ApproveThis manages your Action1 approvals.

When Patch Management Meets Approval Automation

Let’s cut to the chase: patching vulnerabilities and managing system updates is critical work that somehow still gets stuck in email threads and Slack limbo. Action1 does the heavy lifting of finding security gaps, while ApproveThis cuts through the bureaucratic noise. Connect them via Zapier, and you’ve got a system where security fixes move at the speed of business – not the speed of "I’ll get to it after lunch."

Why This Combo Works for Teams That Can’t Afford Downtime

Action1’s SOC 2/ISO 27001 certified platform discovers vulnerabilities faster than your team can say “zero-day exploit.” ApproveThis then turns those findings into actionable decisions without requiring your CISO to chase down department heads for sign-offs. Together, they create closed-loop security operations where:

• Critical updates get reviewed by humans before auto-deploying to production
• IT teams prove compliance without spreadsheet archaeology

For companies between 200-5,000 employees, this integration acts like an insurance policy against two major risks: security breaches caused by delayed patches, and audit failures caused by poor documentation.

Real-World Use Cases That Don’t Suck

1. Vulnerability Triage That Doesn’t Require a PhD in Nagging

When Action1 detects a new vulnerability (like that pesky Windows zero-day), your Zapier integration can:

→ Auto-create approval requests with severity ratings, affected systems, and patch ETA
→ Route to specific approvers based on risk level (IT director for critical risks, team lead for low-risk)

Example: A mid-sized healthcare provider uses calculated fields in ApproveThis to auto-flag any vulnerability affecting PHI storage systems. Approval groups ensure their compliance officer and sysadmin review concurrently – no sequential bottlenecks.

2. Update Approvals That Respect Everyone’s Time Zones

Action1 finds missing updates? ApproveThis handles the logistics:

→ Vacation delegation automatically reassigns approvals if your lead engineer is offline
→ Email-based approvals let external contractors sign off without needing VPN access

Example: A manufacturing company with third-party equipment vendors uses approval thresholds. Non-critical updates under $5k impact auto-approve; anything higher routes to plant managers with cost analysis attached.

3. Automation Audits That Don’t Put Teams to Sleep

When Action1 runs an automation (like mass deploying Office 365 updates), ApproveThis creates an audit trail:

→ Real-time dashboards show which automations succeeded/failed approval checks
→ Conditional logic escalates any automation affecting financial systems to CFO review

Example: A SaaS company ties failed automations to Jira tickets automatically, using ApproveThis’ Zapier integration to alert DevOps without manual triage.

Setup That Takes Less Time Than Your Daily Standup

Here’s the beauty of Zapier: You’re not building some fragile Rube Goldberg machine. For the “New Vulnerability → Approval Request” workflow:

1. Connect Action1 to Zapier (admin permissions required)
2. Choose trigger: “New Vulnerability Detected”
3. Map critical fields (severity score, affected assets) to ApproveThis
4. Set approval rules: Who needs to sign off based on risk level?

Pro tip: Use ApproveThis’ calculated fields to auto-calculate downtime risks based on Action1’s asset criticality data. No more manual impact assessments.

Why Your CFO Will (Secretly) Love This

Approval workflows often get pegged as IT tools, but finance teams live for the transparency:

Budget tracking: Every patch approval can include cost estimates from Action1’s vendor data. Approval thresholds auto-approve minor expenses while flagging big spends.
Audit trails: SOC 2 requires proof that vulnerabilities were reviewed – ApproveThis timestamps every decision with user/IP logging.

The Hidden Perk Your Teams Will Fight Over

ApproveThis doesn’t require approvers to have Action1 licenses. For companies with external auditors or client-facing security reviews:

→ Clients get emailed approval requests with one-click approve/deny
→ Contractors see only the requests you specify
→ No added license costs for anyone outside core IT

When to Consider This Integration

This isn’t just for enterprises. If any of these sound familiar:

→ Your team has ever delayed a critical patch because “Bob from Legal was OOO”
→ You’ve scrambled during an audit to find who approved last quarter’s updates
→ Vendors constantly ask for update confirmations via unsecured email

Bottom Line: Approval Layers That Don’t Slow You Down

Action1 finds the problems. ApproveThis ensures they get fixed without committee meetings. Together via Zapier, they turn vulnerability management from a reactive fire drill into a process even your most cynical sysadmin can respect.

Next Steps for Teams Ready to Move

If you’re using Action1 but still handling approvals via email tennis:
→ Register for ApproveThis (free 14-day trial)
→ Review Action1’s integration docs
→ Or schedule a 20-minute demo to see live workflows