At a 300-person scale-up, buying software took three weeks of email approvals — so employees just swiped company cards instead. We built a request flow with instant license-overlap checks and parallel security and budget approvals, cutting approval time to three days.
Typical results
31%
Requests matched to existing tools
-73%
Shadow-IT purchases
100%
Tools security-reviewed
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Requesting a new tool meant emailing a manager, who forwarded to security, who forwarded to finance — a relay that averaged three weeks. Frustrated teams bought software on company cards instead, so security reviews never happened, licenses duplicated across departments, and IT kept discovering unvetted tools holding company data months after they'd gone live.
Before and after
Approval time
−86%Shadow-IT purchases
−73%Requests resolved with existing tools
The automation
We built a single request form that checks the live license inventory the moment it's submitted — if an equivalent tool already exists, the requester is offered a seat on the spot. New requests trigger security review and budget approval in parallel, each with full context attached. Once cleared, the purchase is provisioned automatically, logged in the inventory, and the requester updated at every stage so nobody feels the need to buy around the process.
How it works
- 01
One front door
Employees request any new tool through a short form — use case, team, expected spend — instead of pinging managers or swiping a card.
- 02
License overlap checked instantly
The request is matched against the live license inventory; if an equivalent tool already exists, the requester is offered a seat on the spot.
- 03
Approvals run in parallel
Security review and budget sign-off fire simultaneously with full context — not as a relay race of forwarded emails.
- 04
Cleared requests provision themselves
Once approved, the purchase is executed, the license logged in the inventory, and access granted to the requester.
- 05
Requester informed throughout
Status updates arrive at every stage, so nobody feels the need to buy around the process.
Starts from
- Software request form
- Existing license inventory
Delivers
- Security & budget sign-off
- Purchase provisioned
- Requester status updates
The impact
Approval time dropped from three weeks to three days, and 31% of requests now resolve instantly with a seat on a tool the company already owns. Shadow-IT purchases fell from eleven a quarter to three, and every tool in use has passed a security review.
Questions about this automation
What happens when someone requests a tool the company already pays for?
The request form checks the live license inventory as soon as it is submitted. If an equivalent tool is already in use, the requester is offered a seat on that tool right away, and the request closes without going through approvals. This catches duplicate purchases before any money is spent.
How are the security and budget approvals handled?
Both approvals start at the same time, each with the full request attached: use case, team, expected spend and vendor details. Approvers decide from one message or form, reminders go out while a decision is pending, and every approval or rejection is recorded with a timestamp for later review.
What is needed to get started?
A list of the tools the company already licenses, the roles that approve security and budget, and the spending thresholds that change who must sign off. The request form, routing rules and provisioning steps are built around them. It is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages, starting with the request form and the license check.