How Graphite reduced onboarding time by 90%, implementing a $30K client in just 26 hours

About Graphite

Graphite is a fast-growing SaaS startup with a platform for managing complex workflows and configurations akin to CRM or ERP systems. The company serves Fortune 500 clients, including Adobe, Intel, and Spotify.

The Challenge

An unsustainable "white-glove" approach — Before Rocketlane, Graphite's implementations relied heavily on a small founding team with deep product expertise. This team essentially started each onboarding project from scratch, configuring environments entirely based on individual client needs. While this approach delighted customers, it was neither scalable nor repeatable.

Blurred roles between implementation and customer success — Implementation managers doubled as customer success managers (CSMs), carrying their customers indefinitely post-go-live. This lack of role clarity made scaling the team and processes challenging as the customer base grew.

Lack of standardization and templatization — Without structured processes, onboarding was a blank-slate exercise every time, leading to inefficiencies and unpredictable timelines. The absence of templates or repeatable workflows often turned smaller accounts into disproportionately time-consuming projects.

Inaccurate pricing and effort estimation — Pricing for implementation services lacked logic or methodology, leading to mismatches between sales promises and operational realities.

"We were essentially sticking a finger in the air to price deals"

"I always want to discount the PS side of the business in order to gain ARR" — Kasey Smith, Director of Operations and CX, Graphite

The Solution

Driving professional services efficiency — Kasey emphasized the importance of aligning the professional services (PS) team's execution with business goals. Rocketlane helped the team achieve this balance by providing granular insights into time tracking and project performance. For example, after 10 implementations, Rocketlane enabled Graphite to analyze deviations between estimated and actual hours for key modules, allowing them to fine-tune pricing and ensure profitability.

Streamlined and scalable onboarding processes — Kasey and the team tackled inefficiencies by building standardized templates and milestones within Rocketlane. For instance, they developed guided workflows and implementation playbooks for smaller clients.

Separation of roles for better efficiency — Rocketlane's functionality helped Graphite formalize its implementation and customer success roles. Implementation managers could focus solely on onboarding, while CSMs used the tool for ongoing account management. This division of labor optimized the team's capacity and ensured smoother handoffs post-go-live.

Enhanced time tracking and pricing accuracy — With Rocketlane's time-tracking capabilities, Graphite established clear benchmarks for implementation hours tied to specific modules. This allowed the team to validate assumptions, refine their pricing calculator, and address potential misunderstandings with sales.

Driving team buy-in for time tracking — Rocketlane's intuitive time-tracking tools helped Graphite's team shift their perspective toward understanding time tracking as a process improvement mechanism rather than micromanagement.

A flexible tool for both onboarding and customer success — While Rocketlane was initially chosen for onboarding, its adaptability proved valuable for Graphite's customer success workflows. The team created "ongoing" projects for post-go-live customers, enabling seamless tracking of monthly priorities and configurations. Graphite leveraged Rocketlane's Spaces feature to embed sheets, status reports, communication logs, and complex project plans directly within the platform. This centralized information made it easier for clients to access key details without feeling overwhelmed.

Visibility and insights at every level — The reporting capabilities within Rocketlane enabled Graphite's management to track project statuses without diving into granular details. This push-and-pull visibility ensured that leadership stayed informed while empowering teams to focus on execution.

"Rocketlane's time tracking isn't about micromanagement or babysitting"

"I want you to track your time so we can price deals more accurately"

"Spaces has allowed us to stretch Rocketlane's capabilities into customer success" — Kasey Smith, Director of Operations and CX, Graphite

The Impact

By building standardized templates, separating implementation and customer success roles, and adopting rigorous time tracking, Graphite reduced onboarding time by 90%—implementing a $30,000 customer in just six meetings and 26 hours. Time-tracking data gave the team benchmarks to refine their pricing calculator and confidently price deals, while the Spaces feature stretched Rocketlane into customer success workflows.

"We implemented a smaller $30,000 customer in just six meetings and 26 hours"

"Rocketlane gave us the data to confidently say, 'We're delivering on target'" — Kasey Smith, Director of Operations and CX, Graphite