Driving autonomy and high-velocity service at Car Benefit Solutions
Car Benefit Solutions (CBS) manages complex, tax-efficient vehicle benefit schemes that sit between traditional company cars and private ownership. Supporting a growing national workforce and operating in an environment of constant regulatory and operational change, CBS depends on robust internal systems to manage service requests, delivery, and change effectively.
When CBS partnered with Eficode, the goal was not simply to replace tools, but to build a sustainable service management capability that the internal team could own and evolve independently.
The challenge:
Before working with Eficode, CBS operated with a split toolchain. Business teams submitted service requests through YouTrack, while delivery teams worked exclusively in Azure DevOps. This separation created a persistent visibility gap. Progress updates, blockers, and delivery status lived in DevOps and rarely flowed back to the business.
As a result, teams spent time manually syncing tickets, and business stakeholders often felt disconnected from the work being done on their behalf.
"I was getting to the point where I was tired of trying ‘riddle me this’—what is my issue? Please tell me in a limerick! I just wanted some basic information.”
— Emma Morton, CBS Support Lead
The solution:
CBS values autonomy, and it was clear from the outset that they didn’t want a solution built for them and then handed over. Instead, they wanted to develop genuine in-house capability.
The engagement began with an intensive learning phase. Entering design sessions without being fully familiar with the system led to a period the team describes as "discombobulated” as the team learned the platform hands-on, but Eficode consultant Steve Hawes acted as a consistent mentor rather than a traditional contractor.
“Without having those full-day sessions with Steve, we wouldn’t even nearly be where we are now. It’d be so hard to do on your own.”
— Carissa Lees, CBS Business Change Manager
Using Eficode’s Total Support model, every design session was delivered live within CBS’ own Jira Service Management environment. Workshops were recorded and reused internally, while structured “homework” between sessions allowed the team to experiment, refine configurations, and build confidence.
From Eficode’s perspective, the approach was deliberately collaborative and outcome-driven:
“Rather than acting as a traditional help desk, we focused on mentoring through live configuration and co-design. By ‘driving the mouse’ during workshops, we were able to deliver value quickly while creating an organic learning environment. The team now confidently builds and manages workflows, dashboards, and JQL filters independently.”
— Steve Hawes, Eficode Consultant
The flexibility of Total Support enabled CBS to present partially formed ideas in sessions for validation. Steve would then recommend more scalable patterns, sharing practical techniques that accelerated progress.
“Sometimes I’d spend a couple of hours on something, and in a half-day session it might take him 20 minutes. Those sessions were the biggest benefit that Eficode provided.”
— Carissa Lees, CBS Business Change Manager
“The sessions were genuinely helpful in showing us how to track project progress and report on it properly, without having to spin up our own offline spreadsheets or dashboards. And I still don’t think we’ve unlocked all its potential yet.”
— Lottie Powell, CBS Senior Project Lead
The impact:
Since going live in September 2025, the benefits have been felt across the organisation.
Emma Morton estimates that intuitive service request forms now save between 5 and 20 minutes per ticket by capturing the right information upfront. A new approval stage ensures that only prioritised work reaches the delivery backlog, significantly reducing noise and rework.
CBS has also introduced Atlassian Intelligence to summarise ticket histories, simplifying status updates and release communications that were previously managed through manual spreadsheets.
The platform itself continues to expand. The reporting team has already migrated to Jira, with D365 and IT support teams next, as CBS moves toward fully decommissioning YouTrack.
“With Jira, I have a lot more visibility than I did previously… it gives me a bit more focus and clarity.”
— Emma Morton, CBS Support Lead,
Looking ahead / key takeaways:
The project reinforced several important lessons for CBS.
Learning by doing proved far more effective than a traditional handover. Building the solution internally, with expert guidance, created a deeper understanding and long-term confidence.
Continuity also mattered. Working with the same consultant throughout both the initial implementation and ongoing support ensured that context was never lost, allowing the relationship to evolve into long-term mentoring.
Finally, treating Total Support as a safety net — rather than a crutch — gave the team the confidence to experiment, innovate, and lead their own transformation.
“When you come to something you’re really unsure of, knowing that you’ve got the option to raise a ticket or have a session is really valuable.”
— Carissa Lees, CBS Business Change Manager
