BTS: The BriteStar MSP Onboarding Process

There’s a feeling of blissful peace after making the decision to hire a managed service provider. You and your organization no longer have to stress over IT problems. You now have a whole dedicated team that has your back. The only concern? Transitioning responsibilities and onboarding to an outside team. 

It’s understandable. Making the investment into a managed service provider is a substantial business decision and it’s important to get off on the right foot without disrupting business operations. We first introduced our managed service offering, BriteStar, over a decade ago and have since worked on streamlining and making the onboarding process as efficient and stress-free as possible. 

You probably already know BriteStar offers if you are curious about the MSP onboarding process. So today we’re giving you a behind the scenes look at what BriteStar’s managed service onboarding process entails.

The Managed Services Team

Let’s do a quick overview of who you’ll be working with.

Network Operation Center Team

Signing with BriteStar ensures that the day-to-day tactical IT tasks will be outsourced to our dedicated NOC team. With three tiers of specialists, you can be confident any problem will be escalated to the proper resource.

• Tier 1 Specialists handle the front-line, solving quick problems on the spot.
• Tier 2 Specialists tackle those IT challenges that are a little more complex or require a longer deep dive into the issue.
• Tier 3 Specialists focus on the network administration and proactive care of your environment to reduce future downtime and improving security.

Onboarding Team

Each account is assigned a Project Manager who oversees the entire onboarding project to make sure everything runs smoothly. The project manager works with the Strategic Technical Consultant (STC) who leads the Customer Support Team and completing most of the onboarding tasks. The Customer Support Team focuses on evaluating and recommending environments changes to ensure each is as efficient and secure as possible. The last Brite member of the team is our Chief Technical Officer, the visionary of BriteStar. Their role focuses on exploring and evaluating the latest technology to improve the BriteStar service.

The Client (You!)

Let us not forget the most critical part of the team – the client. We prioritize the relationship and communication with our clients to ensure that all needs are being met and that there’s no confusion at any step of both the MSP onboarding process, or throughout the partnership. The client’s active participation in the process makes a huge difference.

The Onboarding Process

The process involves a combination of all players mentioned above. Each step of the 6-phase process is assigned to either the Brite NOC team, Brite’s STC or the client team by the Project Manager. The objective of the onboarding is to have a complete understanding of the infrastructure and network, all documentation in place and the successful implementation of the BriteStar toolset.

To get a better idea of the process, we outlined the phases and included highlights of each below: 

Phase 1: Onboarding Prep 

The first part of the process is a kickoff call to review the agreement and introduce the Brite team to key stakeholders. Once that is complete, the team will begin documentation, order necessary hardware, and start importing users into the ticketing system.

Phase 2: Installation and Discovery Phase

The Brite team then begins diving into the network to gain a better understanding of the current setup and install an on-site manager for network discovery.

Phase 3: Validation and Documentation

All onboarding documentation is completed, including procedures and support agreements. There is a Welcome User Guide outlining all key information at the end of this phase.

Phase 4: Backup and Disaster Recovery Configuration and Install

BriteVault, a backup and disaster recovery tool, is installed and backup schedules are established.

Phases 1-4 happen over a span of 30 days.

Phase 5: BriteStar Goes Live! 

All support is redirected to the Brite NOC.

Phase 6: Migration and Final Setup (day 31-90)

Group policies are implemented based on network assessment and usage policy. The process is finalized with Microsoft 365 migration, email protection configuration, VPN set-up and firewall installation. Endpoint protection and user awareness training are optional services available at this stage. The first quarterly business review is scheduled about 90-days after going live. There will be a review of tickets and recommendations during this meeting.

The Outcome

Our goal throughout the entire comprehensive onboarding is to transition seamlessly and completely within the time frame. There are a lot of pieces moving simultaneously. With the completion of each step outlined and open communication, we’re confident that our process takes the pressure off!

We want our clients to remember that BriteStar is an extension of your team, and is always here to help offload the tactical, day-to-day tasks. Whenever you’re ready, our MSP onboarding process is here for the easy transition.