Effective onboarding + offboarding of tools
Determining which tools are right for your business is a vital part of a founder's journey. But do you have effective processes surrounding their adoption and implementation (and offboarding)?
Now is the ideal time to launch, scale, and operationalize your startup. Affordable tools have been developed worldwide to streamline business operations, giving startups of all sizes access to powerful software. This introduces new considerations to buy-it vs. build-it decisions, allowing smart founders to use tools to create more bandwidth and stretch the power of their team. Whether you need CRM, financial management, or communication solutions, there's a wide range of SaaS tools available. LinkedIn influencers endorse their preferred "tech stack" for business operations. However, finding the right fit requires effective onboarding and offboarding practices, and one size does not fit all. Onboarding refers to the process of integrating and adopting new tools into your startup and is vital to avoid tool fatigue and effectively address core issues, while offboarding involves removing or transitioning away from existing tools in a structured manner and is needed to reduce bloat and redundancy.
how DO you manage how your team effectively onboards and offboards tools to avoid redundancy and bloat?
Design effective systems that onboard and offboard tools to fit the unique needs of your business in parallel with how your people work
Why This Works
Creating systems around how you onboard and offboard your tools becomes more valuable as your headcount grows and your business scales. Clear processes ensure data and budget protection while providing clarity to your team members. When employees are excited about a tool's problem-solving capabilities, a roadmap for testing and adoption is crucial. Similarly, there is no need to pay for a tool that your team doesn’t use. Clearly articulating how to remove a tool from your tech stack is valuable, especially in the early stages when you're establishing growth structures. Tools cannot and will not solve all of your problems. By not relying on a single all-in-one, out-of-the-box solution, you are keeping a fresh perspective as your business changes over time and can assess your needs in contrast to your current solutions - and iterate as needed.
Why Do This Now
Organizing how you approach tool adoption and cancellation becomes that much harder when you have people across departments working on solving cross-functional problems. It’s important to provide the autonomy for them to solve their problems and scale the business, while also avoiding team members duplicating tools or relitigating a tool that another team already tested. Establishing systems and expectations early on will prove beneficial as you grow your business. By developing clear processes for tool onboarding and offboarding, you establish checks and balances to ensure appropriate access to tools. And, as with any good operating documentation, it is a living document that should be reviewed, iterated, and updated as needed.
how We Do: Design lightweight frameworks that manage how you effectively onboard and offboard tools.
Onboarding
Part of building a growing startup is seeking out innovation that can “level up” your operations. It’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of what tools are working well for others and to lean on experts when needed. Remember to think like an internal product manager and develop a framework to review tools to ensure that they truly solve your needs. While going through the onboarding and implementation process - document how you use it. This creates consistency and helps to streamline the process and get your team up to speed more quickly. As you structure your internal product management to include onboarding new tools, there are key questions and considerations that you can utilize to templatize a review process that works for your company:
Purpose and Fit:
What specific problem or need does the tool address?
How does it align with the startup's goals and objectives?
Will it integrate well with existing tools and systems?
Cost and Budget:
What is the pricing structure of the tool?
Does it offer a free trial or a demo period?
How does the cost compare to the value it provides?
Does it fit within your budget?
User Interface and Usability:
Is the tool intuitive and easy to use?
Will it require extensive training for employees to adopt?
Does it have a clean and organized interface?
Are there any potential usability issues that might hinder productivity?
Integration and Compatibility:
Does the tool integrate with existing tools and software used by the startup?
Are there any potential conflicts or compatibility issues?
Will it require additional development or customization for seamless integration?
Scalability and Future Needs:
Can the tool scale with the growth of the startup?
Does it offer different pricing tiers or plans to accommodate future needs?
Will it support the increased workload or user base as the startup expands?
Security and Data Privacy:
What security measures does the tool provide?
How is user data protected?
Does the tool comply with relevant data protection regulations?
Support and Training:
What kind of customer support does the tool provider offer?
Are there training resources available, such as documentation or tutorials?
Is there a community or user forum for additional support?
Feedback and Reviews:
Have you researched and read reviews from other users or companies?
What are the experiences and feedback of other startups that have used the tool?
Return on Investment (ROI):
How will the tool benefit the startup in terms of increased productivity, efficiency, or revenue?
Can you quantify the expected ROI or cost savings from implementing the tool?
Implementation Plan:
Who will be responsible for managing the implementation and onboarding process?
What is the timeline and process for implementing the tool?
How will you measure the success and effectiveness of the tool after implementation?
Offboarding
Engaged employees benefit from clear processes and a clear understanding of the reasoning behind them. Part of this equation is not being overburdened with tool fatigue (keep an eye out next week) and not chasing the cool new thing. An HBR study found 66% of workers would prefer "less-than-pleasant activities such as waiting in line at the DMV, jury duty, arguing with their significant others, or even cleaning the bathroom" to working with their company's software platforms.
Working within a system that is reliable and makes sense, while being nimble enough to iterate when needed, is vital. This is why effectively offboarding tools when they become unreliable, irrelevant, burdensome, or outdated is extremely important to effective operations and positive employee morale. As you structure your internal product management to include offboarding old tools, here are some examples of key questions and considerations that you can utilize to templatize a review process that works for your company:
Identifying Targets to Offboard:
How often does my team use a given tool?
Can the usage justify the expense?
What specific shortcomings or limitations does it have?
Impact Assessment:
How will the offboarding of the tool affect workflow and processes?
What are the potential risks or challenges associated with the transition?
Are there any dependencies or integrations that need to be addressed? Do they need to be transitioned to a new tool before you turn off the existing tool?
Does this tool impact any external stakeholders or primarily internal teams?
Data Migration:
What data is stored within the old tool?
How will the data be migrated to a new tool or system if it’s being replaced?
Are there any data format or compatibility issues to consider?
What measures will be taken to ensure data integrity and security during the migration process?
Communication and Change Management:
How will the offboarding process be communicated to employees? Does there need to be a team meeting to restructure team tool use moving forward?
What are the key messages and talking points to address concerns or resistance?
Is there a change management plan to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption?
License and Subscription Management:
What are the contractual obligations or terms related to the old tool?
Is there a notice period or contract termination procedure to follow?
Are there any financial implications or cancellation fees to consider?
Data Cleanup and Decommissioning:
How will the data within the old tool be securely deleted or archived?
Are there any compliance or regulatory requirements to adhere to?
What steps will be taken to ensure sensitive or confidential data is properly handled?
Evaluation and Feedback:
What lessons can be learned from using the old tool? What mistake might we want to capture so we don’t repeat history?
Are there any insights or feedback from employees regarding its strengths and weaknesses?
Can the experience with the old tool inform the selection of a better replacement in the future?
Transition Plan:
Who will be responsible for managing the offboarding and transition?
What is the timeline for the offboarding process?
Are there specific milestones or checkpoints to track progress?
Post-Offboarding Evaluation:
How will you assess the success of the offboarding process?
Have you achieved the desired outcomes or improvements by replacing the old tool?
Are there any areas that need further refinement or adjustment?
Tools 🛠️
Use a password manager such as 1Password, Dashlane, or LastPass, or lean on a password-protected Notion page or your knowledge management tool to develop a centralized hosting place for login information.
As you grow, consider a SaaS Management platform, such as Cledara that goes a step further to provide complete visibility into your software usage.
As we reviewed in a past issue, address opportunities for automation and improvement. Link tools using Zapier or Slack to streamline your operations and find gaps and/or duplicity.
Rules (Process) 📝
Use a generic account (info@, accounts@, etc.) to ensure that you have consistent access to each tool. When possible use a SSO tied to a centralized email address.
Use one credit card for software subscriptions for easy review and/or cancellation.
Whether QBO, Zoho, Wave, or another accounting tool - utilize a tagging system so you can easily review your SaaS expenditures on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
Remember that at the end of the day, you're evaluating whether the "what" of a system matches the "who" of the system.
Templatize the considerations outlined above to regularly review tool usage against your current and predicted needs.
When offboarding, ensure all data is downloaded before cancellation and maintain a dedicated “archive” folder to store old information for record-keeping purposes.
If you start a free trial but don’t proceed with a paid account - cancel the account. No need for your data to live within someone else’s ecosystem.
People 🫶
Will your team have to change their habits and rituals of working?
If so, do you need to help them plan to get into a new cadence of tool usage, team communication on progress, key updates, etc?
Work with your team to clearly define the following:
Who has the authorization to purchase a new tool?
Who is responsible for data security, access, and permissions?
When a new team member is hired or someone departs your company, ensure you have clear policies in place to ensure your data is protected.
Who should be included when considering a tool?
Ensure your employees have a voice in the tool review and decision-making process, and that anyone who may use the tool - even tangentially - is involved in the training process.
Take It Up A Level
Using AI to Improve how You Do:
Utilize AI-powered tools like ChatGPT to actively guide and support the creation of SOPs for tool usage, onboarding, and offboarding processes. Use Loom for video explanations or a tool like Trainual to create detailed policies.
Rocket Money (formerly TrueBill) is not just limited to personal use. Consider leveraging its AI capabilities to adopt a data-driven approach to assess and review your recurring business SaaS expenses.
TrueWind uses AI to auto-tag transactions which can make it easy for a comprehensive review.
Going deeper on what you know
Keep a spreadsheet or a Notion page that details your current tech stack. This provides a centralized place for a snapshot of how your team currently operates.
Tag each tool by the functional area and teams that use it so that you have a clear picture of who “owns” each piece of software.
Establish benchmarks to review engagement and success metrics for your tools. Similar to OKRs and KPIs, evaluate your tools regularly to ensure they are supporting your efforts to scale. Continually ask yourself if the tool captures the correct data and provides the functionality you need.
Actually Actionable
Nice article. Now what?
We’ve taken the ideas above and created an action plan for you and your team.
Evaluate your current tech stack. List all software that your team uses - being sure to include the cost, who uses it, and what it solves
Agenda:
Meeting 1: Engage with team leads to ask for their input on which tools their teams utilize (15 minutes)
Meeting 2: Review your monthly expenditures to ensure all tools were included (30 minutes)
Meeting 3: Create a spreadsheet that details the tool, cost, team, and solution (1 hour)
Review these tools with your team. Try to understand what gaps still exist and if there is any redundancy. Engage with mastermind networks, search G2, Product Hunt, or companies.tools, chat with other founders and have your team members speak with their network to understand if there are other tools you should consider.
Agenda:
Meeting 1: Meet with your team to introduce the spreadsheet you created above and ensure all tools were included (1 Hour)
Meeting 2: Reconvene with the group to review redundancy and gaps in your solutions - make changes as needed (2 Hours)
Update your tools to consolidate them under one main login. Determine who on your team will be responsible for managing the accounts and access
Agenda:
Task specific individuals with tool oversight - ask that they consolidate and centralize all tools while providing a comprehensive review of usage and access (1 Week)
Align your policies with the outcomes of these meetings - both from a tool and personnel standpoint. Templatize key considerations and work with your team to draft policies that clearly articulate your tool onboarding and offboarding process.
Agenda
Create an initial framework for tool management by templatizing the key questions for both onboarding and offboarding (1 Hour)
Work with key individuals from the section above as well as team leads to codify and implement the updated policies (1 Week)
Wrap-Up
The abundance of SaaS solutions has made it easier than ever to streamline operations and solve operational challenges. By leveraging free trials and adopting SOPs, founders can improve their team's productivity while optimizing their tech stack and establishing scalable operations. That said, it’s important, especially in the early days, to develop clear processes regarding effective onboarding and offboarding of these tools to avoid bloat, redundancy, and wasted funds and to ensure only those that should have access, do have access. Clearly defined processes not only allow complete visibility but offer clarity to support your team members. Now, how to avoid tool fatigue? More on that next week.
Writer: Scott
Collaborators: Caleigh & Britt
Thoughts on a topic that you would like us to cover in a future issue - we would love to hear from you: founder@weofalltrades.com