Media & publishing company: Modernizing Jira for visibility
Company size
55 Jira Software & Product Discovery seats + 5 JSM agents
Engagement length
8‑month migration & enablement
Industry
Media & publishing
Technologies
Jira Cloud, Jira Product Discovery, Jira Service Management, Structure Gantt, Tempo
Outcome
Jira Cloud cut TCO by 30%, reduced first-response time from 24 to 4 hours, and shortened weekly reporting from 3–4 hours to under 30 minutes.
Table of contents
- What happened and why it matters
- The challenge of legacy Jira and a lack of hard data
- What did the company need from its Jira Cloud partner?
- Replacing legacy on-prem Jira with a clean Cloud setup
- Business impact 6 weeks post migration to Cloud
- Visible benefits after switching from an on-prem Jira setup
- What’s next for the company with Jira Cloud?
What happened and why it matters
For our client in the media industry, moving to Atlassian Cloud was a turning point after years of managing IT without reliable reporting or structured processes.
The result? Real-time visibility, better work organization, and optimized support, built to grow with the business.
- From legacy Jira to Cloud clarity – Media & publishing company replaced a stagnant 2017 on-prem Jira instance with a modern Jira Cloud setup. The shift addressed years of manual processes and lack of data, unlocking structured workflows, live reporting, and real visibility across IT and development.
- Strategic IT modernization – The new Cloud-native platform introduced SLA-driven service management, automated reporting, and real-time workload tracking. Excel-based sprint planning, email-driven support, and manual metrics were replaced with scalable tools tailored to the lean IT structure.
- Smarter licensing, leaner costs – A company right-sized its license model using Jira Product Discovery for low-frequency contributors and cut total cost of ownership by 30%. The phased rollout avoided team overload while delivering measurable process improvements.
- Data-driven operations with room to grow – Our client now manages IT with dashboards, Tempo insights, and structured intake. With plans to expand the self-service portal, automate alerts, and roll out cross-portfolio planning, the company is positioned to scale service delivery with confidence.
The challenge of legacy Jira and a lack of hard data
The media & publishing company we worked with ran their IT on a 2017 on-premises Jira instance, supporting 100 users across dev teams and a small help desk.
The setup had been untouched for years, and the cracks were starting to show:
- No reporting, no insights – There were no built-in dashboards, no Marketplace apps, no data to guide decisions. Everything, from sprint progress to ticket volume, had to be manually pulled by developers from the database.
- Blind spots in team capacity – Sprint planning happened in Excel. Some developers were idle, others overloaded. The CTO estimated ~40% misalignment in workload.
- Service chaos – Around 95% of requests came in via phone or email. There was no ticket categorization, no SLAs, and no way to track trends or pain points.
- Zero leverage with HQ – Without hard data, it was difficult to make a case for improvements or resourcing.
“We were managing work blindly. I had no way to prove we were overloaded, and no real numbers to justify a change.”
The brief was simple: move to Jira Cloud, rebuild everything from scratch, get proper reporting, and give IT the tools to grow without drowning in spreadsheets.
What did the company need from its Jira Cloud partner?
This media & publishing company needed a team to co-design the right setup, provide strategic advice, and scale at its own pace without overwhelming a small IT crew.
“What mattered most was having someone who understood our needs and could turn that into a working scenario. Not just send over a price list with a 5% discount.”
Here’s what made the difference:
- Co-design – Client wanted a team that could challenge assumptions and adapt the rollout to real-world constraints.
- Cost control through smarter licensing – The recommendation to use Jira Product Discovery for occasional contributors (like editors or journalists) helped avoid unnecessary full Jira licenses.
“We have people who only submit one idea a year – full licences would’ve been a waste. This licence mix cut estimated TCO by ≈30% ”
- Proven tools and phased rollout – Company valued Deviniti’s track record with Tempo and Jira Cloud migrations, as well as a step-by-step adoption plan that wouldn’t overburden internal teams.
Replacing legacy on-prem Jira with a clean Cloud setup
Over several months of joint sessions and coaching, the media & publishing company rebuilt its Jira ecosystem from the ground up. They focused on clarity, automation, and measurable outcomes.
Rather than patching the outdated on-prem setup, the teams chose to start from scratch. They simplified structures, right-sized licensing, and built a foundation for scalable service management.
“Instead of migrating the old data, we created a sandbox and started from scratch. The old Jira stayed as a kind of archive.”
Below is the phased approach that shaped the project:
| Phase | When | What we did |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery workshops | Feb–Apr 2025 | Mapped 2 dev squads + help‑desk flows, adjusted the custom fields number on forms, defined the right license model |
| Cloud foundation | May | Green‑field Jira Cloud org; initial projects migrated |
| Tempo & boards | May-Jun | Enabled Timesheets + Capacity Planner; coaching PMs |
| JSM quick start | May-Jun | Mail channel, SLA rules, 3‑level categorisation, minimal self‑service portal |
| Product Discovery pilot | Aug | Idea‑capture workflow for low‑frequency business users |
| Adoption & hand‑over | Aug-Sep | Hyper‑care, how‑to videos, internal champions, governance dashboard |
CTO summed up the experience:
“It was a very natural conversation. We had a need, and on the other side someone found a scenario that actually made sense.”
This project shifted the team toward data-backed decisions, clearer workload management, and a culture of transparency within IT.
Business impact 6 weeks post migration to Cloud
With Tempo and real-time dashboards in place, our client’s IT team finally moved from gut feel to hard numbers. They now track response times and project scope without chasing spreadsheets. Executive reporting takes less effort, and support teams have clearer priorities.
Helpdesk SLAs have tightened significantly, and more employees are logging issues directly through Jira, reducing noise from emails and phone calls. Developers’ capacity is now balanced with far less guesswork. The overall system performance is faster, making it easier for teams to stay in flow.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. issue load time | 4.2 s | 2.8 s |
| SLA – first response (help‑desk) | 23 h | 4 h |
| Tickets logged via Jira | 5% | 30% |
| Dev capacity variance | ~ 40% | ~ 15% |
| Exec report prep time | 3–4 h / week | < 30 min |
This shift gave the company the visibility it needed to manage IT with confidence.
“Tempo plus real-time dashboards turned guessing into numbers. Now I can finally see where the real blockers are.”
Visible benefits after switching from an on-prem Jira setup
The media company replaced its outdated 2017 on-prem Jira with a modern, cloud-native setup. It was built to deliver real-time visibility and a clear service process. They rolled out a phased transformation using Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Tempo, Product Discovery, and Structure.
- Live data, not guesswork – Tempo Timesheets and dashboards gave the team real visibility into capacity and progress, replacing Excel-based planning and developer guesswork.
- Smarter licensing, lower cost – Product Discovery was used for low-frequency contributors, cutting license waste and keeping total cost of ownership lean without compromising access.
- Simplified service desk– JSM now handles structured request intake with SLA rules, email channels, and three-level categorization – making support scalable for a lean helpdesk.
- Dashboards that drive action – A live “scope vs hours” view lets IT leadership track delivery in real time and manage budget risk before it becomes a problem.
- Scaling with intent – SSO and portal expansion will bring more business units into the system.
What’s next for the company with Jira Cloud?
The core setup is live, but the team is already planning further improvements:
- Roll out Structure Gantt for cross-portfolio planning to align timelines across teams and spot problems early.
- Enable SSO and expand the portal to more business units, to hit 60% self-service adoption by mid-2025.
- Tailor automations and push notifications, so critical site issues trigger instant alerts, minimizing the number of surprises and impact.
These steps will make day-to-day work easier and help IT stay proactive.
