Network Security
Vulnerability Management
Privileged Access Management
Endpoint Security
Threat Hunting
Unified Endpoint Management
Email & Collaboration Security
Contents:
During the customer onboarding process, as an MSP, make sure all responsibilities, deadlines, and metrics are clear for everybody.
Just like in any relationship, you want to set expectations and boundaries with new clients from the start.
Key takeaways:
- Sign a Service Level Agreement (SLA). An SLA is a document that sets what, when, and how you’ll deliver to the new client. Get a specialized lawyer to review it.
- Assess company needs, infrastructure, and compliance regulations
- Establish clear communication channels and procedures. They should signal critical issues by phone, not email or ticketing.
- Double-check potential legacy issues
- Be ready to reassess and adjust. Create opportunities for feedback
- Use this MSP onboarding checklist to make sure you have the whole client onboarding process under control
MSP customer onboarding process
Set and follow a customer onboarding process that will support you in building healthy relationships.
It might be tempting to focus less on a new client once they have signed the contract. Ignoring steps when onboarding might speed up things, but will also leave room for:
- client misunderstanding procedures
- unrealistic client expectations on the managed services you can provide
- client dissatisfaction with the service delivery time
- unnecessary pressure on your team members
So, follow a client onboarding checklist that will prevent you from overlooking important steps in the MSP onboarding process.
Assess customer needs and infrastructure
Start assessing your customer’s needs and infrastructure. Make sure you understood their IT requirements and all client’s details at the bidding stage:
- main challenges
- business objectives
- specific industry regulations
You’ve already got a general idea, but during the MSP client onboarding process it’s time to get into closer detail. It will help you fine tune your managed services.
Here’s why Harry Asche, a seasoned Managed Services Provider at howtostream.co.nz, thinks assessing needs and infrastructure is a valuable step of the customer onboarding process:
By taking this step, we can be sure that we are completely aware of the hardware, software, networks, and security protocols in the client’s current IT environment.
This not only facilitates a more seamless transition and application of our solutions, but it also aids in the detection of any possible problems or weaknesses that require quick attention.
Lilia Tovbin, CEO & Founder of BigMailer.io SaaS platform for email marketing agencies works with managed services providers daily. She says bypassing the evaluation of a new client’s system is risky:
When MSPs don’t fully understand a client’s requirements and systems upfront, it often leads to misunderstandings and underestimated complexities.
For example, integration challenges with existing systems may arise due to insufficient understanding of the client’s IT infrastructure.
Overlooking critical dependencies or regulatory compliance considerations can lead to delays as these issues are addressed retroactively.
An in-depth assessment of the client’s network and endpoints should answer:
- How many applications does the client use and what are those?
- How many endpoints will you attend to?
- What regulations on handling sensitive data does the new client have to comply to?
- What is the client’s pain point?
- Who handled the existing assets before your arrival? Did they hand over all the information? Will you need anything else from them to take over and manage the customer’s infrastructure?
- Are there any legacy issues regarding the customer’s infrastructure?
Set the service level agreement (SLA)
A service level agreement is a contract that outlines what managed services a provider will deliver and the standards they must meet.
Once you have assessed the customer’s needs and current infrastructure, explain how you`re planning to solve their needs. If done well, an SLA should work like a safety net for you and like a quality guarantee for your client.
As a managed services provider, you should list these elements in your SLAs:
– services and solutions
– services and solutions you are not responsible for
– performance metrics, timelines and milestones included
– an estimate of how fast they’ll deliver services daily. Assess the ticketing system’s responsiveness with a worst-case scenario in mind, rather than normal conditions. In case your ticketing system is flooded, you’ll want that expected response time to be long enough to cover for that.
– performance standards, which include clear metrics, like:
- service hours
- defect rates
- patching level
– penalties in case of failure. Don’t be too optimistic about this either. Get an experienced contract lawyer’s advice to review your SLA draft. This protects you in situations that you can’t control.
– cancellation conditions. The SLA contract should make clear under what circumstances you can cancel the contract. Also, leave room for review. If your client’s business grows, you both might need to adjust expectations.
You’ll need to review and adjust the SLA content for each client, there’s no one size fits all. However, covering the elements above will stand you in good stead.
Communication guidelines and who’s who
Define key stakeholders, roles, and responsibilities for both the MSP onboarding process and future collaboration. You should clarify the:
- working hours
- outside working hours contact
- stakeholder responsibilities
- communication channels
- emergency process, including what is an emergency, who to contact, and how. I recommend contacting by phone to avoid losing critical messages in emails and tickets
Ask for feedback. Not only does it help you optimize services, but it can also provide valuable customer testimonials to consolidate your brand.
Implementation
Once you agree on services and solutions, implement them across the customer’s infrastructure:
- Setup the network
- Check and secure access control and permissions. Review user accounts, apply the principle of least privilege and separation of duties
- Configure hardware and software:
– Install and configure Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools
– Automate as many of the repetitive tasks as possible
– Team up with an automated patch management solution, like Heimdal’s Patch and Asset Management. You’ll be able to install, remove, and patch software remotely at any time, on any device
Test, train, and support
Test how your cybersecurity tools and strategy integrate with your client’s in-place software. While it might sound good in theory, it could clash with existing infrastructure and disrupt the workflow.
If so, make the necessary adjustments. Businesses have different workflows, security requirements, and objectives. Tailor your managed services to suit their needs.
Train the client’s team on the new tools and processes, like an automated patch and asset management software or the ticketing system.
Set the process for ongoing technical support and communication. Make sure all team members understand how to access and use help desk support.
Partner with leadership to ensure everybody’s compliant with regular maintenance requests, like mandatory rebooting and updates.
Review and adjust
Schedule periodical reviews to check how the client onboarding process worked. Are you keeping up with the timeline? Did you hit your milestones?
Adjust if you need to and keep an eye on future IT development.
MSP client onboarding checklist
You should stick to a client onboarding checklist. Each new client brings a world of data, people, and challenges.
By following a checklist, you boost your chances of a successful MSP onboarding process.
Here’s a downloadable MSP customer onboarding process checklist template.
- Inventory existing hardware, software, and network resources. Standardize hardware as much as possible
- Read the IT infrastructure existing documentation
- Check for any specific configurations – like previous MSP hosting the client’s main Active Directory domain controller on their private cloud
- Identify critical systems and data and make a top-priority list
- Check client’s servers health, storage capacity, and backup solutions
- Check cloud environment configurations
- Make sure you have remote access to the client’s systems and that the previous MSP left you all the administrative passwords you will need
- Start a cybersecurity audit to identify vulnerabilities
- Review current security policies and practices
- Do a cleanup. Wipe and reinstall all end-user devices. The previous managed services provider or vendor might have used an agent-based solution. Don`t rely on them to remove their agent. Make sure you do that on all devices.
- Sign an SLA
- Set a clear communication channel and policy
Customer onboarding don’ts for MSPs
Avoiding common pitfalls is just as important as the main customer onboarding checklist above. Like in any other industry, what you do and how you do it during the client’s onboarding process can harm your work and brand.
So, here’s what you should not do as an MSP, regardless of the circumstance.
Don’t assume, always check
The road to hell is paved with assumptions. Use your previous experience but expect customers to be different. Businesses differentiate based on industry, objectives, budget, corporate culture, and so on.
What worked for one client can be a recipe for failure for the other. Check needs, check how the solution would fit in place, and be open to receiving feedback.
Also, don’t assume your predecessor was as thorough as you. Document, check, and start fresh even if that means reinstalling all endpoints. You don’t want someone else’s mistake to hurt you.
Don’t ignore minor complaints
Minor discomfort can point to major trouble. Here’s an example. Shortly after the onboarding, an MSP got minor complaints about network speed and application performance. The guy didn’t investigate in depth, as he assumed – never assume, check! – they were regular teething issues.
In the end, they turned out to be signs of a larger, underlying problem with the network setup. That eventually resulted in a system failure.
Never be the MSP you wouldn’t want to meet
Treat taking or handing over infrastructure as business. Don’t make it personal. Foster positive relations with everybody, be it a client or a competitor. It will consolidate your brand as a professional.
If you’re being replaced by another MSP, don’t make their life hard. Be helpful, if possible, and try to leave a clean place behind. The client might decide to switch back to you, at the end of the new commitment.
Don’t overlook communication
During onboarding, the client goes through lots of changes and pressure. You still have a long way to go before gaining their trust. Report regularly on your activity and achievements, so they have full visibility to the MSP onboarding process.
Listen to and implement feedback where possible. Don’t let the customer wonder whether they were heard or not. Explain to them how you used their feedback to improve activity.
Be transparent and assertive when, for technical or pricing reasons, you can’t provide any changes. You want to meet client expectations, but before you promise to do that, make sure they are realistic.
Don’t skip customer training
Speeding up processes shouldn’t mean training the internal team on fast-forward. Spend enough time and resources to make sure everybody knows:
- how to use the ticketing system
- how to signal an emergency
- why is it important to comply to security rules
- how to use the new IT tools and systems
It will pay off.
If you don’t, you’ll lose even more time trying to fill in the gaps on the fly.
Heimdal® Patch & Asset Management Software
- Schedule updates at your convenience;
- See any software assets in inventory;
- Global deployment and LAN P2P;
- And much more than we can fit in here...
Conclusion
A clear customer onboarding process saves time and energy and is a solid basis for a successful MSP to client partnership. Use the MSP onboarding checklist as general guidelines and feel free to add more lines to it, that will reflect your experience.
Being an honest, careful, open-minded partner gets you halfway to becoming a company’s go-to MSP.
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