Imagine a situation where it’s your first day at your new job, and you’ve got no direction versus a first day with a clear orientation process and welcoming messages from your co-workers. The first will make you feel lost and frustrated, while the latter will attest to why you chose to work there.
The onboarding process doesn’t just help your employees know what to do and when to do it – it also sets the foundation for their relationship with the company. While onboarding processes do look different for each role, a solid one will feature a few must-have items.
One of these important components is the IT onboarding process. Especially if you’re a remote-first company that doesn’t provide in-person help, your employees will need all the guidance they can get.
What is IT Onboarding?
While a complete onboarding process involves integrating a new hire into the company and getting them familiar with things like the company culture, their role and responsibilities, and the co-workers they’ll be working most closely with, IT onboarding focuses simply on technological infrastructure.
New staff members will need to be able to access the relevant software and hardware they need to do their jobs and become comfortable using them. The responsibility of IT onboarding typically falls on a dedicated IT team but will also require the involvement of other teams like HR. These onboarding packages might include granting the new hire access to the right software and network resources with their own login details, creating user accounts from scratch, and educating them on security and privacy guidelines and IT policies that exist within the broader company.
Although the IT part of onboarding is more practical and instructional and less about building personal relationships, a well-executed IT onboarding process can make new employees feel confident and supported.
3 Best Practices to Make Sure IT Onboarding Goes Smoothly
A smooth onboarding process goes beyond giving them directions and login details. It’s about getting them acquainted with the platforms and putting them through useful cybersecurity training.
- Have an IT asset management system: No matter whether you’re a large enterprise or a small startup, being organized with your IT assets is essential when you’re onboarding remote employees. With everyone scattered across the city, country, or globe, you’ll want to know where your assets are and have an effective way to on and off board your employees. You’ll also want IT purchasing solutions that make it easy to access the most current and applicable equipment for your business.
- Blend structured meetings with self-guided onboarding: Having the best of both worlds allows new hires to receive the support they need while being independent through the IT onboarding process. It provides a more flexible yet personalized way for them to learn about the software they need to use in their position while also having the autonomy to explore resources and tools at their own pace.
- Provide ongoing support and receive regular feedback: The more open the lines of communication are, the easier it will be for new employees to seek out help and ask questions. Ongoing support will help new team members feel valued, and, consequently, be more inclined to provide honest feedback to improve the ongoing onboarding process at the same time.
Creating Your Own Flowchart or Checklist
The best document to provide all new hires is a flowchart or checklist that gives them a rundown of what needs to be done and what’s to come in the process. This won’t just be useful for the hire but also for all the stakeholders that are involved in the onboarding process. For instance, the IT department can check whether the employee has already received their equipment and created their accounts, and the team manager could think about scheduling a one-on-one meeting.
IT Onboarding Checklist Items
Checklists often involve a list of items that simply need to be checked off once they’re complete, perhaps with sub-items underneath them. These might include:
- Ordering materials: Have the right materials been ordered and sent out to the new hire? Each role might require a different set of tools, so make sure you’ve assigned and shipped out the correct ones to the correct people.
- Setting up accounts: New employees need to have access to the necessary software from day one. That means user profiles should already be set up, and software should already be downloaded onto the computer. This phase also requires assigning the proper access levels and enforcing strong password policies.
- Scheduling meetings: While this likely won’t involve listing a specific date and time, this checkbox could involve contacting a specific team member to set up an initial orientation or a training session for certain software or to go over security protocols.
- Provision of training manuals and other documents: When materials are sent out to the new hire, the package should also include all training manuals and documents required for them to read. This might include instructions on how to get set up with certain tools and contact details for the IT support team or other methods to access help when needed.
Connecting the Dots
IT Onboarding Flowchart Items
Flowcharts are a little different than checklists, as there’s the added component of time involved. This can help if you plan to consider pre-onboarding and onboarding that spans past one day. For example, the flowchart may be divided into four stages – the offer acceptance stage, the pre-onboarding stage, day one, and then post-onboarding. It might look something like this:
Offer Acceptance
- Departments should start creating employee profiles
- HR sends out a welcome package
Pre-Onboarding (1 Week+ Before Start)
- Send in material order request and deliver to new hire
- Arrange software and set up user accounts
- Make sure software licenses and subscriptions are up to date
Day One
- Schedule relevant meetings for training and setup
- Provide training manuals and documents
- Assign a mentor or go-to colleague
- Discuss post-onboarding details
Post-Onboarding
- Offer regular check-ins
- Provide access to training sessions and modules
- Establish a feedback loop
- Have opportunities for peer mentoring
- Ongoing cybersecurity training
Why Choose Dots as Your IT Inventory Software
When you’re ready to give your IT onboarding process a facelift, Dots can help you handle IT purchasing solutions and IT asset management, as well as a streamlined onboarding and offboarding process for employees regardless of where they’re located. Our powerful software is an end-to-end solution for IT procurement services, allowing you to increase efficiency, organization, and productivity so you can focus on other, more personal aspects of the onboarding process. Book a demo today and start managing your business assets like a pro.
