Bringing on a new client should be exciting. But for many MSPs, it’s a source of pain. Not because of technical complexity (you’ve got that down), but because onboarding is slow, manual, and often uncompensated. It delays invoicing, eats into profitability, and steals valuable engineering hours from billable work.
If you’re spending 40–80 hours to onboard each client—and not getting paid for it—you’re not alone. But you’re also leaving money on the table. Fortunately, there’s a faster, smarter way to bring on new clients without compromising quality or security.
Let’s walk through a more efficient approach to onboarding, including what tasks to standardize, what tools to automate, and how leading MSPs are slashing onboarding time by over 50%.
Why onboarding is the biggest bottleneck to growth
You sign a new client. Hooray! That should mean you’re getting paid soon. But in reality, you’re staring down a month or more of back-and-forth just to get them fully online. You’re deep in the weeds of infrastructure assessments, security baselines, user creation, device provisioning, and policy enforcement, all before a single invoice goes out.
Here’s the catch: Most MSPs don’t charge for onboarding. Or if they do, it’s a flat fee that doesn’t reflect the actual hours involved.
“Before Nerdio, setting up a new client took nearly a full workday. Now, it’s a click of a button, and everything—security policies, application deployments, compliance settings—is automatically applied. We no longer have to worry about manual configurations or human errors.” — Chris Brannon, Directory of Technology, L7 Solutions
Imagine cutting your onboarding time in half (or more!). That means faster time to revenue, higher margins, and happier engineers.
The 10 essential onboarding steps and how to streamline each one
Based on industry best practices, here are the core tasks every MSP should include in a standardized onboarding process. You can do these manually, or automate them with the right tools (like Nerdio Manager for MSP) to save time and reduce risk.
Each phase below includes a rough estimate of time required for DIY vs. automated setups.
1. Pre-onboarding assessment
DIY: 6–8 hours | With Nerdio: 2 hrs
Understand the client’s current environment, define scope, and set expectations. Using tools like Entra ID and Nerdio Manager’s license inventory, you can dramatically shorten the discovery phase.
2. Tenant access & security setup
DIY: 4 hours | With Nerdio: 1 hr
Establish secure access with RBAC, MFA, and conditional access. Nerdio simplifies this with security templates and CIS-compliant Intune baselines.
3. Provision Azure infrastructure
DIY: 6–10 hours | With Nerdio: 1–2 hrs
Instead of manually deploying storage, networking, and compute, Nerdio enables provisioning and resource Auto-Scaling to speed up setup and reduce waste, all in just a few clicks.
4. Create users & assign roles
DIY: 3–5 hours | With Nerdio: 30 min
User creation, license assignments, and user group management are streamlined with Nerdio’s Helpdesk User Management and scripted actions. No portal hopping needed!
5. Provision devices
DIY: 5–8 hours | With Nerdio: 1–2 hrs
Set up AVD or Microsoft 365 environments, configure images, and prepare physical devices faster using Nerdio’s Global Image Management and provisioning tools.
6. Deploy policies (Intune, compliance, security)
DIY: 4 hours | With Nerdio: 30–60 min
Standardize and apply configuration, compliance, and security policies via Nerdio’s Intune Policy Templates and Unified Endpoint Management dashboard.
7. Install and configure applications
DIY: 4–6 hours | With Nerdio: 30 min
Roll out apps consistently using Global App Templates and role-based deployment rules in Nerdio.
8. Configure billing, reporting & documentation
DIY: 2–3 hours | With Nerdio: 30 min
Use Nerdio’s built-in cost estimators and reporting to track setup decisions, avoid resource waste, and keep billing transparent from day one.
9. Enable monitoring and alerts
DIY: 2–3 hours | With Nerdio: 30 min
Deploy alerts, performance monitors, and threshold triggers effortlessly using Nerdio’s session host insights and notification tools.
10. Operationalize for repeatable success
DIY: Hours of rework | With Nerdio: Zero repeat effort
Once you’ve onboarded one client, Nerdio makes it easy to repeat that success with Global Settings templates and automated approval workflows.
Get paid faster without the time drain
By standardizing onboarding with a checklist and using a platform like Nerdio to automate it, you can slash onboarding time by 50% or more, start billing clients weeks sooner, free your engineers from repetitive manual work, and deliver a consistent, high-quality experience every time.
Ready to streamline your onboarding today? Download our free MSP Customer Onboarding Checklist to standardize your process and start saving time immediately.
