When beginning a new business relationship, first impressions are everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the success or failure of your relationship with a new client can often be directly attributed to the quality of the onboarding process they go through. A bad onboarding process can sow doubt and insecurity in your competence, while a good one can solidify your role as a trusted advisor in all things IT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get the relationship off to the best possible start, it\u2019s important to ensure that onboarding is carried out in a consistent, detailed, and organized manner. Like a pilot before takeoff, checklists are your most valuable tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this guide, we\u2019ll go over the key stages of client onboarding for MSPs. Then, we\u2019ll show you how our free onboarding tool can make information gathering and organization a breeze. Follow these steps to be well on your way to a long, positive, and profitable client relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s first make sure we\u2019re all on the same page with a quick definition. Client onboarding is the process of integrating and introducing new clients to your MSP\u2019s products and services. It\u2019s a crucial part of building a positive relationship with a new client, and establishes trust in your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Onboarding can be broken down into four key stages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Onboarding helps ensure your client understands your offerings and how to use them effectively, which can reduce support tickets and improve satisfaction. It helps establish trust in your capabilities as an IT service provider, which leads to better customer retention. Onboarding also gives you a chance to assess your client\u2019s unique tech and compliance needs, and create the ideal tech stack to meet those needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that you know what onboarding is and why getting it right is so critical to your success as an MSP, let\u2019s take a closer look at each key stage, and how our free onboarding tool can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you haven\u2019t downloaded the tool yet, download it now<\/a> so you can follow along as we walk you through this guide. Each client will have their own copy of this document as part of their onboarding information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: the tool works seamlessly with 黑料海角91入口, but it can be used regardless of your core MSP platform or your current workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collecting information isn\u2019t the most exciting task you will carry out within your MSP, but it\u2019s one of the most important. Your new client may not initially have all the information you need readily available, so aim to have this section complete within 10 days of your first onboarding meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The onboarding checklist will first open to a tab titled \u201cOnboarding Process: Checklist<\/strong>.\u201d Consider this sheet your timeline of the events you will need to complete before a client is considered onboarded and active. If you don\u2019t have set deadlines for each step of the onboarding process, pull out your calendar and make them now to hold yourself accountable! Then, click \u201cBegin\u201d at the top to start the Information Gathering process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This cursory information may have been gathered during the pre-sales process, but it\u2019s a good idea to confirm it with your client once the Managed Services Agreement (MSA) is in place, in case they have different contacts for ongoing MSP management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you aren\u2019t using our onboarding template, make sure you collect the following client information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The onboarding template breaks these fields down into sub items, and also includes other optional fields to account for all initial information you\u2019ll need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that one of the checklist items is to get sign-off on the Service Level Agreement (SLA), where you\u2019ll share the schedule of response times with your client. Now is a good time to make sure the client has read the SLA and is clear on the expectations before moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After this sheet is completed, click, \u201cNext Step<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next piece of information you\u2019ll need (or need to develop) is a list of your client\u2019s users, teams, departments, and user groups. This data will be critical to building the right tech stack based on your client\u2019s organizational complexity and size, and for assigning the right users the right permissions prior to deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the onboarding tool, you\u2019ll first want to list all your client business\u2019 departments, and then the teams (if any) within each department. Then, you can create various user groups based on the assets and resources those teams and departments need to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you have a complete list of employees from your client, you\u2019ll list those names under \u201cUser Setup<\/strong>,\u201d and select the correct department, team, and group permissions for each user. This gives you a single sheet from which to view every user\u2019s workgroup and device groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Say, for example, your client just hired a new Creative Director, Bob Smith. Bob will work for the marketing department, on the design team. And since he\u2019s a director, he\u2019ll be assigned the \u201cDirector\u201d user group, which has more clearances and access to more company applications. Segmenting each user by their titles and clearances makes bulk permissioning easier prior to deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After you\u2019ve completed this tab in the spreadsheet, click \u201cNext Step<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you have a list of all users, you need to know which hardware and devices they\u2019ve each been assigned. This step can be a little more difficult with the increase in remote working, as it\u2019s often not practical to visit every user’s remote location. But if you charge your clients on a per-device scale, this information impacts your bottom line, and either way, an accurate tally of every device is often mandatory for security compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Inventory tab in our onboarding tool is designed to collect a detailed inventory of all client hardware, including computers, networking equipment, servers, and printers. You can note which user is assigned to each computer and which device groups the computers belong to. Tracking network equipment and printers will help you when calculating pricing and configuring the MDM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After you\u2019ve completed this tab in the spreadsheet, click \u201cNext Step<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will also need to inventory all of your client\u2019s non-user-specific services, e.g., domain registration, web hosting, DNS, certificates, and ISP. Tracking this information will help you maintain the registrations for these services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s especially important during this step to check if there are any near-time renewals you need to be aware of, so they don\u2019t expire on your watch. You should have an accurate accounting of the client\u2019s domain records, where their email and website are hosted, SSL certificate information, any AWS instances, their ISP information, and their VOIP\/telephony information as well as any other SaaS or hosting services they employ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will need to be added to these accounts as an admin, so review these services carefully to make sure you can make necessary changes or receive notifications with plenty of time to renew or change them before they expire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After you\u2019ve completed this tab in the spreadsheet, click \u201cNext Step<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may think you have everything you need at this point, but in our increasingly digital world, there\u2019s one other element you need to keep track of: applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will need a complete list of the apps that are currently allowed (via self-service), the apps that are required by the company, and the ones that are restricted by the company. This list is critical for managing and preventing shadow IT instances, and for complete device oversight. While your client may or may not have a list already, it\u2019s critical that you create one, and keep it up to date throughout your management relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the last tab in our onboarding spreadsheet. Clicking \u201cChecklist<\/strong>\u201d will take you back to the beginning page of due dates. If in Excel, be sure to click \u201csave\u201d before you move on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once your initial onboarding information gathering is complete, it\u2019s time to define the MSP team members who will manage your new client, hold an internal team sync, send a client welcome kit, and schedule a second onboarding meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Update your internal team on the new client. If you have dedicated employees for each account, keep the meeting to just these people. If your whole MSP works on every client, hold a company-wide sync. Involve the entire team who will manage the client, including engineers and the sales team responsible for the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discuss topics such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give an overview of the client\u2019s IT setup, and cover any specific areas that are non-standard, too. The purpose of this meeting is to get the team ready to support the client, and understanding their business and priorities will help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welcome kits can take many forms, from a \u201cWelcome Box\u201d full of your company swag, to an email containing a PDF guide, to everything in between. Regardless of the approach you choose, make sure the kit includes information specifically created for the client\u2019s users, like contact info for how they can easily reach their MSP contact, or a path to the help desk. You can also consider including the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A guide like this is a chance to start everyone off with a positive experience, and on the same page. It shares frequently asked information to buy your MSP time to get up and running, and gives your client a better idea of who you are and what to expect. This kit can be sent via email, but sometimes it\u2019s more beneficial to provide something tangible. Even if you choose to go digital, consider sending a physical follow-up at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have all the info your engineers need to set up your client\u2019s new tech stack, everyone has met one another, and now it\u2019s showtime! Deployment is when all your preparation, organization, and planning comes together to create an amazing first impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now is the time to deploy your monitoring system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on the previous MSP, there may be other agents installed which need to be removed first. We recommend installing your agent and uninstalling the legacy systems before connecting them to your PSA (ticketing) system. Otherwise, you may be inundated with a huge influx of support tickets saying alerts haven\u2019t been configured correctly, or systems are in a poor state of management \u2014 which isn\u2019t the impression you want to give your new client during deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use your onboarding checklist to help you design your new client\u2019s tech stack, and ensure your products cover all their stated needs. Look for any legacy software that the previous MSP may have left behind that needs to be removed before deploying your stack, then go live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deploying your tech stack will likely include some or all of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once your tech stack has been employed, you\u2019ll need to change all administrative passwords as soon as possible. During stack development and deployment, admin passwords are often shared with multiple employees, which increases the attack surface and reduces security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ensure you change passwords for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Change these passwords to a secure, complex password completely distinct from the one used during setup. If possible, enable multi-factor authentication<\/a> (MFA), single sign-on<\/a> (SSO), and password management<\/a> to further secure these credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you are confident that your RMM alerts are manageable it is time to connect them to your PSA to give you confidence that no issues are being missed and that your identity and\/or device counts are correct and confirmed on your contract. By this point, you should have a pretty complete picture of your client infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you begin to import devices to your PSA, ensure each device and asset is associated with the correct service-level agreement. A router, for example, may have a 24\/7 contact with 2-hour response time, whereas desktops may be Monday-Friday 9-5 only. This ensures all tickets are routed to the correct queue so the SLA is met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, your client is officially on board\u2026now what? Maintain regular communication to ensure no issues are being missed and that you are proactively handling complaints or problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After around one month, meet again with your internal team to see how managing the new client is going. Identify and address any issues that have come up, trends you\u2019re seeing, or positive client feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve synced internally, hold a check-in meeting with the client, too. Ask for feedback, wins, and any issues they\u2019re experiencing to get an accurate read of how they\u2019re feeling about everything. Identifying any stumbling blocks early on helps prevent any problems from building, and ensures the relationship gets off to the best possible start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the contract is up and running, it\u2019s vital that you\u2019re able to continuously demonstrate the value your MSP brings to the client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If all is going well, the client may not have much need to contact you, but it\u2019s important for retention that they keep you top of mind. This is where a regular (weekly or monthly) executive summary can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Submit a summary email on a regular cadence with information like patch statuses, security updates, the number of tickets that have been opened\/resolved since your last update, etc. This helps you demonstrate your value to the client, and gives them visibility into the behind-the-scenes effort they may not otherwise be privy to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plan to meet face-to-face with your client at least once a quarter to ensure you stay in touch. These meetings give you an opportunity to see what your client is forecasting for their next quarter, and plan for any growth or company shrink they\u2019re expecting. They\u2019re also a great chance to further deepen your relationship, and to offer any advice or suggestions on how your client can continue to grow and improve their IT stack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The MSP client onboarding process can be daunting, but with 黑料海角91入口, it doesn\u2019t have to be. Our Multi-Tenant Portal<\/a> (MTP) allows MSPs to easily manage all their clients, from onboarding into long-term relationships, from a single pane of glass. Want to see the difference in onboarding with 黑料海角91入口? Try it for free today, or schedule a demo<\/a>. And don\u2019t forget to visit our MSP Community Page<\/a> for resources and discussions to ensure you get off to the best start possible with your newest clients!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When beginning a new business relationship, first impressions are everything. Indeed, the success or failure of your relationship with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":84156,"template":"","categories":[2782,2753],"collection":[],"wheel_hubs":[],"platform":[2745],"resource_type":[2310],"funnel_stage":[],"coauthors":[2703],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInformation Gathering<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Checklist<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Client Information<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Users and Groups<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Inventory (Hardware)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Inventory (Services)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Apps<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Stakeholder Updates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hold an Internal Team Meeting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Send a Welcome Kit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Deployment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Deploy Your RMM Agent\/Monitor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Deploy Your MSP Stack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Password Changes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Configure PSA\/Documentation Solutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Ongoing Relationship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Meet Again at the One-Month Mark<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Send a Regular Executive Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Simplify Client Onboarding with 黑料海角91入口<\/h2>\n\n\n\n