Onboarding World 2024 is in the books and wow, what an event it was! From start to finish, this first-of-its-kind conference was packed with energy, innovation, and more insights than we could have imagined. Professionals from all over came together to share their stories and learn about the latest client onboarding and lifecycle management trends, and the buzz was contagious.
Here’s a glimpse into some of the sessions attendees were raving about most after the event.
Session #1: Inova’s Client Success Story
As a leading payroll and HR solutions provider, Inova shared its journey at Onboarding World, highlighting the need for seamless communication between sales and onboarding. Inova Chief Revenue Officer Coray Grove showed how Setuply’s advanced tools have streamlined this transition and offer real-time visibility into revenue recognition, boosting accuracy at every step.
The integration of Inova’s CRM, quoting system, and Setuply has not only improved financial insights but also optimized customer profile management and cost analysis. The year-over-year results speak for themselves:
- 69% Increase in ‘Started’ business
- 76% Rise in ‘In Process’ business
- 44% Rein of 'Non-Starter' projects
- 16.5% Decrease in employee turnover
All this was achieved with just an 11.4% increase in headcount and budget!
Learn more about Inova's success with Setuply.
Client success stories like this were some of the most well-regarded sessions at Onboarding World. Attendees valued hearing real-world examples of challenges other companies faced and how they overcame them.
Another company on that list was CheckmateHCM. In his client success story session, CheckmateHCM CEO Josh Robinson shared how Setuply helped the company — an HCM solutions provider — unify their “frakenstack” of disjointed tools with an AI-powered platform that also streamlined client management and reduced overhead. As a result, CheckmateHCM was able to focus on delivering superior customer experiences while scaling business growth seamlessly. This case study provides more insights.
Session #2: Professional Services Is “Cool” Again in SaaS
For years, SaaS companies have aimed to minimize the need for professional services, favoring fast and easy onboarding. However, as HubSpot’s Senior Director of Customer Success, Chris Baribeau, noted in his session, the mindset is shifting. While self-service and in-app guidance remain essential, professional services are increasingly critical in helping customers maximize the value of their SaaS tools and deeply integrate them into their business processes.
Consider this: customers who fully adopt and engage with a SaaS product exhibit renewal rates as high as 95%. By reimagining the onboarding experience and involving service professionals at inflection points where their skill sets are needed, companies can encourage deeper product usage and make their solutions an integral part of a customer's operations. This deep usage enables strong customer loyalty, making it much harder for them to switch to competitors.
With AI tools on the rise, companies are in an even better position to scale their professional services while giving team members more room for creative, strategic work.
Session #3: Onboarding for Success Vs. Onboarding for Go-Live
Led by Jarvis Harris, Xactly Corp’s Head of Global Customer Success and Renewals, this session highlighted the pitfalls of focusing solely on go-live and the importance of enabling long-term success.
As Jarvis emphasized, some of the red flags for go-live-driven onboarding include cookie-cutter plans and minimal customer success involvement, leaving teams unprepared for the future.
In contrast, onboarding for success centers around delivering real outcomes. The session emphasized achieving first value—an initial success story that drives both internal wins and external recognition. This approach sets the foundation for upselling and client expansion by creating enthusiastic customer advocates.
Tracking quality time to value (QTTV) versus just time to go-live was presented as a key metric, ensuring meaningful success that builds client loyalty.
Dive into 10 best practices for onboarding clients successfully.
Session #4: Onboarding Horror Stories Dissected
The Onboarding Horror Stories panel at Onboarding World uncovered valuable lessons from challenging client onboarding experiences, showing the importance of aligning clients with your ideal customer profile (ICP). Panelists shared how these experiences—though tough—offered insights to strengthen their onboarding processes and empower better client relationships.
One piece of advice was the power of being selective in onboarding. Defining your ICP and setting clear boundaries empowers smoother processes, boosts team efficiency, and leads to letter alignment and higher client satisfaction.
The panelists stressed that while hands-on experience is invaluable, following best practices and seeking guidance from experienced mentors can curb common pitfalls and enable success without the need to endure difficult situations.
Session #5: Best Practices for Change Management
How do you turn resistance into results? That was the big question in the session centered around navigating change in client onboarding.
One of the key takeaways from the session: empathy is vital! Acknowledging that change is hard and addressing client concerns directly makes any process smoother and more collaborative.
The speakers — Setuply’s own Kristin Maguire and Melissa Duggan — also emphasized explaining the "why" behind changes and creating a clear, concise project plan to guide clients. Rewarding early adopters and using the crawl, walk, run approach for late adopters kept the momentum going. Tracking metrics like product usage and task completion, while keeping all stakeholders in the loop, ensures accountability.
Attendees left with actionable insights to help clients embrace change and drive adoption with confidence.
Explore ways to measure success in change management.
In this session and throughout the event, one of the resounding themes for the Setuply team was the benefit of being able to connect directly with onboarding representatives and leaders. Hearing their experiences first-hand helped foster a deeper understanding of their challenges and successes while providing a platform to expand upon these conversations to drive growth.
All the Other Excitement at Onboarding World
Throughout Onboarding World, attendees were treated to hands-on workshops that made us rethink lifecycle management, roundtable discussions that sparked new ideas for boosting client engagement, and networking sessions that connected attendees to people tackling similar challenges. The energy in each session was infectious, and everyone left with concrete takeaways.
The vibrant atmosphere of the event was captured in some memorable moments. Take a look!
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We’re already missing OW24, but we’re looking ahead to Onboarding World 2025! Building on this year’s success, we’ll be bringing even more cutting-edge insights, tools, and opportunities for meaningful connections. With fresh topics, engaging discussions, and expanded networking opportunities—something our attendees truly appreciated—we’re ready to take OW25 to the next level. Stay tuned!