Follett Software Cuts Time to Value by 55% with GUIDEcx

OVERVIEW

Modernizing Customer Onboarding

In 2023 Follett Software set an explicit goal to modernize customer onboarding so districts see value faster and feel supported at every step. They knew incremental tweaks wouldn’t cut it—meeting their growth and customers’ rising expectations required a purpose-built implementation platform with real-time visibility for internal teams and district stakeholders alike. One year later, onboarding timelines are shorter, handoffs are smoother, and customers reach time-to-value noticeably sooner.

CHALLENGE

Limited Transparency and Heavy Administrative Workflows

Before 2023, implementation projects were guided by Word docs, custom tools, and Salesforce dashboards that tracked only five to seven broad milestones—even on multi-month engagements. This limited transparency into task-level efficiency and left little room for proactive course correction.

As their customer base grew, smaller projects shifted to implementation specialists who excel at technical delivery but aren’t traditional project managers. The result: coordination gaps, timeline drift, and a heavier administrative load.

“We first thought we needed a PSA,” recalls Mike Ricketts, Manager of Services Operations. “But PSAs lack the customer-facing transparency we wanted, and they require extra staff just to manage them. GUIDEcx solved both problems in one move.”

SOLUTION

GUIDEcx for Real-time, Customer-facing Transparency

Midway through a broader PSA evaluation, Follett Software identified GUIDEcx as the strategic linchpin its services-operations team needed. Beyond standard resource management, GUIDEcx offered the real-time, customer-facing transparency the district market demands.

With GUIDEcx in place, Follett Software:

• Scaled repeatability – built 70-plus reusable onboarding templates, each with 10–100 granular tasks that can be cloned and fine-tuned by product or district size.
• Pinpointed efficiency gains – tracked hours at the task level and surfaced bottlenecks through GUIDEcx analytics, enabling continuous process improvement.
• Unified reporting – merged GUIDEcx milestones with Salesforce data to create executive dashboards that spotlight implementation health and forecasted go-live dates.
• Automated orchestration – used Recipe Builder to auto-send status updates, adjust timelines, manage dependencies, and route tasks—freeing specialists to focus on higher-value consulting.
• Kept districts engaged – delivered the right instructions, files, and reminders in one portal, boosting customer participation and accelerating time-to-value.
• By weaving GUIDEcx into its services stack, Follett Software transformed onboarding from a manual checklist into a data-driven, customer-first experience.

RESULTS

Performance Gains that Improve the Customer Experience

Just 12 months after adopting GUIDEcx, Follett Software translated transparency into measurable performance gains:

“Breaking a five-milestone plan into 30 granular tasks let us see exactly where time was leaking,” says Mike. “Now we know what’s working and what’s not.”

These gains flow straight to the customer experience: faster go-lives, fewer surprises, and higher first-year satisfaction scores.

Looking Ahead

Follett Software is doubling down on GUIDEcx:

• Playbook expansion – new templates for multi-product rollouts and phased district launches.
• Deeper analytics – GUIDEcx data feeds directly into Salesforce health dashboards to flag risk earlier.
• Customer advocacy – districts are asking how they can deploy GUIDEcx internally after experiencing Follett’s streamlined onboarding.

With GUIDEcx embedded in its services stack, Follett Software will continue turning operational insight into district-wide value.