Lightyear Case Study: Okta

Okta, a global leader in identity and access management, operates a vast corporate network across six continents. With a lean IT team managing rapid office expansions, Okta turned to Lightyear to support procurement, inventory management, and invoicing.

Meet the Client

Okta is an identity and access management leader, serving two-thirds of the Fortune 100, over 40% of the Forbes Global 2000, and thousands of other organizations. In addition to its robust user base, Okta employs approximately 7,000 people across six continents and has physical offices worldwide.

Lightyear spoke with Catherine Lee, Staff Infrastructure Engineer at Okta, in a recent live webinar. Catherine oversees implementation, engineering, security, and operational support for Okta’s cloud and physical environments, as well as delivering network deployments to global office locations. In our discussion, she shared Okta’s circuit procurement challenges and how Lightyear's software automated and optimized their telecom operations.

A Small Team with Big Responsibilities

At Okta, the network team operates within the "Business Technology" (BT) organization. Although the BT organization is comprised of about 200 people globally, the corporate network team consists of just five dedicated professionals. This small team handles everything from architecture, engineering, and operations to deployment and ongoing threat monitoring. 

Adding to their extensive responsibilities, Okta reinvigorated its office expansion efforts post-COVID-19, launching new offices or refreshing current spaces each year, with each location requiring comprehensive network capabilities (redundancy and diversity). 

To manage this growing demand and complexity of working with multiple providers, the Okta team tried two approaches. First, they attempted to work directly with carriers. However, this process quickly proved manual, tedious, and inefficient. Catherine recounted one incident involving a frustratingly broken intake process: after submitting a quote request through a provider’s website, it took over a year to receive a response (and it came after the location opened!).

Next, they turned to a circuit aggregator. While this solution seemed promising on paper (one provider, one bill, one support line to call), it introduced new challenges, including difficulty achieving true carrier redundancy, installation delays, and implementation errors—all at a premium cost. Catherine ultimately found herself grappling with the same frustrations inherent in traditional ISP procurement:

Before opening the next international location, the team knew it was time for a change. Fortunately, Chris Carlson, leader of the network team and a former Lightyear customer at a previous company, knew which platform to turn to.

Streamlining ISP Procurement and Installations

Based on Chris’s recommendation, Catherine ran a side-by-side RFP between Lightyear and an existing carrier relationship for a single circuit. Hesitant at first, Lightyear’s automated, data-driven procurement process quickly won her over. 

Through Lightyear’s Procurement platform, Okta was able to conduct a digital RFP powered by proprietary network and pricing intelligence (1M+ price quotes with live market data).

Simultaneously, Catherine was thoroughly impressed by Lightyear’s installation management system, which comes embedded within the Procurement platform. Previously, she had to rely on her aggregator to resolve implementation issues, which added timely delays and operational inefficiencies. With Lightyear, she can easily track and manage circuit installs while the system proactively escalates any service issues that may arise.

Simplifying Network Inventory Management and ISP Billing

Building on the success of procurement and installation management, Okta turned to its next pain point: network inventory and billing management. 

When Catherine joined Okta, the team lacked internal organization regarding what was in their network. They spent significant time chasing down contract terms and paying invoices, and spent additional hours every month verifying that invoice details were correct and appropriately paid. If managed incorrectly, the team faced temporary service disruptions.

To tackle these challenges, Okta expanded its use of Lightyear services to include our Network Inventory Manager and Bill Consolidation. Although in its early stages, Okta’s expanded use of Lightyear is already streamlining billing and is expected to yield significant time savings.

Driving the Business Forward

With Lightyear as a partner, Okta’s network team has been able to shift its focus from time-consuming administrative tasks to strategic initiatives. By automating procurement, simplifying installations, and consolidating ISP invoices, Lightyear has saved the team countless hours. Catherine concluded our webinar by noting the time-saving impact of working with Lightyear: