blogs / 25 MAY 2022
Is the Fear of Implementation Keeping You From Changing Your Mobility Partner?
Implementation- the Process of Putting a Decision into Effect; Execution
Whenever Cartus onboards a new client, tremendous care is taken in the initial implementation stage as the client begins to entrust us to handle their mobility needs. From the moment we enter a Request-For-Proposal (RFP), we understand the importance of listening and discovery, to customize solutions that best fit the needs of the prospective client. When a decision is made to engage Cartus to manage an organization’s mobility program, Cartus’ Global Implementation Services (GIS) team takes the lead and kicks into high gear a process designed to deliver the best solution and propel a successful long-term partnership.
The Implementation Whitepaper takes you behind the scenes to share the intricate details of what goes on in an end-to-end onboarding process of a new client from action plans to milestones.
Building the Right Team
Whether a client relocates 10 or 10,000 employees, Cartus approaches the implementation process with the same vigor each time. In addition to Cartus GIS members, the implementation team includes a mobility-focused representative from the client, the very same Cartus contact who began the partnership, as well as an account management team who will continue to lead the partnership with the client after the implementation process has been completed. There is also a supporting group from the supply chain management team and subject matter experts from both organizations, as dictated by the services within the contract.
Identifying the Good and the Not-so-good!
When the team has been established, the fun begins! I say “fun” because implementation projects CAN really be just that! To a process geek like me (and many of my colleagues in GIS), when I begin working with a new client, my ears are always tuned into anything the client shares with us that might be important to the implementation or day-to-day mobility process. It might be a process they have been following which seems outside the box, different than that which is considered standard, but that has been working well for them. I know that when I hear it, a customized process will be needed to ensure Cartus and our team members are ready to execute in the way the client needs. Identifying what was working for our clients before, and either replicating or building upon that success, is exciting. It is also this exciting process that helps us encounter new situations and expand our experience.
Identifying what was NOT working for our clients before they came to Cartus is also important, to ensure we build a different process that will improve the client and employee experience. When we support client contacts new to mobility, or with fledgling programs, we lend our experience to anticipate and answer both the questions they have, and the ones that might not have even occurred to them yet. They look to their relocation services partner, Cartus, to guide them in each discussion to help them make an informed decision. This is where the implementation team’s vast experience ensures that the client’s mobility program and policies align with industry standards and best practices. With a total industry tenure of 268 years, the GIS team has plenty of real-life examples of what does and does not work.
Flexibility is also key during the implementation process. A client may wish to put a specific process in place, re-evaluate that process after six months or a year, and adjust as needed. While we have tried and tested implementation plans ready to support our clients, we always leave room to adjust and customize to their specific needs, priorities, and concerns.
The Implementation Process
To illustrate the entire process of an implementation process, the Implementation Milestones Whitepaper documents the respective milestones, and you will notice that there are four critical phases to an implementation, namely:
Discovery and planning
Designing and building
Training and roll out
Hyper-care period
Within each phase, there are several work streams that house the tasks making up the implementation process. Each timed sympathetically for an organized and efficient beginning of our partnership with Cartus.
Your implementation manager (perhaps me) oversees the progress on each work stream to keep everything on track. Download the Implementation Milestone Whitepaper to gain a better insight on each individual task.
Whether you are creating and configuring new policies, designing processes for anything from initiations to payroll reporting, or managing the crucial transition of in-process moves between providers—the Cartus implementation team is in your corner and ready to help you through it all!
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Adrienne Lisko
Project Manager
