With Zammad, the district administration of Hochsauerlandkreis cuts costs by 50% and doubles support efficiency
Digital transformation in public services is often seen as slow-moving and met with resistance. The district administration of Hochsauerlandkreis shows that things can be done differently. By introducing Zammad, they didn’t just implement another ticketing system — they set a new benchmark. Streamlined processes, significantly lower costs, and a dramatic increase in satisfaction speak for themselves. Florian Schade, IT-Solution Architect, shares first-hand how the transition unfolded and how much has changed since.
ø 100
Resolved tickets / day
100 %
Efficiency increase
50%
Annual cost savings
Seeing how easily Zammad integrates with all of our channels and tools immediately confirmed that this was the flexibility we were looking for in a help desk solution.
When technology becomes a roadblock rather than a facilitator, the entire organization feels the impact. That’s exactly what happened at the district administration of Hochsauerlandkreis with its previous ticketing system. "It was cumbersome, the interface was far from intuitive and the mandatory fields were simply overwhelming. In the fast-paced reality of our daily work, the system was more of a hindrance than a help," recalls Florian Schade.
"Frustration grew — not only within the IT team, but also among the more than 1,500 internal users across various departments and external partners."
As a result, hardly anyone used the system. Instead, requests flooded in via phone and email, creating chaotic workflows, scattered information, and mounting dissatisfaction.
The turning point came with the decision to introduce a new helpdesk solution. The requirements were clear from the start: “The new system had to be simple, clear, and intuitive. For us, user acceptance was the top priority.” Right from the initial test installation, Zammad sparked enthusiasm.
“When we saw how quickly and effortlessly we could connect our communication channels and tools via Zammad’s open interfaces, it was immediately clear: this was the flexible solution we had been searching for.”
Another major advantage was Zammad’s open architecture, which matched perfectly with the district administration's commitment to open-source technologies — already making up around 50% of its IT landscape.
“The switch to Zammad was remarkably straightforward,” recalls Florian Schade. Onboarding the entire team also proved to be seamless. Compact 90-minute training sessions were all it took to get even colleagues without prior helpdesk experience up and running with confidence.
“Since introducing Zammad, email and phone inquiries have dropped significantly. It quickly became the new standard.”
Thanks to Zammad’s intuitive interface, user acceptance came naturally. "Everyone immediately started using it for new requests,” Florian Schade explains. “Zammad made it easy right from the start.”
With Zammad, around 40 agents across various departments have completely reshaped and streamlined their workflows. Where previously information had to be gathered painstakingly from different sources, everything is now consolidated in one central place. This brings clarity, saves valuable time, and noticeably reduces bottlenecks in daily operations.
“User satisfaction has skyrocketed from zero to one hundred. Today, almost all requests are handled through Zammad, which makes our processes much more transparent and efficient.”
The financial impact has been just as impressive. By switching to Zammad, the district administration of Hochsauerlandkreis has significantly reduced its maintenance and support expenses — with optional workshops already included. “We’ve cut costs by about 50 percent while gaining far greater value at the same time,” summarizes Florian Schade.
Today, Zammad has become an integral part of numerous departments across the district administration of Hochsauerlandkreis, supporting a wide variety of tasks and use cases.
“Zammad has fundamentally transformed the way we work. It connects people, topics, and tasks across all levels — both internally and externally.”
The IT helpdesk is now a single point of contact for all requests, from minor issues to complex technical challenges. The platform has also become indispensable to the fire department’s control centre, where technical requests are logged, prioritized and dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Zammad is also used in projects and for cross-departmental task management, ensuring clear structures and smooth communication. Even external partners, such as Caritas and surveying offices, are fully integrated. Their email inquiries are automatically converted into tickets and handled smoothly within the system.
The success story is far from over. Plans for the next steps are already well underway. At the top of the list is the integration of additional specialist procedures, including those involving citizen services. “We want to process citizen requests through Zammad in the future as well. This would bring us even greater efficiency and transparency,” explains Florian Schade.
In addition, more departments are set to benefit from the helpdesk solution. “The more colleagues use Zammad, the greater the value for everyone. Word is spreading quickly — people are excited about it,” concludes Florian Schade.
Zammad has therefore become much more than just a tool for today’s challenges. It is a platform ready to support the district administration of Hochsauerlandkreis well into the future.
Zammad provides the backbone for a structured and reliable customer service. It enables us to uphold our commitment to service quality and customer closeness—even as our operations move further into the digital age.
Zammad has brought a whole new level of flexibility and agility to our daily work. We respond to customer inquiries much faster now – and that difference is both noticeable and measurable.
We see Zammad as a dynamic system that grows with us. Its flexibility allows us to meet a wide variety of needs—which is exactly what makes it a future-proof solution for our team.
Zammad has completely changed our day-to-day work: Not only has it increased our efficiency, but it has also significantly improved collaboration and communication within our team.
There are three words that describe Zammad perfectly: intuitive, quick, and easy. The switch has definitely paid off: Zammad offers us more possibilities than we originally expected!
Since its implementation in our service department, Zammad has been at the forefront of our company as a "central" tool for daily customer satisfaction.
We wanted a simple, well-thought-out ticketing system that would allow us to handle various issues, be flexible enough to adapt to different structures, and seamlessly integrate into our system landscape at any time. Zammad has met all these requirements.
I fell a bit in love with Zammad. Little by little I took advantage of the possibilities and personalized the features more and more until I didn't want to miss the system anymore.
This is how I imagine Open Source with a company in the background! There are umpteen ways to use free software as a business model, but Zammad does it perfectly and always stays fair.
This is the only Customer Support team I like calling. At Zammad, you always have a knowledgeable employee on the phone who is friendly and competent and acts quickly. This is really personal and makes an enormous difference!
