Why Onboarding Experiences are Important
Business Central onboarding strategy for partners: why self-service, templating and packaged partner knowledge matter for scaling. It is a clip from a 2023 release wave 2 launch event video, and the speaker says it is equally relevant today. Feature status is not stated.
- Introduction to onboarding importance
- The scaling problem and customer demand
- Onboarding vision and self-service
- Partner matching and templating strategy
- Packaging consultant knowledge into apps
- Learning while doing in the product
- Summary and scaling through automation
Overview
The video argues that demand for Business Central is growing faster than the human resources available to onboard customers. Its answer is a vision where any customer can find, explore and start using Business Central and add-on apps by themselves, guided digitally. This does not mean full proficiency without help, and it does not mean no partner involvement.
It suggests partners rethink their role: match prospects with the right partner and solution from day one, template as much as possible, and let users self-finalize the rest. Partners are encouraged to package consultant knowledge into apps for AppSource. In-product learning helps users understand features and next steps, though complex scenarios still need consultants. The closing point is that investing in onboarding lets partners scale more with the same resources.
Key points
- The stated problem is that there are not enough human resources to onboard every customer who wants Business Central.
- The vision is self-service onboarding for Business Central and add-on apps, using digital guidance instead of hands-on partner involvement.
- Self-service does not mean 100% proficiency without assistance, and does not mean no partner involvement.
- Recommended approach: template as much as possible, then let users self-serve and self-finalize the rest.
- Partners are advised to package consultant knowledge, domain expertise and repeatable work into onboarding or guidance apps for AppSource.
- In-product learning covers what features do, why pages exist and the next logical step; complex scenarios still need consultants.
- The video is a clip from a 2023 release wave 2 launch event, described as still relevant.
Features
Every feature below: status not stated.
| Feature | At |
|---|---|
| Customer self-service onboarding | 1:00 |
| Template-based setup approach | 2:12 |
| Partner-knowledge apps for AppSource | 2:32 |
| In-product learning and intuitive guidance | 3:13 |
| Partner and solution matching | 1:52 |
Quotes
- 0:20 “customers love business Central so do we and so do you well is that a problem well kind of is a problem”
- 0:40 “there are simply not enough human resources to go around”
- 1:00 “any customer can find explore and start using business Central plus add-on apps by themselves”
- 1:40 “maybe there’s an opportunity to rethink how you as a partner are involved in the process”
- 2:12 “template as much as possible and then let users selfs serve and self- finalize the rest”
- 2:32 “take the knowledge of your consultants and pack it into some IP into some apps for app Source”
- 4:06 “you can scale more with the same resources if you invest in these onboarding capabilities”
Disclaimers in the video
- 0:00 preview: it’s a clip from a launch event video for 2023 release Wave 2 but it’s equally relevant today
Presenters (as heard): CERN.