How the pandemic has helped us to improve our onboarding process

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The pandemic forced changes for many businesses, meaning having to learn new ways of working, and doing so quickly. At Tribeca, we have always focused on delivering excellent client service and that service starts when onboarding any new client, but we needed to adapt our current processes to ensure that we delivered that same level of excellence but in a different way.

Introduction Meeting

Before covid, an initial introduction would have been via a conference call.  We would then book a face-to-face meeting at the client’s site, where the salesperson would introduce the onboarding engineer. This visit would be coupled with also doing the site audit.

During covid restrictions, we carried on doing our initial introduction via video conference which has worked well.  Bobby Black, a member of our Professional Services Team, said: “The lack of the face-to-face meetings and communication during the site audit has made it a little tougher to build that important relationship in the early days. However, the increased uptake in video conferencing has shortened the time to first contact”.

Going forward we are putting an even greater emphasis on early communication and making more of an effort to start building our relationships with our clients sooner and speaking more frequently on video calls rather than waiting until the next scheduled face-to-face meeting. We have always known that poor communication can be a reason that a business looks to change its IT service provider, so we’re always keen to improve our processes when we can.

Infrastructure Audit

Before covid, our site audit would be completed at the same time as a face-to-face introduction meeting with our clients.

During covid restrictions around half of the onboardings were able to have a ‘traditional’ site audit, dependent on the restrictions or risks at the time. Otherwise, we relied on documentation from the client and incumbent provider to ensure that we were able to complete our audit to the necessary level. Overall, the onboarding team at Tribeca felt that this way of working had a varying impact depending on the type or how much infrastructure the client has in their office. For those who are heavily cloud-based, it has not been any more difficult to complete the onboarding.

Going forward we still see site visits as a core part of our processes, but we have the confidence that if we cannot get to site or we need to onboard remote locations that we can do so with minimal impact on the overall quality. This learning has also improved the information we request from incumbent providers and how we request it, which in the long term will be beneficial for all types of onboarding.

Findings & Recommendations Meeting (F&R)

Before covid, we mostly held our F&R meeting in person at either the client’s or Tribeca’s offices. However, for offices that are being onboarded overseas, we would have used video calls to ensure we were able to discuss our report.

During covid restrictions, we had to rely on video calls as a means of minimising unnecessary contact where possible. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always an option for our clients which meant resorting to a voice conference call. This way of working was a harder process, as we were unable to read people’s faces which in turn then hindered our ability to deliver a comprehensive report. We pride ourselves and providing an in-depth report that covers the entire IT estate and an increased number of remote meetings allowed us to adjust the delivery to better engage with our clients.

Going forward, we will take these lessons learned from the remote delivery and apply them to all of our future F&R meetings, in person or via video call. This new style of delivery is more engaging and encourages a dialogue with our clients that is often invaluable.

Account Manager Introduction

Before covid, the account manager was typically introduced at the F&R meeting. However, more recently we started introducing the account manager earlier in the process to help with the client relationship. The account manager would take the client out to lunch to help familiarise the client with their point of contact moving forward and to answer any questions the client has about the onboarding process.

During covid restrictions, we’ve been unable to offer lunch meetings to reduce the risk of infection. The account manager is now introduced much earlier in the process for all clients. For clients that will have a lengthy or risky migration, the account manager will be present in the very first introduction meeting so that they are fully aware of every step of the onboarding. Having more regular calls and being video calls instead of voice has improved the ability and flexibility to include the account manager in the onboarding compared to in-person meetings.

Going forward, meetings that can be held on video calls with the client will allow the account manager to be involved in more conversations and stay up to date with the onboarding. We’ve seen that this allows clients to get the answers to any questions quicker as the account manager has been more involved in the onboarding process themselves.

Previous Provider Handover

Before covid, the communications were a mix of calls and emails depending on the length and type of onboarding. This would sometimes be across various threads with different people from the same companies and could slow things down.

During covid restrictions, there has been a slight shift towards video calls as it has become part of everyday working life for most people. This has expedited the handover in some cases, but there is still a dependency on emails and written communications to leave a paper trail and confirm what was discussed on calls. The uptake in video calls has mostly been for the clients that we were unable to complete an onsite infrastructure audit.

Going forward, the continued use of video calls will be dependent on the third party involved. We would welcome the change as we have seen some benefits to using this as a means of information gathering.

Conclusion

The onboarding process is an incredibly important start to building a partnership with our clients and how we do it is one of our most frequently asked questions. Taking a proactive approach and using our vast experience, we ensure that every touchpoint with our client is as seamless as possible. Because we operate an honest and transparent process it allows us to learn and evolve as our client partnership develops and adapt to internal or external events, quickly.

Moving forward, we’ll take our learnings from the covid restrictions and improve our process to save our clients time whilst increasing our communication throughout the process. The outcome hopefully being a shorter onboarding period with a much stronger relationship being built in those crucial first weeks.

At Tribeca Technology we offer IT support services tailored to businesses in the Alternative Investment sector. From Hedge Fund IT Support to Private Equity IT Support. We operate as your business partner and want to be seen as an extension of your business, providing consistent quality and proactive assistance to help you grow and protect your business. 

For more information on our IT support and managed services for the alternative investment sector, get in touch with us today.

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