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What to Expect After You Choose CE Software

You did it. You chose your new CE software. Months of vendor selection and sales meetings are over. The finish line is in sight! There’s just one more thing you’ve got to do.

You might call it “getting set up” with the software. Your vendor just calls it “onboarding.”

Setup should be simple, transparent, and efficient.

And the vendor you chose should set expectations right off the bat. After all, you’re probably wondering things like…

You should receive clear, satisfactory answers to those questions. For example, your vendor should be able to provide a realistic estimate of how long the setup process will take based on the features you’ve chosen. Need to import a lot of legacy data? That might make the process take longer. Will you be using single sign-on functionality? If you are, that might require a little extra attention from your vendor.

In addition, they should tell you the name of the person who will guide you along. You should also receive a list of information you need to gather and a rundown of decisions you need to make.

Here are the kinds of answers you want to hear when you ask your vendor about setup and onboarding:

1. They should walk at your pace, not their own.

Your software provider has probably been through this process a lot. They might be perfectly happy to speed through things, get you set up, and move on.

But that’s not how they should treat you.

If you’re new to the CE software world or you’ve never worked on a software migration project before, you might have a big learning curve. That’s not a problem at all. In fact, it’s something your vendor should be well aware of – and be able to accommodate.

Basically, you need some assurance that they’re going to work at a pace you’re comfortable with. If you don’t understand something, they should help you. If you need some time to make a decision, they should give you that time.

The vendor should also be actively and enthusiastically dedicated to getting you up and running. For instance, if you get sidetracked and forget to send along some information (it happens!) the vendor should be there to send you a gentle reminder.

Speaking of gentle reminders…

2. Your point person should be on top of things.

And ideally, there will be just one of them! Here at Rievent, all new clients work with a single point of contact throughout the onboarding process. That way, nobody gets passed around like a hot potato.

The contact person shouldn’t just be somebody to relay messages to other people, though. They should be responsible for having you up and running without a hitch. In other words, they should have an incentive to get you set up properly and efficiently.

3. Nobody should put you to work.

Getting started should never be a chore. To be sure, you’ll have some decisions to make. They won’t be hard ones, though. What demographic data to collect from learners; whether to build-in frequently asked evaluation questions; the navigation bar titles that learners see… those are the sorts of things you’ll need to consider.

The vendor really just needs to gather information that you weren’t able to provide during the sales process. After that’s done – and after the development team has implemented all of your required features – you’re good to go!

Competent CE software providers use equally competent processes.

From start to finish, it should be clear that your vendor uses tried and tested processes for getting you set up. At Rievent, we follow a series of foolproof steps that have proven time and time again to:

What’s the best way to ensure a vendor handles things this way? Ask them.

That’s right. You’ve got to ask about the onboarding process during the sales process. If a vendor doesn’t provide satisfactory answers – or they don’t seem to have confidence in their own procedures – that might be a red flag.

Ultimately, getting set up should be a lot like your new CE software: simple, comprehensive, and designed with your best experience in mind.