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Managed IT services and why onboarding fees are a separate cost
A question we often handle at Sound Networks when we start working with a customer is why we charge onboarding fees when a monthly support agreement is about to begin. It’s a fair question which is best addressed sooner rather than later, and we would rather talk about this at the outset, rather than leaving room for confusion and awkward conversations at a later stage.
In a nutshell, onboarding is not the same as support. Managed service plans are intended to manage, monitor, support and maintain your existing environment on an ongoing basis. Onboarding is the foundational work required to discover your setup, document & understand it properly and bring it up to a safe and supportable standard with the right tools and processes in place, before the ongoing support phase begins.
Another way to look at this is that support is managing and maintaining what you have now, whereas onboarding is the work needed to make now possible. They are two different types of input from us and because of this they are priced separately.
What does onboarding involve?
Onboarding is a planned and structured piece of work which lays the foundations for the support which follows afterwards. Although it may sound like it’s just a piece of account setup and administration – which is a part of it, but it’s just a small part of a bigger picture. Following best practice to onboard your IT typically involves several stages such as discovery, auditing, documentation, review of existing services as well as the deployment of the tools and services included in your chosen support package, all broken down into key stages. After each stage we need to pause and reassess before moving to the next. Furthermore, we like to stay in touch with you throughout the process to keep you updated and informed.
It’s important that we go through this process as thoroughly as possible to give us the best chance of properly supporting your systems once they have been brought up to a supportable standard. If things are outdated, poorly configured, insecure or contain systems out of scope of the initial agreement, this creates risks and obstacles for both parties. Addressing all of this from the beginning of our relationship means a smoother and more reliable support experience is possible afterwards.
Why is this charged separately?
When we start working with you and we make an initial assessment of your systems, this allows us to gauge how far from a supportable standard you are. No two businesses are the same and everyone tends to start from a different place. One business may already have up to date and well configured systems, documentation, security controls and a well managed Microsoft 365 tenant. Whereas another may have older equipment, inconsistent setups, no documentation, out of date/legacy software, misconfigured permissions and gaping holes in their backup strategy and or security. The work which we would need to complete to bring these two businesses up to the same supportable standard could differ widely.
Why can’t you just build this into the monthly fees?
If we were to simply absorb the onboarding work into the monthly fees this would be guess work for every client. Plus, it would mean that some customers are paying more than they should and others less, which would be unfair. Or it could mean that the onboarding work is under resourced, completed hastily or not completed correctly. Consequently, we believe it is more transparent and reasonable to treat onboarding as a one off, customer specific and focussed project and to keep the monthly service fees tailored to the appropriate ongoing support, monitoring and maintenance that follows.
"We don’t want the businesses with well kept environments to end up subsidising those that need more work at the beginning."
From a service quality perspective, this significant setup, remediation and standard alignment work takes planning, attention and usually lots of our time. Treating that work as a project means that it is done effectively rather than as part of the support agreement where it could compete with your day-to-day support needs. We aim to protect the quality of the onboarding and the support you get after that.
Broken down into more simple terms…
Here we go, back to the car analogy again – sorry! A less complex way to look at this is that the ongoing maintenance contract is a service plan for your car. The onboarding is the initial inspection to make sure the vehicle is roadworthy and ready for service and MOT. Any major works required for this would be quoted separately.
We want to be as transparent as possible where onboarding fees are concerned.
Yes, it is an upfront cost, but it will pay dividends long term as it lays the foundations for a better support experience in the future. Covering any outstanding issues now helps to avoid difficult conversations at a later stage caused by presumptions. Charging each customer a bespoke fee based on their own requirements helps us to maintain consistency with support fees and fairness with onboarding costs.
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01225 701650Strattons House, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 6JL
networks@soundnetworks.net08:30 AM - 17:00 PM
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