Onboarding

Onboarding.Day one that sticks.

Switching IT providers is the part everyone dreads. Ours is a written 4–6 week plan with 60+ tasks, a named project manager, and support you can reach from week one — not week six.

4–6 weeks end to end · 60+ tasks · zero gaps in coverage
Onboarding at a glance
4–6weeks, kick-off to go-live
60+tasks in the project plan
3–4weeks to staff training
0gaps in IT coverage

What actually happens, week by week.

Every onboarding follows the same project plan, tailored to your environment. You always know which phase you are in and who owns it.

01
Week 0 · Kick-off call

We agree the plan before we touch anything

Scope, schedule, named contacts on both sides, escalation paths, and the working hours we must not disrupt. You leave the call knowing what happens on every one of the next 30 days.

Dedicated project manager assignedDesignated ticket contacts agreedWritten schedule issued
02
Week 1 · Documentation

We collect what your last provider never wrote down

Network diagrams, administrative credentials, authorised user lists, vendor and escalation forms. Most of the friction in a bad transition is missing documentation — so this is where we are strict.

Network Visios and asset inventoryAdmin credentials handed over securelyVendor and escalation contacts
03
Weeks 1–3 · Technical onboarding

Our engineers do the heavy lifting

Monitoring agents, endpoint protection, patching, backup verification and SOC coverage go in. Issues we uncover along the way get fixed as part of onboarding — not filed as future projects.

Monitoring and SOC tooling deployedBackups verified, not assumedFindings resolved in-flight
04
Weeks 3–4 · Staff training

Your whole team learns how to get help

On-site training for all staff: how to raise a ticket, what counts as urgent, and how to reach the service desk at 6am on a Sunday. Adoption is the difference between a working help desk and an ignored one.

On-site session for all usersTicket channels and SLAs explainedQuick-reference card issued
05
Weeks 4–6 · Go-live

Services and billing start together

Coverage moves to full 24/7/365. Billing generally commences on the date of staff training — earlier only for services you asked us to start sooner. No invoices for work that has not begun.

Full 24/7/365 coverage liveBilling starts at training dateHandover pack delivered
06
Ongoing · Run and improve

Then the boring part begins — deliberately

Monitoring, patching, service desk and quarterly reviews with your vCIO. The measure of a good onboarding is how little you think about IT in month six.

Quarterly technology reviewsRoadmap tied to business goals60-second average first response
You prepare

What we need from you

Five things. Gather them before kick-off and onboarding runs at the fast end of the range.

  • 01Network diagrams and asset inventory, if they exist
  • 02Administrative passwords and admin access
  • 03Your customer escalation procedure
  • 04Authorised user lists and named contacts
  • 05Vendor escalation forms and support contracts
We run

What EMPIST handles

Everything else. Our engineering team owns the technical work and the coordination around it.

  • Project management and the 60+ task plan
  • Deployment of monitoring, security and backup tooling
  • Resolving issues discovered during onboarding
  • Coordination with your outgoing provider and vendors
  • On-site staff training and documentation

You are never between providers.

All staff can open tickets directly from the training date onward. But designated contacts agreed at the kick-off call can raise tickets straight to your project manager from week one — so if something breaks mid-transition, someone at EMPIST already owns it.

Week 1
Designated contacts
Week 2
Designated contacts
Week 3
Designated contacts
Week 4+
All staff, 24/7/365
FAQ

Onboarding questions, answered

Timing, coverage, what we need from you, and who does the heavy lifting.

Get a Free IT Strategy Session
How long does EMPIST onboarding take?
Four to six weeks from the kick-off call to full onboarding of services at your site. Staff training generally happens within three to four weeks of kick-off, and that date is usually when services and billing commence.
Will we be without IT support during the transition?
No. Designated client contacts agreed at the kick-off call can submit tickets directly to your project manager throughout onboarding, which eliminates any gap in coverage. From the training date, all staff can open tickets through the standard channels.
What do you need from us to get started?
Network diagrams, administrative passwords, your customer escalation procedure, authorised user lists and vendor escalation forms, plus named contacts and site access. If some of it does not exist, we document it as part of onboarding.
When does billing start?
Services and billing generally commence on the date of staff training. Certain services can start earlier if you ask us to initiate them sooner — but you are not billed for coverage that has not begun.
Who does the technical work?
EMPIST engineers handle the majority of technical tasks and address issues that arise, coordinated by a dedicated project manager who owns the plan and your schedule.
Can onboarding move faster than four weeks?
Sometimes. The pace depends on how quickly documentation and access are available and how complex your environment is. Clients who prepare the five items above before kick-off consistently land at the fast end of the range.
Time back
Your time is money.We give it back.

From day one. IT, cybersecurity, AI, and cloud. On us.

Ready to stop worrying about IT?

Book a strategy session — we’ll map kickoff, coverage, and what your first 4–6 weeks look like.

Book your session

A few details. That’s enough to start.

Company size*