Latest news with #onboarding
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
16 Ways For Agency Leaders To Help New Remote Hires Ramp Up Faster
When your team is spread across different cities—or even continents—it's easy for a new hire to feel like they're joining a Slack channel instead of an agency. A new teammate's first few weeks are critical, not just for understanding logistics, but for building confidence, clarity and connection. Below, Forbes Agency Council members share strategies that can help a leader make those early days smoother, more focused and even energizing, no matter where new teammates are logging in from. Follow along for advice on how to equip people with the context they need, the tools they'll actually use and a clear sense of how their work contributes to the big picture. 1. Launch A Smart Preboarding Plan A smart preboarding plan will help new hires acclimate fast. Send a digital welcome kit that outlines online tools teams use to communicate, highlighting established etiquette. Include guides for their first week related to training and meeting schedules. Assign a peer to do introductions to team members to build a sense of connection and let them know who they can go to for answers to questions. - Henry Kurkowski, One WiFi 2. Integrate New Hires Into Team Rituals An agency can set new remote hires up for success by sending tailored onboarding kits before day one, followed by structured ops meetings, platform walkthroughs and project-specific ramp-ups. With clear timelines, access to the right tools and early integration into team rituals, new hires feel confident, connected and ready to dive in from the start. - Katie Meyer, MoonLab Productions 3. Accelerate Learning With Real Responsibility Start with a clear onboarding roadmap, not just a welcome packet. At our company, we pair new hires with department leads for daily check-ins in week one, give them access to standard operating procedures and involve them in real projects fast. The key is structured integration with real responsibility—people learn quicker when they 'do' from day one. - Miller McCoy, Limitless MFG 4. Use Collaborative Tech To Unify Global Teams Our firm has crews based in India, Peru, Brazil and the U.S., with partners in Turkey, Canada and Singapore. With such a diverse remote talent pool, we've embraced the integration of a collaborative platform that offers video conferencing, a server platform and an integrated calendar to coordinate schedules. New hires are trained one-on-one immediately to ramp them up very quickly into our ecosystem. - Terry Zelen, Zelen Communications Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 5. Replace One-Off Intros With One-On-One Meetings Many agencies set up only one general meeting to introduce a new employee and call it a day. A series of one-on-one meetings, however, proves to be more effective for showing them the ropes, building connections and replacing those watercooler chats. Encourage the new employee to ask questions, and assign a peer mentor they can turn to as more come up. - Nataliya Andreychuk, Viseven 6. Invest In Face-To-Face, In-Person Time Remote-first agencies can deploy collaboration tools such as Slack for daily workflow, but nothing is more powerful than investing in face-to-face time. Regional on-site work, one or two times weekly, combined with mandatory team off-sites twice yearly, creates personal relationships and trust built in person. The result is accelerated overall performance while enabling curated flexibility for employees. - Ethan Parker, Treble 7. Provide A Playbook, A Mentor And Clear Goals Give new hires a killer onboarding playbook, a culture buddy who actually gives a damn and fast access to the people who matter. Add smart tools, bold goals and regular check-ins to the mix. Set a clear 30-60-90-day path so they know where they're heading. It's not just about joining the team; it's about owning their role, building momentum and making an impact from day one. - Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications 8. Overcommunicate To Reduce Ambiguity Meaningful overcommunication (not just regularly scheduled meetings) is key to ensuring team members feel supported and are equipped with everything they need to succeed. During the early days of onboarding, for the first three or four months, leaders must be even more available to provide direction, collaboration and a reliable open door. - Bernard May, National Positions 9. Foster Psychological Safety Through Connection The water cooler is key. My experience has proven that it's about helping people feel like they can be themselves in the company. Creating a connective moment where people can share their dreams, interests and challenges creates trust and connection quickly. If people don't feel safe asking for help or being themselves, new team members likely won't integrate well. - Talie Smith, Smith & Connors 10. Provide Clear SOPs And Consistent Training Ensuring new remote team members are set up for success starts with consistent training and clear, easy-to-follow standard operating procedures. This helps them integrate smoothly and understand how to operate effectively within the company from day one. - Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising 12. Help New Hires See Where They Fit Ensure new remote hires feel ready by giving them context—share materials and host conversations about the company's full scope, not just their role. When they see where they fit in the bigger picture, they gain clarity, confidence and a faster path to meaningful contribution. - Christy Saia-Owenby, MOXY Company 13. Map The Workflow With A Digital Twin Create a digital twin of your agency's workflow before new hires start. Map every touchpoint, decision tree and stakeholder interaction they'll encounter. This comprehensive blueprint eliminates knowledge gaps and reduces cognitive load, allowing remote teammates to navigate complex projects confidently from day one. - Vaibhav Kakkar, Digital Web Solutions 14. Assign A Peer Buddy To Share Tacit Knowledge One of the best ways to help a new remote teammate integrate into the business is to assign them a buddy who is a peer. Having someone on the same level to help a new employee navigate work is particularly important for remote workers, as so often knowledge of 'how things work' or 'who to ask' is tacit knowledge that isn't written down. Having a buddy is a shortcut to gaining this vital knowledge. - Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited 15. Set The Tone With High-Touch, High-Context Onboarding We've found that remote hires ramp up faster when onboarding blends structure with culture. A founder-led kickoff sets the tone, followed by two days of meetings with department heads, platform walkthroughs and process training. This high-touch, high-context approach builds clarity, connection and early buy-in. - Jimi Gibson, Thrive Agency 16. Curate Personal Touches To Build Belonging We onboard remote hires with a personalized guide, curated one-on-ones and asynchronous work tools that build clarity and connection. A warm Slack welcome, peer support and perks like Grubhub credits or goodie bags make new teammates feel seen. It's not just about being informed; it's about feeling ready, connected and valued from day one. - Amy Packard Berry, Sparkpr
Finextra
25-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
From Friction to Function: Optimising Onboarding in an Age of AML, AI and Rising Risk
Join this webinar, hosted in association with nCino, to discuss the challenges of commercial onboarding, particularly in the context of increasing regulations like the EU AML Directive and an emphasis on the importance of data strategy, AI, and streamlining Client Lifecycle Management (CLM). How can banks scale AML compliance in an increasingly complex and high-risk environment without compromising the commercial client experience? How do banks move beyond throwing people at the problem? What role does data play in transforming onboarding from a compliance burden into a competitive advantage? How can banks better collect, orchestrate, and reuse data to streamline onboarding and reduce duplication? How can banks move from reactive compliance to proactive, intelligent onboarding using automation and AI? What use cases exist today? What does good look like? How can banks lay the groundwork to scale advanced technologies responsibly? What are the practical steps to optimise onboarding journeys so that they are fast, safe, and scalable, across multiple jurisdictions? How can banks harmonise their approach while improving customer outcomes? Regulation is intensifying, with daily sanctions updates and mounting fines, yet manual workarounds still dominate. Compliance teams remain overwhelmed by outdated processes and legacy systems, often relying on human intervention to resolve complex onboarding scenarios. This approach may provide short-term cover, but it's unsustainable, costly, error-prone, and damaging to the client experience. As financial crime risk rises and regulators increase scrutiny, banks are at a tipping point: they must optimise onboarding not as a series of disconnected checks, but as a strategic function critical to both compliance and customer trust. From initial KYC to downstream processes like loan origination and lifecycle management, effective onboarding hinges on the ability to collect, connect, and reuse data intelligently. Too often, data is siloed or incomplete, leading to duplication of effort, delays, and an inconsistent experience for commercial clients. A strong data foundation can change that, enabling banks to automate routine tasks, identify risks earlier, and deliver a seamless journey from day one. Crucially, good data strategy isn't just a back-office concern, it's the engine that powers scale, speed, and regulatory resilience. Further, optimising onboarding is an essential first step, but it is only the beginning of a much broader journey. With the tools and data available today, many banks are looking for end-to-end client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions that cover everything from onboarding to relationship management, periodic reviews, compliance monitoring, and even offboarding. Having this longer term view can support banks build robust strategies, especially against the backdrop of upcoming EU AML directives and global regulatory fragmentation. Banks are under pressure to standardise processes while maintaining the agility to meet local requirements. This complexity makes it harder to maintain compliance, let alone optimise for speed or service. Institutions that succeed will be those that invest in flexible infrastructure, harness AI where it adds value, and improve onboarding journeys in a way that balances safety with simplicity. The goal isn't just to survive another round of regulation, it's to emerge more competitive, efficient, and trusted by commercial clients. Register for this Finextra webinar, hosted in association with nCino, to join our panel of industry experts who will discuss how banks can scale AML compliance in an increasingly complex and high-risk environment without compromising the commercial client experience.
Forbes
23-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Business Banking Customers Want From Onboarding
Alfred Kahn is the founder and CEO at OvationCXM, a customer experience management company. One in 4 companies abandon bank onboarding before using the product they signed up for, according to our February 2025 research report titled "The Business Banking Customer Experience Report." We asked 834 businesses about the most frustrating parts of onboarding, and 32% cited reasons related to confusing processes, unclear next steps and information gaps. To compare, only 12% cited unexpected changes to pricing. This isn't churn; these are clients who quit before they get started. This friction is more than a CX failure or a torpedoed NPS score. It's an acquisition cost that never turns into revenue. It's also avoidable. The Onboarding Gap That Costs Financial Institutions Onboarding is complex, depending on the product. It typically includes manual steps across different teams, separate legacy systems and external partners. That may be why onboarding abandonment is highest in complicated banking products—treasury management and merchant services top the list. Inefficiencies, broken handoffs, communication gaps and uncoordinated processes stall activation and put undue burdens on businesses to figure out how to get a product up and running. Our research also found that 76% of businesses would abandon onboarding if four or more representatives were involved, 41% said they would walk away if an onboarding issue wasn't resolved within 24 hours, 93% of treasury management clients needed support during onboarding, and over 90% of businesses had to repeat the same information or documentation to different people when solving a single banking issue. Many banking organizations are not aware of all interactions happening with their customers when they engage with different teams, channels or partners. However, this is not what business banking customers want; 97% said they expect seamless interactions wherever they happen. You don't lose customers only at the end of a journey. You can just as easily lose them at the beginning when the process doesn't match the promise. Why Orchestration—Not Just Automation—Is The Fix It's tempting to think service friction can be addressed by digitizing forms, deploying AI bots or automating follow-up. However, when solutions meant to remove friction are deployed in isolation (by product or department), the overall journey will continue to be fragmented, inconvenient and frustrating. What's missing isn't more technology; it's the right technology that can centralize customer data that's scattered across systems and partner platforms. Unifying this data provides transparency but also fuels GenAI analytics and automations. A Road Map For Banking Leaders The research can be viewed as a summary of customer preferences, but it's actually a compilation of gaps in business banking CX today. Onboarding doesn't fall apart because of price or missing product features; it falls apart due to poorly orchestrated, high-effort journeys. Leading banks and credit unions recognize the urgency to address onboarding. When we work with banking providers to evaluate their onboarding processes, we recommend three best practices to modernize the journey. Global executives bemoan the negative impacts of poor customer onboarding and subsequent abandonment. According to a November 2022 Abbyy report, 37% of surveyed organizations said it led to lost business opportunities, and 33% believed it drove customers into the arms of competitors, confirming its importance to the bottom line. Many organizations recognize the need for onboarding optimization but can't rein in their fragmented processes. We recommend assigning an executive sponsor who brings visibility and accountability to onboarding, using enterprise-wide metrics that align with how customers define onboarding success, like time to first value (TTFV) or time to first transaction (TTFT). Customer experience doesn't break down just because of clunky technology. In reality, it fails when customers feel the organizational chart. Banking customers expect seamless experiences, but instead, they feel every bump in the back office. The good news is that banks don't have to overhaul processes or systems to provide streamlined CX. However, they do have to overhaul how customers experience those processes and systems. An orchestration layer is an effective way to do that by bringing together onboarding data scattered throughout the banking ecosystem into one place, equipping every support agent to view and act on it. Teams gain real-time visibility and context into the entire customer relationship, eliminating swivel-seat servicing. If the platform is purpose-built for financial services, it can bypass custom development work typically required and plug into preconfigured, banking-specific connectors. Real-time visibility enabled by legacy integrations can maximize agility. Unlocking real-time onboarding data is only half of the story. Financial institutions also need tools to gather insights from that data and then take steps to enhance processes. Banks benefit by pairing in-platform AI with a journey builder that makes it simple to adjust onboarding journeys on the fly. These no-code tools are especially important for business line leaders who sit closest to their customers because they give them the ability to adjust journeys based on data insights, customer expectations and competitive pressures at speed without waiting for dev cycles or IT resources. Business line leaders can innovate quickly, launching new offerings, personalizing experiences and providing proactive, data-driven recommendations and service. The Cost Of Doing Nothing Each time a customer abandons onboarding, an institution loses revenue, acquisition effort and dollars, and brand reputation. Financial institutions that grow in the next decade must take steps to elevate onboarding to the same importance as customer acquisition by prioritizing 360-degree visibility of customer data and deploying real-time agile CX orchestration to act on AI insights from that data. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Forbes
18-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
5 ChatGPT Prompts To Optimize Your Customer Journey And Sell More
Your customers are stalling at checkout. They're getting confused by your onboarding, losing interest after too many steps, or simply forgetting why they wanted your product in the first place. They click away and never return, and you're losing sales to businesses that make buying effortless. How big would your business be if every single person who found it actually bought from you? Turn your customer experience from questionable to inevitable with a buying journey that converts window shoppers into loyal customers. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through. Business owners think they understand their customer journey, but they're missing crucial touchpoints. You have to know every step your customer takes, from first click to final purchase. Put yourself in their shoes. Track everything. Because every interaction matters. Spot the gaps and smooth them out before another customer slips through. "Based on what you know about my business, help me map my complete customer journey. First, ask me specific questions about each stage: awareness, consideration, decision, purchase, and post-purchase. For each stage, identify the exact touchpoints, potential drop-off points, and customer emotions. Create a visual representation showing where customers get stuck and where they flow smoothly. Include specific metrics I should track at each stage to measure success." Remove friction. Your revenue depends on getting this right. People buy from businesses that respect their time. Fewer clicks, clear options, fast checkout means more completed purchases. Every extra step costs you money. Every confusing moment sends customers to someone else. Don't make them think. Make buying from you the easiest decision they'll make today. "Analyze my current buying process based on what you know about my products and services. Identify every point of friction that could stop a customer from purchasing. For each friction point, suggest a specific solution to streamline the experience. Focus on reducing steps, clarifying options, and speeding up checkout. Create a prioritized action list showing which changes will have the biggest impact on conversion rates. Ask for more detail if required." Confusion kills conversions. So tell customers what's happening at every stage. Use simple language, set expectations, confirm next steps. They should never wonder what happens next. They should never question if their order went through. Clear communication builds trust. Trust builds sales. Make every message count. "Review my customer communication touchpoints based on our previous conversations. For each stage of the buying journey, create clear, simple messaging that tells customers exactly what's happening. Where applicable, include order confirmations, status updates, and next-step instructions. Make each message conversational yet professional, matching my brand voice. Suggest the optimal timing for each communication to maximize engagement without overwhelming customers." Use their name, remember their preferences, surprise them with something extra. Small gestures create lifetime customers. People crave connection, especially when everything feels automated. So make them feel seen. Show them they matter beyond their credit card number. Stand out for the right reasons when you treat every customer like your best friend. "Based on what you know about my business model and customer base, suggest 10 specific ways to add personal touches throughout the buying journey. Focus on scalable personalization tactics that feel genuine without requiring hours of manual work. Include examples of surprise elements, thoughtful gestures, and memorable moments that turn one-time buyers into loyal fans." Too many businesses ghost their customers after getting paid. Big mistake. Check in after purchase to keep the relationship building. Ask for feedback, fix problems quickly, and show you care about their experience. Fast follow-up prevents negative reviews and creates positive ones. It turns satisfaction into advocacy. Make post-purchase care your secret weapon for growth. "Design a post-purchase follow-up sequence based on my typical customer journey. Create a timeline showing exactly when to reach out, what to say, and how to gather valuable feedback. Include templates for checking satisfaction, addressing common issues, and encouraging reviews or referrals. Make each touchpoint feel helpful rather than pushy. Focus on building long-term relationships." Stop losing customers to preventable problems. Map their journey to spot every gap, make buying effortless with fewer steps, communicate clearly so no one gets confused, add personal touches that create connection, and follow up fast to turn buyers into advocates. Every interaction decides whether someone buys once or becomes a customer for life. Your next sale is waiting. Access all my best ChatGPT content prompts.
CNA
31-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Somebody that I used to know: On the weird grief of colleague departures
This question has become part of my awkward welcome ritual for new hires: 'So ... are you a coffee person?' Day one usually begins at the cafe downstairs with a quick hello, a commemorative libation (coffee or otherwise), then a climb up the stairs to commence our journey as co-workers. Over the past decade of running my company, I've continued to personally onboard new workers. It's not that I can't trust someone else to do it. I just really enjoy it. I like showing them our 'designated crying area' (our pantry space) and explaining the curious phenomenon of the office bidet geyser. I like going through our culture deck, throwing in a few jokes to break the ice and seeing them decide how heartily they should laugh. It's orientation, yes, but also something more – a quiet hope that if you make them feel welcome and you remember their coffee order, they might stay a little longer. Then they leave. Sometimes after three years, sometimes three months. Sometimes on a good note, sometimes a strained one. And in that abrupt silence that follows, between offboarding checklists and looking at handover documents, I find myself wondering if any of these efforts were worth it. WON'T YOU STAY WITH ME? About a decade ago, the first person that I hired when I started the company decided to make a jump to a much bigger, more prestigious agency. It was a competitor but it paid her better and had a much more conducive structure for her career development. It made sense for her. We parted on good terms, but it was hard to maintain the same friendship once we no longer shared the day-to-day routines. Even seeing her career milestones pop up on social media triggered a small wave of disappointment – not at her, but at myself. It was insecurity and a bit of resentment all wrapped up in a forced double-tap of the 'like' button. We didn't speak for a long time. Only after a good five years had passed could we both approach the situation with some perspective and humour. Thankfully, we're now friendly again. This isn't a story about attrition rates or talent migration. It's about the emotional tax of investing in people who eventually walk away. No one tells you, when you first become a manager, that the job requires a strange kind of short-term memory. You pour time into someone, build a rhythm, start speaking in shared references and inside jokes – and then, poof, they're gone. Off to bigger things and better pay. The relationship seems to end abruptly there, apart from the occasional LinkedIn sightings. I know that's just the way the cookie crumbles. The workplace today is a revolving door of industry pivots, mental health breaks and career realignments. Everyone's chasing something – balance, purpose, remuneration, title and so on – and it's unlikely that staying in one place can offer everything. Still, why do I feel a small sting every time someone leaves? SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW I'll be honest. I still find it difficult not to take departures from the company personally. Not in a dramatic, weeping-in-the-toilet way, but in those smaller moments. When a photo of a past team outing pops up on social media, in a photo album or the memories in your head. Or when you retrieve an old presentation deck and you see the names tagged in the slides. Certainly not because they're wrong to go but maybe it's because, for a brief window of time, I had imagined a future where we'd keep building something together. This emotional dilemma isn't exclusive to managers and supervisors. The departure I've taken the hardest happened when I was still a junior executive, in the infancy of my career. At the time, I was part of a desk cluster with a senior who wasn't my direct boss, but who had become a de facto mentor. Christopher was soft-spoken, serious and a little stoic, but he always humoured my terrible puns. We'd often sneak off for 'planning sessions' at the canteen that had very little to do with planning. We talked about movies, music, family – the kind of conversations that anchor you during chaotic work days. One afternoon, Christopher told me that the following week would be his last with the company. He'd found a better opportunity elsewhere. In the 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs, there's a pivotal scene where Tony Leung, playing an undercover police officer, watches the only person who knows his true identity get killed. The camera lingers on his expression of shock and horror and this remains one of the strongest gut punches in cinematic history. On that day when Christopher told me the news, my expression would've made Tony's look mild at best. 'Oh. Congrats, Chris!' I managed to say. 'Happy for you.' Two weeks later at his cleaned-out desk, I shook his hand and said all the right things: 'Let's keep in touch. Don't be a stranger.' What I couldn't shake was the strange sense of grief and futility. What would be the point of keeping in touch if we no longer worked together? FRIENDS ARE FRIENDS … FOREVER? What is 'workplace culture'? We like to talk about it in terms of values and vision statements, but most of it comes down to the people. It is who you sit next to, the person who replies with a meme instead of a boring thumbs-up, the one who makes the 5pm slump bearable. So when they leave, it isn't just another email from the human resource department. It's a permanent glitch in your work day. Conventional business wisdom dictates that investing in people is never a waste, even when they might come and go – because people are the most valuable assets of any company. I've echoed those things. I even genuinely believe them. But there's another truth, too: that what isn't a waste can still sometimes feel like one regardless. It's only human of us to feel something, especially after we've poured hours into someone – coaching, giving feedback, having conversations over coffee and bubble tea – only to have them resign right when they finally started getting it. Maybe it is not quite bitterness but certainly, there is a sense of jadedness. The kind that makes you want to pull back with the next person, just a little. Don't get too attached. Don't ask about their weekend or their interests. Don't joke too much. Here's the catch: If you stop investing in your people earnestly and genuinely, you will slowly become the kind of manager you swore you'd never be. Transactional. Coldly efficient. Checked out. And ironically, that's exactly the kind of environment people want to leave. So I will keep trying, even when the farewell Slack message reads like a LinkedIn boilerplate. I will keep hoping that somewhere along the way, the time we spent together meant something. That, in between rushed deadlines and Monday check-ins, we managed to become more than just colleagues ticking boxes on a task list. Maybe that's the point – to make the workplace not just somewhere people pass through, but somewhere they felt seen, where they felt real connection, even if briefly. I love how Andy Bernard movingly puts it in the series finale of American sitcom The Office: "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them." The real treasure, as they say, might just be the friends we made along the way.
