What to Know for Go-Live & How Phenom Can Help HR Teams Succeed
Go-live is a turning point in any HR technology rollout. After months of planning and configuration, the platform shifts into daily use, and teams get their first look at how recruiters, candidates, and hiring managers respond at real scale.
During Customer Obsession Day, Gabriella Csányi, Director, Global Customer Care (GCC) at Phenom, encouraged teams to pause and focus on a foundational question: “Who’s doing what?” That clarity, she explained, shapes confidence during launch and anchors everything that follows.
What happens in the weeks surrounding go-live often determines how a platform is perceived long after the launch phase ends. Early confusion can slow adoption, create workarounds, and erode trust among recruiters and hiring managers. On the other hand, clear ownership and predictable support paths help teams build confidence quickly, setting the tone for sustained usage, smoother change management, and ongoing improvement. For HR leaders, these early choices aren’t just about getting through launch, they shape how the technology fits into day-to-day work for months and years to come.
Watch the session here or continue reading for highlights!
Where Go-Live Gets Real
Once the Phenom platform reaches real users, feedback arrives quickly. Recruiters test searches under actual deadlines, hiring managers return to workflows they last saw in training, and regional teams seek guidance as soon as they encounter unfamiliar paths.
This shift is expected, but it becomes challenging when ownership isn’t clear. Early patterns tend to emerge:
Multiple users raising the same workflow questions
Uncertainty around where an issue belongs or whether it’s “ticket-worthy”
Dependence on a single internal champion for clarification
HR unintentionally absorbing questions meant for TA, HRIT, or operations
These moments highlight a core truth, as Csányi noted, “Your support structure after go-live doesn't just affect how fast you resolve issues. It shapes how confident your team feels, how quickly you adapt to change, and how well you can scale success across your organization.”
Real usage also surfaces nuances that testing environments rarely reveal: differences in data visibility across regions, slight workflow variations, or uncertainties around approvals and scheduling. None of these signal failure; they simply reflect the shift from controlled testing to live adoption.
Teams that move steadily through this stage typically rely on three anchors:
A clear path for routing questions
Shared ownership across TA, HRIT, and operations
A consistent approach to escalation, including when to involve Global Customer Care
The goal of early go-live isn’t perfection, it’s stability. With predictable pathways and clear roles, HR teams can support users confidently and prevent uncertainty from slowing adoption.
Why Clear Ownership Matters Before Go-Live
Many organizations spend months refining workflows and design decisions, while conversations about ownership are postponed. That gap becomes visible as soon as the platform is live. Real usage places a level of demand that testing won’t always reveal. Questions surface quickly, leaders want updates, and teams uncover scenarios that weren’t part of training. HR often becomes the default intake point because responsibility wasn’t defined in advance.
This is why clarity must come before configuration. As Csányi put it, “It’s exciting to plan your implementation, prep your workflows, and imagine the big wins ahead. But before you dive in, there is one thing we always recommend: get clear on who’s doing what.”
When roles are established early, teams route questions correctly, escalate only what requires GCC, and give users consistent answers during their first days on the platform. Clear ownership also helps HR leaders avoid reactive work and move through go-live with steadiness.
Common Ways Teams Structure Ownership Before Go-Live
There’s no single model that fits every organization, but successful teams share one trait: ownership is visible before launch. Across Phenom customers, three structures appear frequently:
Single champion models in lean organizations
Split ownership models across product, support operations, and technical leads
Full champion teams with leaders from different areas, each owning their piece of the puzzle
Any of these models can work when paired with a clear plan, a predictable triage path, and direct access to GCC. Csányi emphasized that teams should expect and embrace change over time — structures evolve as organizations grow, add new products, or adapt to market shifts. What matters is ongoing visibility into who owns what.
When teams know where to go and who handles which decisions, questions resolve faster, users feel supported, and HR avoids becoming the default catch-all for early feedback.
Related: SaaS Implementation Guide: Steps, Best Practices & Success Stories
Building a Clear Intake and Triage Path
Once ownership is defined, the next step is a single, reliable intake channel, whether a form, queue, or shared inbox. As Csányi noted, “a clear plan, internal triage process, and direct collaboration with Phenom support” underpin every successful launch.
A strong triage approach helps teams determine whether an issue is truly “ticket-worthy.” Most organizations move through the following progression:
Check for training or access gaps. Is the user interpreting the workflow correctly? Is there an internal guide or video available?
Confirm whether the issue is replicable. If only one user encounters it, the cause may be permissions or unfamiliarity.
Review configuration. Does the setup align with intended behavior?
Check system signals. Application Performance Monitoring (APM) can reveal integration or performance-related clues.
Only after these steps does the core team escalate a ticket to GCC, ensuring that the customer support team receives a complete, actionable summary.
A documented triage path keeps momentum steady. Any team member can step in, route questions appropriately, and maintain consistency even when someone is out of office.
Related: Optimize Your Hiring Workflow With Business Process Mapping
What Hyper-Care Actually Looks Like
Hyper-care marks the transition from planning to real usage. Over the first four to six weeks, teams support recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates as the platform scales to everyday activity. The goal isn't to eliminate every issue, it’s to create stability during a period of heightened engagement.
During this stage, the structures established before go-live become essential. Intake paths guide questions, triage helps teams differentiate between training needs and technical questions, and ownership determines who responds. Hyper-care also functions as an early learning period: patterns emerge, workflows are refined, and teams identify areas needing clarity or reinforcement.
This phase is also where change management becomes active. Recruiters adjust to new workflows, hiring managers develop new habits, and operations teams learn how data flows across the system. Organizations that anticipate this adaptation period tend to navigate go-live with fewer disruptions and stronger long-term adoption.
Related: Beyond Go-Live: The Role of Hyper-Care in HR Tech Success
Champions Hold Everything Together
Champions are often the anchor of hyper-care. They understand the platform deeply enough to troubleshoot, explain decisions, and guide users through nuances. They interpret patterns, translate questions across teams, and support decisions that keep the rollout aligned with business needs.
As adoption grows, organizations may expand beyond a single champion into a network of specialists. Regardless of size, the principle remains consistent: champions help users feel supported and help the organization understand how the system performs in real conditions.
Related: The Human Side of HR Tech Implementation: Building Successful Partnerships
Why Cross-Functional Alignment Matters More Now
Go-live increases visibility into processes that touch multiple teams. A question raised by one recruiter might tie to configuration decisions in HRIT or workflow guidance from TA leadership.
To stay aligned, many teams hold weekly or biweekly syncs during hyper-care. These touchpoints allow groups to compare trends, clarify responsibilities, and respond quickly to emerging needs. This rhythm prevents repeated troubleshooting and establishes communication habits that endure beyond launch.
Related: Southwest Connected with Over 1 Million New Candidates | Phenom
After Hyper-Care: Keeping Momentum
When the initial intensity subsides, teams shift from stabilization to improvement. This is where early insights turn into long-term practices.
Many HR and TA teams focus on:
Reinforcing knowledge: Short refreshers for hiring managers or recruiter groups help clarify common questions and build confidence
Strengthening documentation: Early questions often highlight the need for clearer guides, FAQs, or short videos that users can reference independently
Maintaining feedback loops: Survey check-ins or informal channels give teams a way to surface new challenges as adoption grows
Adoption deepens as teams build confidence, refine workflows, and raise platform proficiency across the organization.
Related: Phenom Introduces CORE
How Phenom Supports Teams Through Go-Live
Clear internal structures form the backbone of a strong launch, but teams also rely on steady partnership as real usage begins. GCC, platform insights, and our learning ecosystem help teams move through this transition with confidence.
Our support packages provide different levels of guidance depending on organizational complexity:
Standard Support with 24/7 monitoring and access to core tools
Advanced Support including enhanced diagnostics such as APM
Premium Support with a dedicated Technical Support Account Manager (TSAM) who works as an extension of the team
During hyper-care, organizations often reach out for configuration checks, workflow validation, or insights into unexpected behavior. A structured intake process on the customer side makes these interactions more efficient and helps resolve questions quickly.
Beyond direct support, Application Performance Monitoring (APM) gives teams visibility into integration status and platform signals that influence workflow behavior. Meanwhile, Phenom Explorer offers on-demand training for hiring managers and recruiters, which helps reduce pressure on HR during the busiest weeks. Many organizations also turn to the Phenom Community to see how peers approach similar challenges and share solutions that emerge only in real-world environments.
As adoption evolves, some organizations choose more advanced tiers; others continue strengthening internal structures using available resources. In both cases, a clear internal framework paired with accessible external support helps teams move from stabilization to long-term maturity.
Setting the Stage for Long-Term Success
The strength of a launch often reflects the preparation behind it. When roles are defined, questions follow a predictable path, and support is accessible, teams navigate the early stages with clarity rather than scramble. Over time, the habits built early: shared ownership, consistent communication, simple triage — become the practices that sustain adoption and shape the talent experience long after launch.
Interested in learning more about Phenom's support offerings? Explore Phenom Support Packages in detail, or reach out to your Account Manager to explore how we can help elevate your talent experience.
Apurba is a writer who specializes in creating engaging content, backed by storytelling, data, SEO and a cup of coffee. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, cooking fusion food, or curiously traveling like a local.
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