HOLT CAT expands ticket capacity with better ITSM

For years, HOLT CAT’s IT team struggled with a legacy IT service management (ITSM) system ill-suited for the company’s expanding operations. Organic growth and strategic acquisitions strained the Caterpillar dealer’s system, which was unable to handle the rising volume of IT service requests. Simple tasks like generating reports were cumbersome—requiring IT staff to manually convert raw data into usable insights—and the lack of workflow automation caused frustrating bottlenecks. 

HOLT CAT sought a solution that would help the IT team manage an increasing ticket volume, track IT assets efficiently, and more easily generate meaningful analytics. Freshservice offered a comprehensive ITSM solution that could integrate with HOLT CAT’s existing operations while providing the scalability required for future growth.

With Freshservice, HOLT CAT significantly improved IT service delivery, enabling 142 agents to collectively handle nearly 10,000 tickets within six months. Ticket resolution decreased to under five hours, and robust tools improved asset tracking, contract management, and reporting.

The company

HOLT CAT is an authorized Caterpillar dealer serving 118 counties in Texas. Established in 1933, HOLT CAT sells, services, and rents CAT equipment, engines, generators, and trucks for various industries and applications, from construction and mining to petroleum and agriculture. 

The challenge

As HOLT CAT grew to become one of the largest Caterpillar dealers in the world through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions, its legacy ITSM system started to buckle under the pressure, creating a heavy burden on the IT team left to perform manual tasks. 

Generating a report, for instance, required painstakingly converting raw data into readable formats—a tedious and time-consuming process. As the volume of IT service requests increased with the company's growth, the system's lack of automation led to a mounting backlog of tickets, hampering IT efficiency and overall employee productivity.

Continuing with this outdated system was unsustainable. HOLT CAT needed a modern ITSM solution capable of handling a high volume of service requests, automating workflows, and providing robust IT asset management, contract tracking, and reporting capabilities.

The solution

HOLT CAT implemented Freshservice in October 2022, drawn to its scalability and intuitive design. The platform could handle the growing volume of incoming tickets, track HOLT CAT’s extensive inventory of Caterpillar equipment and contracts, and easily generate customizable reports for insights into ITSM metrics.

“With the amazing UX of Freshservice, the ease with which we got people moved over into Freshservice was incredible,” says Katherine Villarreal, former ITSM administrator and asset manager at HOLT CAT. “We saw adoption immediately on day one, and it continued to grow.”

During onboarding, Freshservice implementation experts collaborated closely with HOLT CAT’s IT team to ensure a smooth transition from the legacy system. Comprehensive training sessions provided in-depth knowledge of the tool’s capabilities so the IT team could operate on their own and leverage Freshservice to its fullest potential.

“For some of us, it was our first time rolling out a tool like this to the organization. Freshworks’ professional services team was very accessible, helping us understand the best use cases and how to implement them in our environment,” says Villarreal. “They helped us by being partners and offering support and guidance where needed.”

Freshservice, built on Neo Platform and powered by AWS, also helped HOLT CAT’s IT team better align with Information Technology Infrastructure Library standards and integrate industry best practices into their workflows. Additionally, Freshservice’s robust analytics capabilities allowed HOLT CAT to generate detailed reports quickly and accurately, providing the insights necessary for informed, data-driven decisions.

Impact

With Freshservice, HOLT CAT has improved IT operations, empowering 142 agents to handle nearly 10,000 tickets within six months. Automating routine replies using canned responses helps IT staff respond to tickets faster, while workflow automation and a self-service knowledge base enhance overall efficiency.

Freshservice’s advanced reporting tools and dashboards provide valuable insights into SLAs, trends, and top issues, enabling the IT team to identify areas for improvement. Within four months, the average ticket resolution time dropped to 4.88 hours, freeing agents from repetitive tasks and improving support quality.

“Our employees love the tool and its ease of use,” says Villarreal. “Engagement with our old system's user portal was very low, but since implementing Freshservice, portal usage has increased significantly.”