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So you’ve taken the plunge into managed IT. The details have been hashed out and the contract is signed. Now comes the part where the rubber hits the road – onboarding.
The exact onboarding process can vary based on your organization’s network and which managed IT provider you sign on with. But to help you understand what’s it like, we’re going to share some insight into how we onboard our new clients.
Step 1 – Meeting the Team
Your Managed IT journey begins with a kick-off meeting where you’ll meet the key members of your onboarding team and begin to discuss what your specific onboarding process will look like.
The onboarding team usually consists of an engineer and a service delivery specialist. We thoughtfully select an engineer that will be a good fit for your company’s personality and environment. Your engineer will do the hands-on work of the onboarding.
The service delivery specialist is your main point of contact for all things related to your onboarding. Your dedicated specialist manages the timeline, expectations, and any problems that may arise along the way (and at any point in our services). They’ll probably be your favorite person on the planet for the duration of the onboarding, because they’re the one you’ll call or email with any questions or issues. It’s their job to keep the process running smoothly and quickly respond to any concerns or problems.
Step 2 – Gathering Information
As the onboarding process gets started, we’ll work with you to collect the necessary information to document your existing network infrastructure and technology (hardware and software). For example, we’ll need things like the admin password in order to conduct your onboarding.
If you’ve worked with a different managed IT provider in the past, we’ll reach out to that former provider for much of the detailed information we need. If you’ve never worked with a managed IT provider before, that’s ok. Your onboarding engineer will help you figure out the answers we need.
Step 3 – Setting Expectations
Big transitions, like switching managed IT providers or bringing on a totally new provider, can seem a little daunting at first. That’s why we make a point to be upfront and transparent about what you can expect during this onboarding process. We want you to feel prepared for what's coming.
We’ll walk you through:
- What’s going to happen
- What the schedule looks like
- How we’re going to complete each step
- Possible issues we might run into based on our past experience
- Any potential or necessary downtime
- How your end users will be impacted
- How to get help if there’s a problem
- Common questions about onboarding
While it’s impossible to onboard a company without any disruptions at all, our goal is to keep the entire process as smooth as possible – and to ensure there are no surprises for you or your users.
Step 4 – Partnering to Get Things Done
At Elevity, we view onboarding – and really our entire relationship with a client – as a partnership. We’re not coming in as an overbearing IT company ready to take over your network. We want our team and services to work with you and for you. Whether or not you have your own onsite IT team, our goal is to keep you involved in the process and help you feel like an integral part of your own network.
During onboarding, we depend on our partnership with you to help the process go well. One of the ways we do that is by having you communicate key updates with your end users. Your employees are far more likely to read an email from someone they know in the organization (you!) than from someone at Elevity they’ve never met before. Whether it’s helping schedule a time block for installing an agent on everyone’s computer or passing along step-by-step instructions for a new process, your partnership is integral to the success of the onboarding.
Step 5 – Following Up
We maintain routine contact with you throughout the onboarding process. You’ll receive regular status updates on what’s happened so far and what’s left to do.
Once onboarding wraps up, we’ll still be in contact with you to make sure everything is going ok now that you’re a new managed IT client. We’ll go through your first invoices with you, so you know what you’re looking at. We’ll also address any issues that have cropped up since the initial kick-off meeting.
As you start to feel more comfortable, your onboarding team will begin to transition you to the Help Desk as your day-to-day point of contact for any and all IT and technical issues. Eventually, you’ll find yourself needing your onboarding team less and less. At that point, there’s only one thing left to say: “Congratulations and welcome aboard!”
A process like the one we outlined above can help deliver a successful – and relatively low-stress – onboarding. Whatever managed IT provider you choose to partner with, ask them what their onboarding process looks like and make sure you feel comfortable with it.
