To Optimize Remote Worker Onboarding, Optimize Software Provisioning

Traditionally, the worst things that could befall employees on the first day at a new job were issues like not knowing where to park or finding that the in-office kitchen doesn't stock their favorite snack.

In the age of remote work, however, a new threat has arisen that can seriously undercut the employee experience from day one: Problems provisioning software for work-from-home setups. Although issues with software provisioning for new hires may seem minor, they're arguably one of the worst things that can go wrong during a remote worker's onboarding experience.

This is why employers must be especially careful and strategic about approaching software provisioning for remote workers. Here's a look at why this is so important, along with tips on navigating software deployment challenges for remote employees.

How software provisioning sets the tone for remote worker experience

Let's begin by discussing the critical but often-overlooked impact of software provisioning on remote workers' experience—and why it matters so much for employees and employers alike.

Provisioning a remote worker's new laptop with the software they need to be productive may seem mundane, but the success of this process can play a significant role in how employees view the company from day one. If apps fail to install correctly, employees can quickly become frustrated. They may also assume their new employers are disorganized or not sufficiently committed to employee success.

This would be true for in-office workers, too, of course. However, a smooth software provisioning process is especially vital for remote workers because they typically have few other ways to interface with their employers beyond the technology they provide. When your only lifeline to your new company and colleagues is the laptop you depend on to work remotely, software provisioning hiccups that make it impossible to connect or do your job can seriously disrupt your onboarding experience.

They can also have long-term consequences for employees' relationships with their employers. According to Gartner, a positive onboarding experience can increase employee performance by 15%, which means that ensuring smooth software provisioning is an essential step toward creating satisfied, committed, productive workers.

Common software provisioning challenges

Companies have been setting up workstations for new hires for years. You might think they'd be pretty proficient at it—and they are, at least in traditional settings.

However, when it comes to provisioning software for remote workers, unique challenges apply. When IT staff can't physically oversee application installation processes or troubleshoot issues, the risk of failure—and the challenge of sorting out problems—becomes steeper. In addition, because companies don't have direct control over remote workers' environments, potential issues like lack of sufficient bandwidth or trouble downloading application installers due to local firewall settings are more likely to crop up. While it's often ultimately possible to resolve these issues with help from tech support staff, no hire wants to spend his or her first day on the phone with the help desk.

On top of this, the explosion in the number of remote workers since the pandemic has led some organizations to change how they provide workstations for employees who rarely or never come into the office. Instead of purchasing laptops, having their IT staff set them up and then shipping them out to employees—the traditional approach to provisioning—it has become common today to leverage "just in time" strategies wherein laptops ship directly from hardware manufacturers to remote employees. This practice is more efficient, but installing and testing software installations before devices ship to employees is impossible.

Tools like Windows Autopilot allow companies to automatically provision software on their devices, even if their IT staff never touches them. However, although these powerful tools are not failproof, they only support some applications or installations.

Smoothing the software provisioning experience for new hires

What can employers do to ensure a smoother software setup experience – and, by extension, guarantee better onboarding?

The answer starts with choosing the right tools and strategies for application provisioning. As I mentioned, automatic installation tools that ship with operating systems are helpful, but their limited flexibility and scope make them a poor fit for complex setups.

For that reason, it's sometimes a better strategy to decouple the provisioning process from the operating system. By installing the operating system first and then using application installation and management tools that run separately, employers can gain more control and reduce the risks of failed application deployment.

Of course, a 100% success rate is impossible, no matter how sophisticated your tools or processes are, so making technical support available as a backup is important. But by investing in a software provisioning strategy that maximizes control and reliability for complex deployments, businesses can get as close to complete success as possible and minimize the number of remote workers whose first days are hampered by rocky software installation.

Conclusion: Smooth provisioning means happy employees

Remote work is not going anywhere, and neither are practices that streamline device setup for remote workers. Companies must adapt to this new reality by ensuring that their software provisioning processes can deliver a reliable, smooth experience for new hires. This will prevent something as seemingly simple as software deployment from starting employees' relationships with their companies off on the wrong foot.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends. Image credit: iStockphoto/mapo