You purchased CoLab to solve a problem - maybe multiple problems. Now, it’s time to do the work to get from problem to solution. But you won’t be doing the work alone. Onboarding with CoLab means you have access to technical experts working alongside your team through every step from problem to solution.
The goal during onboarding is to get you up and running as fast as possible.
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The most important part of the kickoff call is connecting your desired outcomes to a well-defined plan.
Second is defining the metrics to measure the steps in that plan. It’s too easy for a company like CoLab to say, “Of course we’ll make sure all your outcomes are achieved... in 12-18 months!” But this isn't like the engineering software roll-outs you've come to know. Of course, some of your desired outcomes will be long-term. Compressing product development cycles, reducing rework or transforming how you work with suppliers – are all BIG goals that can take time to accomplish in full.
But that doesn’t mean you have to wait to see results. The goal during the kickoff call is to reverse-engineer how to get to those outcomes and how we’ll measure progress at each step along the way. Leading indicators to long-term outcomes might be decision-making speed, supplier input and design review quality. All of which can be measured within 30 days.
This is where the fun begins. During integrations set-up: your internal team, the CoLab integrations team and your Customer Success Manager will begin to do the back-end work to connect your existing systems to CoLab.
Also during this stage, we’ll set up your PLM integration, other system integrations, SSO and user roles.
This stage is when we’ll connect your business outcomes and your existing processes to CoLab.
This is when your team will have its first interactions with CoLab in your dedicated Workspace. Your team will receive hands-on, guided training based on your desired outcomes and the plan to get there. During this time, your Customer Success Manager will lead the training and answer any questions your team has.
However, this one training session won’t be the end of team learning. Your main point of contact and your Customer Success Manager will have weekly or bi-weekly touchpoints. These touchpoints are your time to ask questions, fine tune your processes, learn best practices or suggest new product features.
After training, your team has many resources for continued success with CoLab.
Regular Touchpoints
You’ll have weekly or bi-weekly touchpoints with your Customer Success Manager in-between business reviews. These touchpoints are your time to ask questions, request additional resources or suggest new product features.
Business Reviews
Depending on your business outcomes, a business review might be scheduled quarterly, semi-annually or annually. Consider the business review your CoLab health check-up. The goal is to confirm that both parties are on track to meet business outcomes and discuss opportunities for you to see greater value. This might include new use cases, additional teams, or leveraging more of CoLab’s capabilities.
During these reviews, the CoLab team goes beyond a simple data report. You’ll receive quantitative and qualitative data on how your team is working towards the greater implementation plan. Together, we’ll answer questions like:
Technical Support
Your team can submit a ticket any time to CoLab’s technical support team. This is mainly for troubleshooting minor software issues, like file uploads, user permissions or bugs. There’s also an extensive knowledge base that can answer FAQs, how-tos and more.
The team who see the fastest, continued success with CoLab do a few things internally that contribute to that success:
Your team has documentation for stage gate, how to run design review meetings and other critical processes in engineering. The teams who succeed with CoLab, ensure CoLab is included in these processes with thorough documentation.
Training should not be the first time your team hears about CoLab. When teams are well informed about what CoLab is, the problems you want it to solve, how your team will use it, and how you plan to measure outcomes, teams are more likely to achieve those business outcomes.
This is not a PLM, ERP or PDM rollout. This won’t take years to implement and even longer to see results. Your team can see measurable value with CoLab in as little as 30 days. The time you invest in proper onboarding means value is seen faster. There’s also no need to push off training or use because you have other big projects this quarter. Teams can go through the entire onboarding process in as little as a few weeks.
Once your team is trained on CoLab and how it will help achieve business outcomes, here are a few resources that are always available to your team.
Customer Success Manager
This CoLab point of contact is here for one purpose: to make sure your business outcomes become a reality using CoLab.
Technical Support
For minor software troubleshooting issues, any user can submit a ticket and the CoLab Support team will chat with you live.
Knowledge Base
Your resource for quick set-up, how-to guides, FAQs and other helpful product articles.
