IT Onboarding Process: How to Manage Tools & Software for New Employees

The benefits of automation are well known to modern businesses. For decades, companies have found ways to turn slow, repetitive processes into efficient, self-executing systems. Which lets teams focus on impact, rather than repeating the same low-value tasks. 

Onboarding and offboarding are both high-value processes made up of low-impact touchpoints. Getting team members up to speed quickly really matters. How you create their email account or reset security permissions doesn’t.

Which is why automating these manual steps makes such a big difference. Automated onboarding and offboarding takes low-value work off your plate, and lets you focus on what is important. It also makes both processes faster, easier, and eliminates basic errors. 

In this article, we look at how automation can improve your onboarding and offboarding processes—particularly for IT operations. Then we meet two companies who successfully automated their own IT onboarding, and saw tangible benefits. 

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What are employee onboarding and offboarding processes?

Onboarding and offboarding are the practical, functional, and cultural processes associated with welcoming and farewelling company employees. Onboarding typically includes teaching new hires about the company culture, training in your specific ways of working, and giving them the hardware and software tools they need to execute. 

Offboarding is the change process at the end of an employee’s time with your company. This can include exit interviews, farewell celebrations, and regaining possession of company property like computers, phones, and access cards. 

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Key steps in IT onboarding

The IT onboarding process is often slower than you’d like. It involves numerous distinct steps, which can really add up if handled individually and manually. These include:

• Setting up user profiles and permissions
• Ordering new devices
• Configuring applications, software, and security updates on these devices
• Delivering devices to new employees
• Training employees on compliance, cybersecurity, and optimal use
• Monitoring device performance and troubleshooting issues

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IT is just one aspect of an employee’s onboarding, and can be taken for granted by hiring managers. Your goal is to make all of the above happen smoothly, quickly, and with no extra work for yourself or the new hire. 

For help, see our short checklist for efficient IT onboarding. 

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What IT offboarding involves

While the IT onboarding process may be neglected, offboarding is often overlooked altogether. Retrieving devices from departing employees is essential both for asset management and security. 

Key steps include: 

• Locking devices the moment employees no longer need them
• Wiping personal data or returning devices to factory settings
• Returning physical devices to the office or supplier
• Checking a device’s state for reuse
• Preparing devices to be redeployed

All of this adds up, and is always more complicated with remote or distributed teams. In a traditional office setting, it’s pretty simple to have an employee hand in their devices on their last day. It’s more challenging if that employee is in another city, state, or country. 

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Why automate employee onboarding and offboarding? 

In general, the best processes to automate involve a number of manual steps and little added value from having people handle each one.

Key benefits of automating your IT onboarding and offboarding include: 

• Time saved for IT teams and hiring managers, who no longer need to manually work through each of those steps we saw above. 
• Faster onboarding for new employees, who don’t need to wait for people to set up their profiles or order devices.
• Near-instant offboarding, because devices can be locked or wiped immediately with a simple click.
• Fewer errors, including skipped or forgotten steps, faulty devices, or losing track of devices when an employee leaves. 
• More consistent experiences, as every employee follows the same automated process at the beginning and end of employment. 

Overall, automation creates more streamlined and efficient internal processes. And for something as common and recurring as onboarding and offboarding, efficiency gains can really add up.

How modern SMBs automate onboarding and offboarding — and why it works

To illustrate with tangible examples, let’s take a look at two companies that prioritize automation in the onboarding and offboarding process. 

Like many growing companies, both faced real challenges in scaling IT operations. Even as modern tech companies, they had few resources specifically for IT operations. They needed to create efficient, easily-replicable processes to get new employees up and running, and to smoothly offboard team members at the end of their work. 

Best modern SMBs have understood that a great onboarding experience comes from the collaboration between HR and IT teams — and these two companies made that alignment a core part of their approach. As we’ll see, the secret to success lay in choosing the right tools and partners to take the weight off their very busy leaders.

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Faume: Near-instant IT operations for a distributed workforce 

Founded in 2020, Faume is a technical logistics solution that lets brands create resale services for their products. Faume works with world-famous logos like Hugo Boss, The Kooples, Aigle, and Bash to bring second lives to items and make consumer commerce more sustainable.

Faume’s 30-person team includes remote staff across France. CTO and Co-founder Jocelyn Kerbouc’h needed a simple way to deploy and manage devices for this distributed workforce ahead of scaling post-Series A.

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Before: False starts with IT providers

Faume initially leased computers in the hopes of getting additional support and a streamlined service. But this was far more expensive than the cost of buying—they were asked to pay up to €2,500 for a €1,200 computer. And worse, they still regularly encountered malfunctioning devices and frustrating errors. 

They pivoted to buying from Apple directly, tracking devices manually in a Notion doc. This was certainly more cost effective, but added more administrative effort to the onboarding process. 

As a co-founder wearing multiple hats, Jocelyn couldn’t afford this extra admin. Faume needed a more robust IT operations solution that could deliver devices at the right price, while also tracking their use and ensuring security. 

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Today: Centralized IT onboarding & offboarding

The big switch was finding an IT operations provider that lets Jocelyn order, configure, and deliver employee devices in a few clicks. Using Primo, Jocelyn sets password rules and updates, and pre-configures applications so that computers arrive ready to use. 

“Thanks to Primo, onboarding new employees now takes us half the time it used to,” says Jocelyn.

Faume has essentially automated the onboarding process, and offboarding is just as simple. When an employee leaves, Jocelyn can lock and wipe their computer remotely. Departing employees receive a shipping box and can easily return computers from anywhere. 

The result is a more efficient, secure IT environment for Faume. And Jocelyn can put all his energy into building and leading his business.

Read the full Faume story here.

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Dalma: Efficient operations with no IT team

Dalma is France’s fastest-growing pet health insurance company. Its tech-enabled platform already insures more than 40,000 European cats and dogs, with no signs of slowing down. 

Founded in 2021, the 70-strong team has grown quickly to deliver this popular and worthwhile service. While that’s good for business (and for our pets), it put pressure on former Head of People Claire Maarek. 

With IT onboarding just a small portion of her role, Claire didn’t have the time or technical expertise to build a comprehensive program from scratch.

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Before: Poor leasing experience

Like Faume, Dalma also tried leasing as a (theoretically) efficient way to manage IT operations. But Claire explains that the downsides were obvious right away. “Our leasing experience was disappointing, offering minimal service and reliability with poor customer support.”

It was a maddening mix of high prices and low-quality service. For an HR leader like Claire—not an IT pro by trade—this wasn’t a tenable situation. 

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Today: IT onboarding in seconds

Since switching to Primo, the results are night and day. IT onboarding takes mere seconds, and Dalma can secure hardware at competitive prices, configured and delivered for when the person arrives. All of this with no deep IT procurement knowledge or dedicated technical experts. 

Most importantly for HR professionals, Primo integrates with Payfit (alongside other HR platforms). Dalma adds a new employee in Payfit, and most of the process is automated from there. Devices arrive on time, whether new hires are in France or Germany. 

When an employee leaves, Primo makes it easy to retrieve or reassign devices elsewhere, or simply resell them. Which makes both onboarding and offboarding as easy as can be. 

Read the full Dalma story here.

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Make IT onboarding and offboarding a breeze

Both IT onboarding and offboarding are relatively simple processes, made difficult by manual steps and a need for technical expertise. Particularly for growing companies without IT teams or paid external consultants, key steps can fall through the cracks. 

That’s how you end up with security risks, sluggish processes, and frustrated team members — right when first impressions matter most.

The best way to streamline IT onboarding and offboarding is with one central solution. And as both Faume and Dalma showed, it’s even better when that solution integrates with your HR systems and company tools. This lets HR leaders and hiring managers—often “accidental IT managers”—keep control and ensure each step is completed efficiently. 

Primo provides exactly that: an all-in-one IT management system for faster onboarding and offboarding. You can easily automate virtually all of your IT operations, without paying huge fees to managed providers. 

‍See how Primo can improve your IT operations today.

Zero-Touch Deployment: How to Set Up & Distribute Employee Devices Efficiently

The time and energy that goes into getting computers and phones out to new employees is significant. And it’s only growing as modern companies become more distributed and remote friendly. 

Every visit to the IT closet—or the Apple website—is a distraction. And for busy IT teams, manually setting up and delivering new devices is a waste of resources. Even worse if you’re relying on line managers or your HR team to arrange all this.

Zero-touch deployment lets you automated these basic but essential IT processes. Devices can be set up, configured, and managed remotely without the need for physical intervention.

In this article, we'll explore how zero-touch deployment can transform your IT infrastructure, boost productivity, and support your business's growth.

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What is Zero-Touch Deployment?

Zero-Touch Deployment (ZTD) is the process of pre-configuring employee devices without any manual effort from your own team. The ideal outcome is an almost fully automated and highly efficient IT onboarding procedure, which works wherever your team members are. 

This process is also known as zero-touch provisioning or automated device enrollment. 

Let’s use Apple as a common example. Apple authorizes certain suppliers to pre-configure computers remotely, without having to handle them. These suppliers are therefore able to deliver to customers quickly, with computers that arrive pre-configured. Note: You won’t find ZTD if you order through Apple.com. This is only available through specific B2B providers.

There are plenty of benefits to zero-touch deployment for almost every business, as we’ll see. But particularly for companies with distributed teams and multiple locations or entities, automating device enrollment is a major asset. You don’t need IT experts in each office to set up computers for new employees—it can be fully automated and managed from anywhere.   

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What does it include? 

The specifics may differ slightly from provider to provider, but zero-touch deployment generally includes:

• Setting up accounts and preparing the device for use
• Maintaining security standards and being able to lock down accounts in seconds (if necessary)
• Retrieving company devices when employees leave, and deleting personal or employee-specific data

This service is typically provided by third parties—you essentially outsource device setup. Strictly speaking, zero-touch deployment doesn’t include sourcing or delivering devices to users. But some providers (like Primo) also help you purchase devices and deliver them to team members. 

This is best done through a software platform which lets you create new user profiles and order your preferred devices in a few seconds. Even better, this software can be integrated with HR or payroll platforms that already have new employee profiles with their home addresses, so delivery is fully automated.

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Advantages of automating device deployment 

Zero-touch deployment has become widespread as office spaces have changed. Today, 64% of companies have hybrid working arrangements, not to mention those with full remote or distributed teams. 

ZTD offers a more efficient way to distribute devices to these team members. Team members may be anywhere, and so may your devices. In this context, choosing a complete IT provider that offers zero-touch deployment as well as purchasing and delivery has several key benefits:

• Ready-to-use devices. Your IT team or office manager doesn’t need to prepare each device before handing them out. Likewise, employees don’t need to figure out how to configure the setup themselves.
  
  
• Fewer human errors. Particularly where you don’t have dedicated IT support, device setup can easily go away. ZTD leaves this work to the experts.
  
  
• Time savings. Devices are sent directly to the users who need them, removing the IT team as a middleman. This is more efficient, but also keeps your IT experts focused on higher-value work. And crucially, if someone is away or unavailable, there’s no bottleneck.
  
  
• Prompt device delivery: An automated process ensures that the correct steps are followed, so that devices arrive on time with the right person. Every time. This is important where you’re dealing with different countries and unique personal circumstances.

• Less technical expertise required: A well-designed zero-touch program doesn’t require an IT team at all. A hiring manager or HR leader can easily order devices and arrange delivery. 

• Better employee onboarding: New hires can choose the hardware they want and have it ready for them when they arrive. They simply turn on the device and their workspace is ready and waiting. This lets them get straight into onboarding tasks, and start getting to know their new team right away.
  
  
• Instant offboarding. ZTD also lets you wipe or reset devices from anywhere, which is helpful when employees leave your organization. You can instantly remove the user-specific data and return the device to its pre-configured state, with your specific software and apps still installed.
  
  
• Lower costs: Lower costs are the natural result of more efficient processes. Delivery costs should be cheaper as they’re taken on by logistics experts, and you also save on the human resources required to set up computers internally. 

• Consistent security: Devices can also be delivered with all the latest security updates and company-mandated programs. You’ll have the right security software right from the initial setup, and can update software on an ongoing basis.
  
  You also remove an extra handover step where things could get lost or stolen. There are fewer devices sitting around the office waiting for their user, and devices go straight back to the distributor when the user leaves or upgrades.

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Possibly the biggest advantage is simply not having to worry about devices during the onboarding process. The setup and delivery processes are taken care of in a few clicks from your IT or HR departments, and the rest runs like clockwork.

Zero-Touch Deployment with Primo

Some specialist services focus entirely on deployment. They’ll source and pre-configure a device, then ensure it arrives with the employee on time. Which is obviously a great start. But we believe that device procurement and deployment is part of a wider IT lens. And ideally, you’d manage everything in one place:

• Device deployment 
• Ongoing monitoring and management
• Employee onboarding and offboarding
• Updates to SaaS tools and software
• Passwords and security

With an all-in-one provider like Primo, you get deployment as part of a broader mobile device management solution. Meaning we don’t just get new devices to team members—we remove virtually all your manual, repetitive IT work. 

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Free deployment

You can buy, ship, and track any device via our platform for free. That includes new devices from Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and more, or refurbished via Backmarket. 

Having all of these suppliers in one place makes sourcing new devices very quick, and lets you easily choose from a range of manufacturers. 

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Fully customized

What really makes a difference is the level of customization and automation you get. Choose the software, tools, and extensions each computer needs to have at the individual or team level. In most companies, engineers and product managers will have vastly different needs from sales or marketing teams, and you can pre-configure these before devices are sent out. 

The key point is, you’re not limited to what’s available off the shelf. You design the software and hardware setups you need from the centralized platform, but you don’t actually have to build the devices up yourself. They arrive ready to go. 

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Integrate your systems

You have your own software ecosystem and tools of choice. So new devices should be connected to these from the start. First, you can connect your HR system—tools like Payfit, Lucca, Personio, or BambooHR. This way, you assign each device to an employee in their official company profile. 

Primo also helps you manage access to Google Suite or Microsoft Office, Slack, Notion, Salesforce, and all the other critical platforms that run your business. Create a new user profile in your HR tool, and they’ll have the access they need based on their team, seniority level, and any other factors you choose during the Primo onboarding. 

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Automate IT onboarding & offboarding

Good Zero-Touch Deployment essentially automates employee onboarding. Your IT team and managers don’t need to manually add new users to each tool—it’s all done in a click. 

And the devices are ready to use, configured to the specifications for each user. 

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Compliant & secure

Finally—but just as crucially—Primo ensures that all disks are encrypted, your systems are compliant (integrating with Vanta & Drata), and identifies malware and ransomware attacks. 

The overall outcome is a complete device management process, tailored specifically to your company and your team. Because while Zero-Touch Deployment is an incredible service—and vital for remote-friendly teams—there’s more to love about complete IT automation and management.

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Make Zero-Touch Deployment part of automated IT management

Device distribution is one of those unglamorous but essential processes that makes your company run. There’s no added value to setting up each employee’s computer one by one. In fact, it costs you time and human resources, and often leads to mistakes or omissions. 

These are the business processes that simply must be automated. And we have the tools and providers to do just that. 

Wherever in the world your people are—and whatever tools and hardware they need—get them up and running without effort. Just as importantly, track their equipment easily, and recall or repair it when required. Again, with zero touch. 

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Learn more about how Primo lets you deploy, track, and optimize your company’s IT stack. That’s vital for remote teams, and important for all companies. 

Onboarding is too often delivered on an ad hoc basis. Particularly in smaller companies with few HR processes, it can fall on the office manager or team lead to get new employees up and running.  

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While this might work at first, it leaves too much to chance. New employees need careful, systematic onboarding processes to set them up for success. That can be the difference between new hires getting comfortable in their roles quickly, or feeling disconnected and forgotten about. 

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This article looks specifically at IT setup during the onboarding process. Following these 10 steps, you’ll ensure that new hires have the equipment they need, with the guidance and security systems in place to succeed. 

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Why a formal IT onboarding process matters

While just one aspect of onboarding, IT is absolutely critical in the modern workplace. Without the right devices and permission sets, employees can barely function at all. 

Focusing specifically on IT and devices, a formal onboarding process: 

• Saves time. While you need to invest a small amount of energy and effort to create the process itself, it should then be easy to repeat with each new employee. And you don’t have to think up a whole new process each time around.
  
  
• Reduces human error. Particularly if you don’t have dedicated IT teams and on-demand support, it’s easy to overlook things in the setup process. A structured process (and a good checklist) ensures nothing is missed.
  
  
• Gets employees up to speed faster. You want new employees working independently and delivering value to the business as soon as possible. A formal process makes this both more likely and more predictable. 

• Creates fair, consistent experiences. It’s unfair if new team members have vastly different onboarding experiences. One person who gets VIP treatment has an advantage and will naturally feel more at home. More importantly, others with rushed or improvised onboarding may feel left behind. Consistency is key.
  
  
• Helps new employees feel valued. New employees want to know that they’re valued colleagues, and that their new team is excited to have them. Showing that you’ve prepared for their arrival is a simple way to make newcomers feel welcome. 

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All of the above applies to onboarding overall. But too often, the practical IT aspects of this process are taken for granted or overlooked. To help you construct an effective IT onboarding process, here’s a simple checklist to follow. 

10-step IT onboarding checklist

IT onboarding should never be left to chance. To make sure you get it right, here are 10 important steps to follow. 

These don’t necessarily all happen one after the other. Some can be done in tandem, and you may choose to put certain steps earlier or later in the process, to suit your own preferences and workflow.

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1. Understand the team structure

Before doing anything with hardware or software, you first need to establish who the new employee is and where they’ll fit in the organization. A high-level executive likely needs quite different tools and devices from your frontline support staff, for example. 

A few simple things to consider: 

• Which team are they in? 
• What is their level of experience and seniority?
• What is their start date?

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It’s not complicated, but it does require a small amount of reflection. A one-size-fits-all setup won’t work in the majority of situations. 

Finally, ensure their manager and HR rep know that hardware is being ordered and delivered. 

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2. Prepare and set up hardware

Ensure that new hires have the devices they need on day one, ready to use. This is the bare minimum. Asking a newcomer to use their own computer for the first few weeks is almost as bad as them arriving at an empty desk with nothing at all. 

Ensure all necessary hardware—including laptops, monitors, peripherals, and phones if necessary—is ready and waiting for them on their first day. If the employee is remote, you’ll need to arrange delivery, too (see below).

Devices should be pre-configured with the required company software, security settings, and user profiles. Ideally they’ll also have the specific tools and software that employee needs in their specific role. 

Zero-touch deployment can be a lifesaver in these situations. This pre-configures everything you need onto devices before they’re sent out, so you don’t have to do this additional step yourself. 

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3. Install necessary software and tools

If you’re not using an efficient zero-touch deployment setup system, you’ll need to install critical software yourself. This likely includes email clients, collaboration tools, and project management apps.

You also need to ensure you have the required licenses for those software. Tools like Office 365, Slack, Zoom, and Salesforce all have packages that include a price per seat, and some software works in groups of licenses (0-10 or 11-50, for example). Don’t leave it until their first day to realize you can’t actually give a new employee the tool they need. 

Once again, zero-touch deployment tools help with all of the above. And mobile device management (MDM)—separate but related—can make setting up user profiles as simple as a few clicks. 

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4. Create and send login credentials

Get each new employee’s access live before they arrive on the first day. That includes generating user accounts for email, VPNs, project management tools, and other key systems.

You should also ensure they have access to Wi-Fi networks, shared drives, and any other protected environments they’ll need to work with. 

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5. Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA)

The last of our setup steps is to enroll the employee in multi-factor authentication (MFA) for secure access. This is now standard in security-conscious organizations, and you’ll doubtless have a process and provider specific to your business. 

They’ll need this up and running on all devices. This can include personal phones if they’re planning to use tools like Slack or email on them. 

Bear in mind that organizational MFA can be complicated and confusing for new users. So you may also need to provide guidance on day one, as well as further resources. 

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6. Arrange device delivery

Depending on your suppliers, you may be able to do all of the above without actually receiving the new employee’s devices. But come the start date, you need the devices in place. 

Whatever the employee’s location, ensure hardware is delivered on time to the right place. That’s relatively easy if they’re working from HQ, but potentially more complicated if remote. 

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7. Conduct IT orientation and walkthrough

IT should have its own moment during every onboarding process. If your employees arrive in waves, this could be an in-person seminar with an IT leader to introduce themselves, make sure everyone’s connected, and to see that devices are performing at a high level. 

If remote, this means a short Zoom or Teams call between the IT person and the new employees. Walk through key systems, software tools, and security protocols, plus any key tools they need for daily tasks. 

Be sure that all new devices are working well, and that new employees know who to turn to for tech support if they need it. Newcomers are often too shy to ask basic questions and will often suffer through their struggles. This short get to know each other is usually enough to avoid these issues. 

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8. Provide IT documentation and resources

It also pays to give new employees a welcome package of IT guidelines, quick-start guides, and FAQs. And crucially, to show them how to find answers to simple questions. Include troubleshooting steps for the most common issues and IT support contact info.

This is incredibly important if you work with external IT support. Employees need to know how and when it’s appropriate to contact these service providers directly, versus asking their manager or HR for help. 

Creating the documentation obviously involves some effort up front. But done well, it’s a huge timesaver down the road. 

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9. Provide cybersecurity and compliance training

Cybersecurity is increasingly important for modern organizations. And every new employee comes to you with their own approach and philosophies around safety online. 

Enroll new hires in mandatory cybersecurity training to cover data protection, phishing prevention, and safe internet practices. Also share guidelines on compliance, acceptable use, and privacy policies.

This is important for all businesses, but especially those with actual compliance certifications to achieve and maintain. 

Finally, share best practices for company tools like Slack and email, which can sometimes be misused. Even where misuse isn’t strictly a security issue, best practices can help keep their use consistent and enjoyable for all. 

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10. Schedule follow up and ongoing support

Great IT onboarding isn’t just for the first few days. Plan a check-in after one or two weeks to address any technical challenges. And make IT support resources available for continuous guidance and issue resolution.

This not only ensures there aren’t any problems, but also helps to solidify a lasting relationship with the new employee. You want them to know who to come to with any issues, and to be sure that they feel valued in the team. 

It shouldn’t take much—just a five minute call or a brief coffee chat a few weeks in, to make sure everything’s running smoothly.

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Automate the IT onboarding process

As we’ve just seen, IT setup involves a lot of steps and checks—and it’s just one part of the overall onboarding process. Even with your trusty checklist, there’s real potential to forget steps or miss an important starting date. 

And the more people you hire, the harder it gets. Thankfully, there are good systems that can automate most—if not all—of the above. An IT management system like Primo: 

• Creates new user profiles directly from your HR system, with the correct setup based on their role
• Lets you order, pre-configure, and deliver devices in a few clicks
• Provides ongoing performance and security monitoring
• Patches software and operating system updates instantly
• Also simplifies offboarding, with the ability to lock or reset devices remotely

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You essentially remove all the manual, time-consuming aspects of IT onboarding. So you can focus on the human side: building lasting relationships and making your new teammates feel welcome and valued. 

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Talk to us to automate your IT onboarding process.