, their organizations either bought these separately or paid for point solutions.

• Interviewees highlighted the inclusion of Guard Standard as a major benefit to Cloud Enterprise. They said that previously, their organizations would have had to purchase Guard Standard at a standalone price of $80 per user per year.

• Interviewees noted that Cloud Enterprise comes with new features that allowed their organizations to discontinue some collaborative software licenses. The product owner at a manufacturing firm explained: “Atlassian is committed to adding capabilities. I could very well see that if we had the same talk a year from now, I would say [Atlassian] added all the capabilities that we need. With this information, we can now drastically reduce or maybe even fully get rid of other licenses because we say, ‘Hey, we get the same capabilities already included in the Confluence [subscriptions] that we’re paying for.’” The Atlassian administrator at an IT company stated: “A lot of new things are being rolled out from Atlassian. Being the Atlassian Enterprise Cloud customer, a lot of those features come as part of Enterprise Cloud. So, we don’t have to go and purchase those things separately. It comes as a package to us.”

Modeling and assumptions. In modeling this benefit, Forrester makes the following assumptions:

• Of the composite’s total users, 25% have existing licenses for standalone collaborative apps.

• The average cost of eliminated apps is $240 per user.

• Prior to implementing Cloud Enterprise the composite organization spent $80 per user per month for Guard Standard.

Risks. Eliminated spend benefits may vary by organization. Specific risk considerations include the organization’s size, userbase, and use of third-party apps.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $910,000.

Improved Data Security And Compliance

Evidence and data. Cloud Enterprise comes with advanced compliance, security controls, and identity and access management features to safeguard data and ensure compliance. Cloud Enterprise also includes Guard Standard, which provides advanced audit log capabilities to prove compliance for heavily regulated organizations. Interviewees highlighted security and compliance features among the primary reasons for adopting Cloud Enterprise and said these requirements were primary organizational blockers to adopting cloud products.

• The director of engineering at a communications firm explained: “[My organization’s choice of Cloud Enterprise] revolved around security and compliance requirements. We have client data, and I think there were some concerns around the [Cloud Standard apps] that we didn’t have as much control or visibility into how that data was stored.”

• A director at a professional services firm stated: “[My organization is] safeguarding [itself] from potential vulnerabilities and risks. Atlassian is on top of things when it comes to cloud.”

• Survey respondents indicated their organizations reduced monthly security incidents or escalations by an average of 35%, reduced time monitoring user activity by an average of 28%, and reduced audit fees by an average of 31%.⁷

Modeling and assumptions. In modeling this benefit, Forrester makes the following assumptions:

• Prior to using Cloud Enterprise, the composite spent $200,000 annually on audit fees.

• Prior to the investment, security analysts spent 720 hours annually monitoring user activity.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate for an analyst is $75.

Risks. Improved data security and compliance benefits may vary by organization. Specific risk considerations include the organization’s industry, geography, and applicable compliance requirements.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $182,000.

Savings For Data Teams

Evidence and data. Cloud Enterprise customers get the Analytics app and access to the Atlassian Data Lake, which provides pre-modeled, always updated, and ready-to-query data for data teams. Interviewees said their organizations save time preparing data and unifying first- and third-party data because all of their teamwork data from Atlassian and non-Atlassian apps is harmonized in a single place in the Data Lake. Then, to make sense of data and take action that drives better business outcomes, the organizations use the Analytics app for out-of-the-box templates and customized queries to quickly generate reports and visualizations. Organizations can also export data to other tools or their own environments as needed.

Interviewees noted that having access to the pre-built dashboards, an easy-to-use custom analysis interface, connectors to outside sources, and multiple options for visualizing data were deciding factors when upgrading to the Cloud Enterprise plan. Both interviewees and survey respondents said their organizations spent significant time collecting and preparing data for custom reporting before investing in Cloud Enterprise. The engineering manager at an apparel company explained: “With Analytics, we can get a pretty good view of the data we are collecting and the issues that are connected to financials. If epics and features and so on are capitalizable, we can create reports on the status and so on, which can potentially save [my organization] a lot of money.”

Modeling and assumptions. In modeling this benefit, Forrester makes the following assumptions:

• Prior to implementing Cloud Enterprise, the composite’s data teams collectively spent 244 hours per month on activities required to prepare custom reports.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate for a data analyst is $59.

Risks. Savings for data teams may vary by organization. Specific risk considerations include the organization’s size, scope, and maturity of data and analytics activities.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $131,000.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• Improved user experience. Beyond the quantifiable productivity improvements, interviewees and survey respondents indicated that employees using Atlassian apps are happier due to improved availability and usability. Survey respondents indicated admin satisfaction improved by 41% and user satisfaction improved by 35%.¹⁰

• Improved support. Interviewees said Atlassian’s enterprise support is fast and robust. Additionally, they said their organizations’ partnerships with customer success managers had directly influenced the direction of features that benefited their companies. The platform owner at an apparel organization said: “It seems like when we create support issues … almost the moment we create them, we get the response of, “Alright, we’re on it.” A director of engineering at a communications organization said, “When issues do come up, we’re able to get support engineers involved immediately.” The product owner at a manufacturing company added: “Where the enterprise support really shines is working together with Atlassian on understanding new features and getting into beta programs. I had some cases where the Confluence development team implemented features that I specifically asked for and delivered those features a week later. And this was something totally not on [Atlassian’s] roadmap.”

• Meeting security and compliance requirements. Interviewees said Enterprise satisfied their organizations’ internal and external requirements and facilitated their migrations to the cloud. They also indicated that compliance requirements were a primary stumbling block in adopting cloud solutions, and survey respondents noted that Cloud Enterprise helped reduce compliance and reputational risks.

• Expanding usage to additional teams or access to use cases. The flexibility of the Cloud Enterprise licensing model enables organizations to experiment with new sites and use cases without incurring additional subscription fees. Organizations can meaningfully create new sites without sacrificing usability or reach due to cost concerns. A consultant at an IT firm stated, “[Cloud Enterprise] gives you more flexibility because you can create more than one site. So when you need to do some testing or stuff, you can have multiple sites and not pay additionally."

• Enabling Analytics. Interviewees said that beyond creating savings for data teams, having access to the Analytics app enables their organizations to make new and better decisions at increased speed and that these decisions can have immediate and long-term impacts on overall performance.

• Additional third-party app savings. Interviewees said with Cloud Enterprise, their organizations can set up multisite footprints and only buy third-party apps for users of specific sites who need the app instead of buying it for every user