When we talk about onboarding in a company, several notions come to mind: the arrival of a new employee, the HR department, and possibly the team that welcomes them.
On the other hand, no one thinks about the IT department, which plays a major role for the company.
No IT = a failed onboarding.
We have all experienced that moment, palms sweating, as you walk through the door of your new company.
Here, expectations are at their highest on both sides: the new employee has a strong desire to do well, and the company needs help on a specific point.
Everything is at stake at this moment. To ensure that the momentum and motivation of the start last as long as possible, you must succeed in the HR and IT onboarding of your new employee.
What is included in IT onboarding?
Arrivals generate a number of actions on the IT side, but let's be precise about what needs to be addressed on this occasion:
- IT equipment
- access to various systems, tools, applications, and software
- The assignment of specific rights to each user
- Security rules within the company
In some cases:
- cyber risk training
- Training on certain tools
- An internal process guide for application requests, password resets, VPN access, the use of professional/personal devices, etc.
What are the benefits of having a real IT onboarding process?
Onboarding needs HR and the IT department to be balanced.
When we talk about IT onboarding, we're talking about a real process, not something that more or less works.
At that moment, the benefits are significant ➡️
- Employees are operational more quickly, which contributes to the company's productivity.
- The satisfaction of having all their accesses proves to the employee that they were genuinely expected, which fosters a strong sense of belonging.
- The company's security is strengthened when employees have received training on cyber risks.
- The access and rights granted to each individual are adjusted to their needs and activity, which limits the impact in the event of a cyberattack.
- An employee who has all their accesses with clear access request processes will be able to project themselves more easily in the long term because they will know that their work tools will evolve with their needs and trends.
- Employees trained in the company's IT system will be less likely to request support assistance and perform manipulations with costly risks.
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Key topics to address in IT onboarding
So you are finally ready to welcome a new employee, but how do you structure yourself without getting lost and without appearing disorganized in front of them?
Company-wide shared tools
Tell him about the software that keeps the company running, the ones that allow you to stay informed, to discuss with others, to hold meetings, to find company documents, to find processes...
Each company has chosen its conversation channel such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc. That's where he needs to be to stay informed and, above all, not feel excluded.
It may be necessary to train them on tools such as the telephone for call transfers, meeting room booking, the use of a photocopier, or a printer protected by a card or code.
Upon reading this, one might smile, but never forget that if you are comfortable with Microsoft tools, the new employee may come from a company that was only on Google Workspace, with a different environment.
If you have many tools, they may not be familiar with them.
Without training, the employee may feel excluded, uncomfortable, or mocked by their colleagues, which is not a desirable situation.
Business tools
The newcomer may need to use software or an application specific to their profession that is difficult to learn. If they do not master the software, training is necessary, 1) to avoid discouraging them, 2) to make them operational as quickly as possible.
Identify the software and applications that are difficult to learn and are essential for the department in which the employee will be working.
If you already have documentation, give them access. If you don't have any, it may be more cost-effective to create documentation for each new arrival than to re-explain each time. This is a point to consider.
It may also be necessary to train the employee to respect company processes or to deepen their use of the application.
Cyber risk training
The fundamental role of users in the fight against cyberattacks can no longer be ignored.
When a user joins the company, it's the perfect time to educate them on cybersecurity best practices related to different types of threats: phishing, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks, CEO fraud, etc.
This is also the time to explain the value of tools for securing the information system (within the framework of zero trust) and the data that passes through a VPN. We will also discuss SSO, MFA, the use of a password manager, the use of an on-screen privacy filter, etc.
We will discuss other aspects of security, such as prohibiting the use of USB keys or 'found' USB keys, maintaining confidentiality on social networks, and the risk of sharing passwords and access.
The company surely has procedures in case of an attack that must be known to all; this is a good time to share them.
It is also at this time that we will provide the elements to detect suspicious activity and encourage the employee to report it as early as possible.
Presentation of IT support
Support can be contacted in different ways, you will present to the new employee how they should contact support according to their needs.
You will also give them the procedures for making their IT resource requests, and their password reset requests.
Finally, you will give them response times based on the requests (which will allow you to avoid unnecessary follow-ups).
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What actions should the IT department take when a new employee arrives?
The allocation of hardware and the creation of access credentials are key tasks for the IT department when an employee joins the company.
The foundation for the actions to be performed for IT onboarding will be:
- Preparing the hardware
- The creation of users (identities) and their accounts (access)
- the transmission of usernames and passwords
Creating access, yes, but be careful!
The new employee must have their access, but be careful, each user does not need the same access. We will ensure that the principle of least privilege is respected.
Just because a colleague has a certain level of rights, doesn't mean the new person should have the same level. It is likely that the older employee has other responsibilities or even rights that were granted temporarily and that we forgot to re-evaluate 🙈.
Security groups must be created, and the most sensitive ones must be monitored.
The number of groups must be controlled and known to all members of the IT team. A new group should not be created with each new arrival, otherwise their monitoring and configuration would become difficult.
A real strategy must be defined.
What resources are available to facilitate IT onboarding?
I presented the value of having an IT onboarding process in place, I framed what falls within the scope of the IT Department when carrying out this onboarding, and I presented the topics to be addressed during the arrival of the employee.
Now let's move on to the practical part, how to facilitate all the actions to be carried out?
- What takes the most time is account creation because you have to get all the information and you have to configure each account to the company's nomenclatures while paying attention to the groups in which you are going to put the user.
- What takes the most mental load are all the small actions to be carried out each time and that must not be forgotten.
1. Automate user account creation
At this point, you have three problems: easily obtaining information on employee arrivals, creating user accounts, centralizing applications to facilitate account creation, and having an overview of user accounts and access rights.
This is where tools such as IAM, Identity and Access Management, come into play.
The concept of IAM is to secure and facilitate arrivals, transfers, and departures.
At Youzer, for example, we facilitate onboarding and, above all, make it more reliable.
We specialize in SMEs and mid-sized companies and we have designed a simple, quick to implement solution dedicated to facilitating processes.
1️⃣ All your software and applications are connected and centralized on the IAM platform.
2️⃣ The HR source (HRIS, Excel file or other) is connected to the platform.
= User arrival information is automatically sent from the HRIS to the IAM solution, so HR does not have to enter data twice. The time saving is considerable for IT departments because the information is reliable and known immediately after HR entry.
According to your rules, the user is placed in groups with specific rights. Access to certain applications is automatically assigned to them.
Your part? Verify that everything is correct!
On your dashboard you can find out who has access to what. Practical 😀
2. Create IT onboarding checklists
Many HR solutions allow you to create checklists. I suggest not spreading out across different tools. The IT department does not have access to the HR software, so the simplest thing is to stay on the identity and access management tool.
You will have a checklist module in which you can assign a checklist to each new user who arrives. You can then check off what has been done.
You can create multiple checklists.
In conclusion
IT onboarding is an essential and strategic step when integrating a new employee into a company.
It is not just about providing employees with the necessary equipment and creating access to the company's various systems and applications.
IT onboarding also encompasses a series of actions aimed at familiarizing the new employee with the company's tools, internal processes, and IT security rules, including awareness of cyber risks.
To facilitate and optimize IT onboarding, it is recommended to use IAM tools that allow you to manage and secure user identities and access in a centralized and automated manner.
HR and IT onboarding is a step that should not be neglected, as it plays a determining role in the success of the new employee's integration and in their ability to be operational as quickly as possible.
Do not neglect the arrival of employees on the IT side; the human and financial costs are too high!
