As VP of Client Success, I’m always looking for ways to improve our client activation process. Over the last few months I’ve had the experience of being a SaaS customer for several different solutions, and it has provided some “aha” moments – invaluable lessons which we are applying at hc1.com as we activate new clients.
I learned so much from these experiences that the lessons don’t fit into one blog post! Look for a series of posts about these lessons and how our Healthcare Relationship Management experts are implementing them to ensure your customer experience is top-notch.
Lesson #1: Make sure the right stakeholders are involved from the beginning and that the business goals are clear!
A few months ago, we began to use a well-known SaaS product for tracking our revenue, projects, timekeeping, and support ticketing. On a positive note, the cadence of the activation project was very intense and we got up and running on the first phase very quickly (with daily calls driving the pace). Unfortunately, the project leader on our side was very focused on Finance’s needs, but our area’s workflows were a second priority. The project would have gone much more smoothly if we had included a lead from our area from the outset of the project. The takeaway we have applied at hc1.com is that we need to ensure that as we work with our clients, we are involving the right stakeholders as project participants from the inception of projects and that we are crystal clear (and aligned) about the end goals of the project.
Our approach: To ensure that this best practice is implemented across all our projects, we created an activation packet which we share with clients at the project kickoff which outlines a communication plan and which documents project roles and responsibilities.
Lesson #2: Train system administrators and stakeholders early and make sure they are aware of pros and cons of different configuration approaches.
Initially, I had the impression that the SaaS product I referred to earlier didn’t contain some features that I would consider to be essential. After conversations with other internal users, it became apparent that the roles were not configured to provide the right permissions for me or my team to access that functionality.
I learned that as you activate each client you must convey the different possibilities from a configuration standpoint early on and ensure that the project team is effectively communicating this with their team.
Our approach: We changed our hc1.com activation project plan to include system administrator training at the beginning of the project, and we also load in demo data to help provide more context about how the solution works and different configuration approaches play out prior to loading in real data.
More lessons learned will be coming your way soon. In the meantime, find out more about hc1 Healthcare CRM and Lab Business Intelligence by contacting us today.
