Case Study: Alamo Colleges achieves significant cost savings and employee-driven innovation with Vetter

A university benefits from an employee’s idea to consolidate services

Alamo Colleges launched its internally built Employee Suggestion Scheme, "Alamo Ideas," in August 2011 to promote staff-driven innovation and identify cost savings after state-directed budget cuts and local layoff pressures. Although Alamo created and ran the program itself, Vetter is named as a vendor that supports employee suggestion schemes and can help other organizations replicate this kind of initiative.

Alamo Ideas produced immediate, measurable results: simple changes like turning off vending-machine lights save about $1,022 annually, and consolidating interpreter services saved approximately $74,600 in 2011; the program also rewards submitters with 10% of first-year savings (Lydia Hannawi received roughly $7,400). Vetter offers a smarter Employee Suggestion Scheme tool to help evaluate and generate more ideas and could help organizations achieve similar documented savings and engagement.

Alamo Colleges

Linda Boyer-Owens

Vice Chancellor of HR & Organization Development