Helios Instruments

First two weeks

Erick Pacheco Strategy and Operations

e@pacheco.sh · github.com/pakeku

To the CIO. Monday, November 2, 2026. About 60 hours.

The queue

Re-assign and close go out first. 1-3 are the tickets I will handle initially.

Mine Request Call Who Why
R7 Lukas, Hannover WiFi Re-assign Infra Hardware/On-site Connectivity falls under Infra. Push it to the Infra queue and project-manage the fix. Orders have to arrive and product has to ship.
R1 Dana, pipeline dashboard Re-assign Data Platform Data team specializes in Company dashboards, this is part of that role. QBR is Nov 13.
R5 Jess, Writer Close Close the ticket. Current available tools can support desired outcome.
1 R8 Sam, $400k software Take Me and CIO The architecture, and the technology that supports it. Solidify which systems stay, and the licensing. Unlocks R3: which AI tools users have, and how that is billed, on one bill.
  • Immediately: email the Tableau vendor to cut the license to the 17 in use, especially since seats can be added during the term. Vendors usually honor that if we can prove the request was sent.
  • Google Workspace is an observation, not in scope. Interviews were on Google Meet, and an MX check showed Google for email. This pass uses the contracts in the extract.
2 R3 Priya, AI on the IT card Take Me AI billing, from the R8 decisions. Due Nov 20.
3 R6 Mei, telemetry spec Take Me Kickoff Dec 1.
R4 Tom, fifth technician Take Me and CIO Review historical tickets to identify what caused the 40% before a hire (could it be tickets from the warehouse? misconfigured alerts generating tickets? Non-IT items that needed to be re-queued?). Meet with the CIO to review before the budget reviews on Nov 20.
R2 Marco, peripheral racks Take Me I build it. Connect Zendesk through Fivetran, build the automation on Snowflake, and put it on a schedule. Last - not time bound. Nice to have.

Order of work. R7 leaves first. It has to go to the Infra queue. Then the numbered work on this desk. 1 is R8. 2 is R3, due Nov 20. 3 is R6, kickoff Dec 1. R2 and R4 are also on this desk, and they are not in that 1-3. R5 is a close, not a piece of work. Inside R8, notice is already open: Tableau today, Dropbox Nov 15, Zoom Nov 16, Copilot Nov 30 and it does not auto-renew, LastPass Dec 1, NetSuite and Salesforce Dec 30.

Handoff. R7 to Infra. R1 to Data Platform. Same steps for both. Write the request down. Check in with the owner before it is sent. Put a time on the calendar if it needs a meeting. Then send it.

What I am not doing. Not building the dashboard. Not fixing the Hannover WiFi. Writer closes on the note below.

Watchlist. A handoff still has to move. Hannover is in the Infra queue, with a next step, and orders are shipping. The dashboard is in the Data Platform queue ahead of the Nov 13 QBR. R3 is due Nov 20. R6 kicks off Dec 1. The notice dates stay on the list until the renewal is handled. I would still add myself as to the ticket watchlist to keep track of it.

Is $400k real in 2027?

Cut and a seat trim never both count on the same row. Seats start from people active in the last 90 days.

Tool Act by Increase Bought Active 90d Seats Cut 2027 saving Yearly saving

Proposed Program

Keep. 1Password, Zendesk, Salesforce, NetSuite (minus 2 former employees), Figma, Snowflake, Fivetran.

Cut. Zoom, Dropbox, LastPass, Grammarly, Smartsheet.

Fewer seats. Tableau, Copilot, Gong, Adobe, Loom, Lucid, Miro, DocuSign, Zendesk, 1Password. Copilot should move to usage pricing at the Nov 30 renewal. It does not auto-renew.

Other possible avenues for saving money: Fivetran and Snowflake are already in the environment. Open source can sit next to them: TwentyTwenty is open source. It would sit next to tools already in the building: NetSuite for the books, Zendesk for support, and the order path for the warehouse. Signing has an open-source option too, DocuSeal, beside the DocuSign seats. Either job can also be built internally if the product is the wrong shape. in place of Salesforce, DocuSeal for signing, Bitwarden in place of 1Password. That takes internal engineering and support. The support is the kind already provided, possibly at higher volume. The trade is more flexibility and less licensing. Salesforce is $435,600 a year, and it needs specialized staff. Consulting, from experience, runs about $275 an hour.


Notes & Questions

  1. 1Password notes 771 active users (Okta for frontline staff Identity with personal email addresses?)
  2. Google Workspace is an observation, kept in case, and not in scope. Interviews were on Google Meet. An MX check showed Google for email. This pass uses the contracts in the extract.
  3. Fivetran isn't accounted for in the current budget. Need more info.
  4. With data from HR (onboarding/offboarding), we can roughly estimate growth rate of staff and use the Growth % tool to figure out how licensing should be planned for future.

Note to Jess Lindqvist

Hi Jess,

Thanks for sharing the Writer proposal. We're working with Finance to determine a standardized approach to AI procurement across the company, so we cannot approve Writer at this time.

That said, our technology team would be happy to partner with you and the Marketing team to better understand your content needs and explore how the AI tools we already have available could support your workflows.

Please let me know if you'd be open to that. I'd be happy to coordinate a time to connect.

Best,
Erick

Proposed
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