Silvia Veronese, VP of Global Customer Success at Guavus is responsible for the successful adoption of Guavus technologies – from delivery to services to support – driving innovation and transformation in the largest Big Data environments in the world. 

Silvia has extensive experience in Big Data, analytics, algorithmic modeling, security, information management and governance in both enterprise and service providers markets. Prior to Guavus, Silvia pioneered the function of customer success at HP and HPE for a market of over 40,000 customers and partners. At IBM, she worked in the team that designed the first parallel-shared-memory computer. Silvia spent the first half of her career in academia as a professor of mathematics at the University of Utah teaching and doing research in high-performance computing and non-linear dynamical modeling.

Interviewed by Aishani Majumdar

/ / What are the technologies/trends driving customer onboarding today?

Two-way, easy communications access for our customers is key. Dedicated customer success managers, automated onboarding tools, webinars and personalized training all help facilitate this on an ongoing basis. They enable us to capture each customer’s needs and customize the onboarding process to meet those needs. This is particularly important for companies that are selling products and solutions in the Big Data space, as the complexity of the technology and the success criteria are not always defined.

/ / Do you have a standalone customer onboarding team? If yes, under which vertical (sales, marketing or customer success) does it function? If no, is the onboarding function outsourced?

Guavus’ approach to onboarding is offered through our Adoption Services organization, which is part of Customer Success. We have a dedicated leader who designs and executes the onboarding strategy as well the entire lifecycle of successful adoption of our technologies. Guavus strongly believes in the power of continuous adoption, and onboarding is the first part of this journey.

/ / Do you provide onboarding services to all your customers or only to select customers? If the latter, how do you select these customers?

We provide onboarding services to all our customers to establish robust relationships and communications paths for a successful engagement. We have customized programs for our Tier-1 partners and customers. These initiatives include a lot of hands-on training at the customer site as well as the involvement of customer success managers, field CTOs and customer architects who understand well the synergy of the product and the customer environment.

/ / What are the channels of communication you use for onboarding customers (video call, phone call, email, chat or on-premise)?

We focus on personalized channels such as video calls and in-person communications (e.g., on-premise meetings) that meet our customers’ requirements.

/ / What types of content assets does your organization use for customer onboarding?

We have moved away from the old-style, traditional one-way communication with massive manuals, long training sessions and presentations. Our deliveries are tokenized in bite-sized components which are recorded, easy to deliver and available at any time. We also integrate onboarding into the product itself, using step-by-step walkthroughs that expose all the necessary features and capabilities that the customer cares about.

/ / What are the top challenges you face in onboarding your customers?

• Making promises that you cannot deliver. Never set up unrealistic expectations. Customers understand that no product solves all problems, and they are eager to partner with the vendor to make their experience successful even if there are limitations.

• Avoid the cookie-cutter approach. Treating all customers the same is a common mistake and can really jeopardize product adoption and success.

• Post-sales abandonment issues. Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than being dropped once the sale is finalized.

/ / What are the top benefits that you derive out of your customer onboarding program (increased CSAT, increased loyalty, positive publicity or higher renewals)?

A satisfied customer becomes a point of reference for many other sales. 80% of repeat sales are with customers that have had a previous positive experience. Upselling is much easier than selling to a new customer. Customers with high CSAT scores become references, as they can talk with confidence about the solution and their relationship with us.

Our goal is to make our customers look good by smoothly implementing a solution that meets the needs of their business. They want to know they made a good decision by selecting Guavus as a partner and will be recognized by their peers and managers as someone who sets a strategic vision and executes that vision. Successful onboarding is key to achieving this.

/ / On average, how long does your company spend on onboarding each customer?

It varies, but the length of the onboarding process is driven by customer empowerment. Only once the customer is empowered to interact with our systems, processes and people, does the onboarding process end.

/ / Do you customize onboarding programs for different customers?

We provide a similar foundation of onboarding to all our customers. To meet customer-specific needs, the program is further personalized where necessary.

/ / How is resource allocation for onboarding programs done in your organization? Are there dedicated account managers for each program?

Yes, we provide a dedicated team of resources to ensure customer success throughout onboarding from inception to long-term use of our products.

/ / What are the tools you use for customer onboarding?

We use training and documentation, a customer discovery questionnaire, portal walkthroughs and product demos among other tools.

/ / Have you invested in advanced analytics to track the performance of your onboarding programs?

Yes, we’ve invested in WalkMe, which is a powerful adoption tool. It has analytics capabilities that we use frequently to evaluate engagement and success.

/ / What are the trends/technologies that you think will drive customer onboarding in the future? How should businesses gear up for this?

At Guavus, we strongly believe that integrating artificial intelligence concepts into the onboarding process can help us reach a broader set of customers. It will also help us increase revenue and differentiate ourselves from the competition. The automation of information preparation such as customer needs, access needs and training needs will drive the onboarding process in the future. This automation must be carefully balanced with person-to-person guidance, training and education to ensure overall success.

/ / In which areas of customer onboarding does your organization plan to invest over the coming years (scaling team, technology or any other)?

We’ll continue to focus on scaling our team and technology, leveraging advanced analytics, and delivering a great user experience within our products and access points.