Case study

Tool management and vendor operations for scalable research systems

To support a growing research organization at Zendesk, a systems-based approach to tool and vendor operations was developed. The goal: streamline procurement, reduce onboarding friction, ensure privacy compliance, and create scalable processes to support research across functions and geographies. The result was a more agile, well-supported team that could focus on doing the work — not figuring out how to get started.
Outcome
Reduced tool sprawl and improved oversight of research tooling
Accelerated vendor onboarding while maintaining compliance standards
Improved collaboration between Research, Privacy, IT, and Procurement
Enabled faster startup for new researchers and research types
Built scalable operational infrastructure that supported team growth
Challenge
As Zendesk's research team scaled, the lack of standardized tooling workflows created inefficiencies and friction. Software subscriptions were being purchased ad hoc, some employees were using personal accounts not covered by enterprise terms, training was inconsistent, and vendor contracts were often siloed by team or region. This led to duplicated costs, integration issues, and challenges in maintaining compliance across the board.
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Frequent legal partner changes and limited understanding of research practices led to procurement delays, requiring repeated alignment on customer data usage, incentive structures, and outreach goals.
The opportunity
Tooling and vendor operations needed to be rethought as a holistic, scalable system. This meant developing a centralized framework for vendor relationships, procurement engagement, tool documentation, onboarding, and long-term maintenance — with a strong focus on automation, accessibility, and alignment across stakeholders (research, IT, legal, procurement, and security).

A key opportunity was to establish consistent partnership between dedicated research and legal stakeholders—reducing repeated effort, minimizing confusion, and ensuring shared understanding of research workflows to prevent shifting guidance or access changes.
Solution overview
01
Centralized tool management

Created a shared inventory of approved research tools with documentation on use cases, access instructions, training requirements, and licensing info. Moved away from fragmented procurement practices to a centralized model that improved visibility, accountability, cost sharing, and overall cost savings by combining multiple departmental subscriptions under a single contract.

02
Streamlined vendor processes

Collaborated with procurement, legal, and security to define standard workflows for research vendor onboarding—covering data privacy reviews, contract approvals, SOW negotiation, and renewal tracking. Formed a dedicated partnership between the Research Operations lead and Privacy lead to align on research practices, customer engagement, and data management. This collaboration reduced onboarding time and improved compliance across tools and vendors.

03
Technical integrations and automation

Integrated tools with SSO and internal systems wherever possible, reducing manual effort and simplifying user management. Automated renewal reminders, access workflows, and usage tracking helped scale with minimal overhead.

04
Researcher onboarding support

Created onboarding guides and toolkits to help researchers and collaborators quickly adopt tools. Minimized operational bottlenecks by enabling self-serve support, establishing a shared Slack channel with one vendor, and providing same-day access to UserTesting’s Foundational Certification pathway through pre-arranged credit availability.