What Does Onboarding With Mentis Group Look Like?

Onboarding with Mentis Group is a structured transition designed to give our team the visibility, access and understanding needed to effectively manage a client's technology environment.

For organizations transitioning from another managed IT provider, Mentis carefully coordinates the transition with the outgoing provider. For co-managed IT clients, we work closely with the client's internal IT team.

The objective is straightforward: transfer or establish responsibilities in a controlled and professional manner while creating as little disruption as possible for the people who rely on technology every day.

Onboarding isn't simply about changing who employees call for IT support. It establishes the foundation for proactively managing, securing and strategically improving the organization's technology environment.

What Happens During Mentis Group Onboarding?

Every technology environment is different, so onboarding is adapted to the needs and complexity of each client.

At a high level, Mentis works to understand the organization and its technology environment, establish the access and visibility needed to manage it, document important systems and relationships, identify significant risks or concerns, and prepare for ongoing support and proactive technology management.

Mentis handles the majority of the technical transition while coordinating with client leadership, internal IT teams, outgoing providers and other technology vendors as appropriate.

The goal is to establish a strong foundation for the ongoing managed IT relationship without unnecessarily disrupting the business.

How Does Mentis Handle a Transition From Another IT Provider?

Mentis recognizes that an outgoing IT provider still has an important responsibility to support the client while a transition is underway.

We take that responsibility seriously.

Rather than treating the transition as an adversarial handoff, Mentis works professionally with the outgoing provider to coordinate access, documentation, responsibilities and timing. In our experience, these transitions are almost always respectful and collaborative when everyone remains focused on the client's interests.

There is typically an approximately 30-day transition period during which Mentis is onboarding while the outgoing provider completes its offboarding responsibilities. The exact timing can vary based on the client's environment and circumstances.

Part of the transition is also determining whether any technology the client relies on is owned or hosted by the outgoing provider. Some MSPs, for example, provide network infrastructure through a Hardware as a Service (HaaS) model or host client servers within their own private cloud.

Mentis works with the client and outgoing provider to understand these dependencies early in the transition and determine an appropriate path forward.

Throughout the transition, Mentis works to ensure responsibilities are understood and important systems continue to be supported.

The objective is for the transition to have very little impact on the client's end users.

Can Mentis Take Over From Another Managed IT Provider?

Yes. Many new Mentis clients transition directly from another managed IT provider.

Changing MSPs does not need to mean an abrupt change in support or a disruptive technology event. A coordinated transition gives Mentis time to establish the access, knowledge and visibility required to assume responsibility while the outgoing provider continues fulfilling its responsibilities during the transition period.

This is one reason Mentis encourages organizations considering a change in IT providers to plan the transition rather than waiting for a crisis whenever possible.

What Happens to Hardware or Servers Provided by the Outgoing IT Company?

Some managed IT providers supply technology through arrangements that make the client dependent on infrastructure owned or hosted by the provider.

For example, firewalls, network switches and wireless access points may be provided through a Hardware as a Service (HaaS) arrangement. An MSP may also host a client's servers within its own private cloud.

Those dependencies need to be addressed as part of changing IT providers.

Mentis works with the client to understand what technology is client-owned, what may belong to the outgoing provider and what infrastructure may need to be acquired, replaced or migrated.

For HaaS equipment, options may include acquiring the existing equipment from the outgoing provider or replacing it with client-owned infrastructure.

For servers hosted within an outgoing provider's private cloud, Mentis helps the client evaluate where those workloads should reside going forward based on business requirements and client preference. Depending on the environment, that may include Microsoft Azure, a data center environment or physical infrastructure located at the client's facility.

When a transition requires significant infrastructure replacement or migration, the work is typically planned and scoped as an IT project rather than treated as routine onboarding.

Identifying these dependencies early helps prevent them from becoming unexpected obstacles to a smooth transition.

Learn more about IT project engagements and how they differ from ongoing managed IT.

How Does Onboarding Work for Co-Managed IT Clients?

For co-managed IT clients, onboarding is a partnership with the organization's internal IT team.

Mentis works closely with internal IT leadership to understand the existing environment, responsibilities, priorities and areas where the Mentis team will complement internal resources.

Clear responsibilities are particularly important in a co-managed relationship. The objective is not to create competing processes or duplicate the work of the internal IT department. It is to establish a model in which the internal team and Mentis can work effectively together.

That coordination during onboarding creates the foundation for the ongoing co-managed relationship.

How Much Work Does the Client Have to Do During Onboarding?

Mentis is intentionally designed to carry most of the onboarding workload.

Clients should expect to help provide necessary information and access, identify key business and technology contacts, participate in planning discussions and assist with questions that require organizational knowledge or authorization.

Mentis coordinates the technical transition and the activities necessary to establish the managed relationship.

For organizations replacing another MSP, leadership should not have to become the project manager for its own IT-provider transition.

Will Employees Be Disrupted During Onboarding?

Some employee involvement may be necessary, but much of the onboarding process occurs behind the scenes.

Employees may receive information about how to contact the Mentis Service Desk, how support works or actions they need to take as part of the transition. Certain technology changes may also require communication or coordination with users.

Mentis works to minimize unnecessary disruption and clearly communicate changes that do affect employees.

For clients transitioning from another provider, the goal is for most end users to experience very little impact while responsibility for the technology environment changes behind the scenes.

How Long Does Mentis Group Onboarding Take?

The onboarding timeline depends on the size, complexity and condition of the technology environment, the quality of existing documentation and whether Mentis is transitioning responsibilities from another provider or working alongside an internal IT team.

When replacing another MSP, there is typically an approximately 30-day overlap while Mentis completes key onboarding activities and the outgoing provider completes its offboarding responsibilities.

During this period, Mentis focuses on establishing the access, visibility, documentation and understanding needed to responsibly assume management of the environment.

Some circumstances can require additional planning. For example, provider-owned infrastructure may need to be replaced or acquired, or workloads hosted by the outgoing MSP may need to be migrated to a new environment.

Onboarding also does not mean every technology issue must be resolved during the transition period. Some findings may require additional planning or become longer-term priorities.

The objective is a controlled and successful transition, not simply completing a checklist by an arbitrary date.

What Does Mentis Evaluate During Onboarding?

A new managed IT relationship requires an accurate understanding of the technology environment being inherited.

Mentis evaluates the environment at a level appropriate to the engagement so our team can understand important technology, dependencies, risks and support requirements.

This can include areas such as users and devices, infrastructure, cloud services, business applications, cybersecurity, vendors and other technology dependencies.

The purpose is not simply to create an inventory. It is to develop the understanding necessary to effectively manage the environment going forward.

Onboarding also establishes the foundation for Mentis's ongoing Technology Alignment process.

What Happens If Mentis Finds Problems During Onboarding?

Finding issues during onboarding is not unusual.

A new provider may discover outdated technology, security concerns, incomplete documentation, aging infrastructure, inconsistent configurations or other issues that were not previously visible to leadership.

Not every finding needs to be addressed immediately.

Mentis works with the client to distinguish between issues that warrant near-term attention and improvements that can be evaluated and incorporated into longer-term technology planning.

This allows the organization to make informed decisions based on business impact and priorities rather than reacting to every finding as an emergency.

Does Mentis Coordinate With Other Technology Vendors During Onboarding?

Yes.

Most organizations depend on more than one technology provider. Internet providers, cloud services, communications providers, software vendors and line-of-business application providers may all play important roles in the environment.

Part of establishing an effective managed IT relationship is understanding those dependencies and knowing who is responsible for what.

Where appropriate, Mentis coordinates with third-party technology vendors as part of the broader managed IT relationship, helping reduce the burden on the client when issues or changes involve multiple providers.

What Happens After Onboarding?

Onboarding transitions into the ongoing Mentis service model.

Depending on the client's engagement, ongoing services may include Service Desk support, proactive Technology Alignment, centralized technology management, cybersecurity, vendor coordination, Professional Services and CIO-led strategic planning.

Findings from the early stages of the relationship can also help establish technology priorities and inform the organization's longer-term technology roadmap.

The result should be more than a successful handoff between IT providers.

It should be the beginning of a more structured and proactive approach to managing technology.

How Does Onboarding Fit Into the Mentis Process?

Onboarding establishes the foundation for the Mentis Process:

IDENTIFY → ASSESS → PLAN → IMPLEMENT → SUPPORT → OPTIMIZE

The early stages of the relationship help Mentis understand the business and its technology environment. From there, Mentis can work with the client to establish priorities, address important issues and continually improve the environment over time.

That is an important distinction between onboarding and simply changing who answers IT support tickets.

The objective isn't merely for Mentis to take over support. It is to establish the foundation for technology to be managed as an ongoing business function.

Learn more about Fully Managed IT Services, Co-Managed IT Services and the Mentis Process.