Taking on a new hire is the start of a journey for the employee and your business. There are a lot of moving parts – HR, paperwork, training and of course, IT setup. There are good ways to do all of the above, and then there are ways that can create more problems down the track.
Poor IT onboarding leads to lost productivity, security gaps, and a disorganised first day that’s a sign of more chaos down the track. A solid IT onboarding process brings clarity to a role. It ensures security and helps the relationship get off to the best start possible.
Let’s take a look at five key steps you should lock in for a seamless IT onboarding process.
Key IT Onboarding Steps
Key IT Onboarding Steps1. Get Their Microsoft 365 Account Ready Early
New starters need a working email address and access to Microsoft Teams and other core apps they’ll use day to day. Account creation takes time – there’s licence assignment, profile configuration, verification and so on. Getting it taken care of before the employee starts is a nice head start for them that takes the pressure off their first day. It also gives you a chance to catch small errors beforehand, so there are fewer frustrations on the day.
2. Assign Licences Correctly
There are different license tiers to Microsoft 365, and it’s important that new hires are placed into the correct tier. What we often see is that each new employee automatically gets placed on the highest tier available – this could mean you’re over-licensed and paying for functionality you don’t use. If you go too low, they might not have the proper tools to do their job.
It’s easier to get the licensing right at the start, as these are decisions that tend to stick. Get it wrong, and you could be looking at an audit down the track.
3. Apply Security Settings Before the First Login
If you’re focusing on fostering a strong cybersecurity posture for your business, then you want all the security settings applied to a new account before the first login. Hackers will target new accounts because this is something that’s often overlooked.
Multi-factor authentication should be active before the employee’s first login, not retrospectively. All devices they use should be enrolled with Microsoft Intune for advanced MDM (mobile device management), and all conditional access policies should be applied. Security setup should be deliberate and planned, with nothing overlooked at the setup stage.
4. Control Access Based on Role Requirements
Access permissions are frequently mismanaged at onboarding. Many businesses take the shortcut of copying the permissions of an existing member. The problem there is any errors or excess that employee has will transfer to the new employee. Instead, define access based on the specific role and its requirements.
This limits the potential damage if an account is compromised. It also simplifies compliance – if someone only has access to what they need, there is less to audit and less to explain if something goes wrong. Access to SharePoint folders, shared drives, distribution lists, third-party platforms and so on should be scoped only to what is necessary.
5. Assign Ownership of the Onboarding Process
5. Assign Ownership of the Onboarding ProcessOnboarding works best when you have a team member who is responsible and accountable for the above steps. Consistency is key – if multiple people take on the role in a half-hearted fashion, things will get missed and results will be mixed. The inconsistency compounds over time – you get different standards, devices that aren’t enrolled properly and access that is either too far-reaching or falls short of what’s required.
Checklists are your friend here. They help keep the process consistent, so whatever department the new person is joining the IT onboarding will go according to a predetermined plan.
Documented processes exist precisely to remove that variability. Whether the checklist lives in your project management tool, with your IT provider, or somewhere else, it should be the same process regardless of which department the new employee is joining or how quickly they need to start.
Getting Onboarding Right with Smile IT
IT onboarding requires deliberate planning for seamless execution. The steps above don’t cover everything – they’re just intended to highlight some important aspects of the process. Every business will have its own systems and requirements. If you would like guidance with IT onboarding that fits in with your current setup, then the Smile IT team will help put in a process that works every time.
As a managed service provider, we’ll help streamline your IT onboarding and make sure your new employees have the tools to contribute from the moment they start.
Get in touch to find out how we can support your team.
When he’s not writing tech articles or turning IT startups into established and consistent managed service providers, Peter Drummond can be found kitesurfing on Moreton Bay or hanging out with his family!