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A man looks at multiple spreadsheets to illustrate the need for better client onboarding solutions.
SetuplyAug 20, 2024 7:30:00 AM4 min read

Are Single-Point Client Onboarding Solutions Costing You?

Is your company using a “Franken-stack” of single-point solutions for client onboarding?

You’re not alone.

The average software company uses five or more solutions cobbled together — and none of them are built for the job.

Aside from the costs of all those subscriptions, this creates a fragmented experience for your clients, inefficient processes for your team, and a lack of visibility for everyone.

Here’s why these solutions aren’t cutting it and what you can do instead.

Challenges With Common Onboarding Solutions

Process documents and checklists

For many companies, it’s typical to kick off the onboarding process with a shared spreadsheet detailing the project timeline and individual tasks. While the project begins with the best of intentions, your clients aren’t looking at spreadsheets daily to see what tasks they need to complete. They may miss comments asking them to respond to a question or upload a document. And managing access to these shared documents becomes a difficult balancing act between protecting information and excluding essential team members.

Project management software

Your team may use some form of standalone project management software to manage your team’s assignments and understand each team member’s bandwidth. While these solutions may work for internal purposes, they weren’t designed for onboarding processes.

Document storage solutions

Many teams use specialized document storage solutions to share files. However, these shared folders don’t make it easy for teams to see when new documents have been added so they can take action on new information. Although these solutions offer shared folders for file storage, they lack integration with project timelines, requiring team members to take additional steps to determine how they fit within the overall project. It can be difficult to keep these files organized, causing team members to waste time searching for information.

Feedback collection forms

Some client onboarding teams use forms or questionnaires to gather client information. It might seem like they save time, but in reality they require further oversight because they aren’t tied to specific project timelines or tasks. Onboarding team members need to constantly remind clients to complete the forms and ensure all the data is collected in one place.

Case management solutions

In addition to forms that collect feedback, many teams also rely on case management solutions, such as help desk software, to resolve issues during the client onboarding process. Like other single-point solutions, they aren’t always visible to the rest of the team and don’t support efficient collaboration. For instance, if a member of the IT team needs to get involved but doesn’t have access, they’ll need to be added as a user or create yet another password raking up additional costs.  

The Hard Costs of Using Multiple Client Onboarding Solutions

Using multiple client onboarding tools can be expensive. For instance, the average HCM provider may use five different solutions for onboarding, each with monthly subscription fees. While half of all businesses use cloud-based software to manage HR functions, the majority still use paper documents and spreadsheets.

This approach leads to significant and avoidable expenses, as the time spent managing and integrating these disparate client onboarding solutions increases overall costs.

The Hidden Costs

Beyond the obvious subscription fees, there are hidden costs associated with using several single-point client onboarding solutions, including:

Inefficient processes

Different teams using a variety of tools leads to a fragmented client onboarding process that’s difficult to scale. Your team may experience delays in completing key milestones, potentially delaying revenue recognition and limiting opportunities to take on additional clients.

Manual data entry

Using multiple solutions that aren’t integrated increases manual data entry, creating extra work for your team and increasing the chances of making mistakes. This wastes your team’s time, keeping them stuck on the onboarding “hamster wheel,” and making your company look disorganized. Empower them and elevate their role by providing them with purpose-built solutions.

Failed attempts at integration

Attempting to integrate these various disparate solutions is also costly, requiring custom-built solutions using standard integrations from the solution provider that may require constant upkeep. Keeping your data synchronized may also require paying for additional API calls.

Client frustration and churn

When clients have to repeat the same information to multiple team members or can’t get an answer quickly, they can become frustrated and more likely to abandon a solution before they start. If your churn rate is significantly high, a frustrating client experience could be costing you revenue.

A Better Solution: Integrated Client Onboarding Software

While using a combination of single-point solutions creates multiple challenges, an integrated client onboarding platform simplifies the process.

Setuply consolidates all client onboarding tasks into one comprehensive holistic platform that includes project management, secure document storage, client communication, case management, and customer data analytics.

The Setuply platform gives your team and your clients full visibility into the onboarding process, leading to better accountability and a better overall experience. Automated workflows save your team time, allowing them to focus on more strategic priorities.

Setuply reduces costs by eliminating the need for multiple subscriptions, and single sign-on means fewer passwords to remember. See why more companies use Setuply to simplify the onboarding process. Contact us to schedule a demo today.


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