Advice for Service-focused CS department

Will Spence

Hi all, 

Great to be part of this community. I'm looking for some advice/general understanding from anyone who has worked in a CS department that sits in a service-focused company as opposed to a product-focused company?

It'd be useful to know the extent to which you've gotten involved in delivering the service (again, as opposed to advising on the product use), how that has impacted Q/EBRs and the way you report results, and any other tips or general advice you've found in delivering? Have people found this has worked from a CS delivery perspective?

Thanks in advance! 

Amanda.Ormsby

Hi Will! I have no advice, but have found myself asking similar questions.

Our organization is primarily services focused, though we do have supporting technology used by both our employees and the customer. We're actively interested in expanding the remit of Success across the entire business (from previously being product focused), and I'm not finding many examples of how to structure this dynamic. If the client already has a primary client team that maintains the day-to-day relationship, when does it make sense to ask them to be responsible for some layer of Success, and when does it make sense for the Success team to interface with the client? 

REmery

Hey guys:

CS for a Services company is just as important as a product company, if not more: Service organizations often struggle to find a business model that includes that magical, “renewing subscription” so earning that next project and enthusiastic referral is even more key to long term growth.

If the service can be very clearly defined in a box (“productized”) then the basics of product-focused CS hold true. Think of the introductory “audit” or end-of-cycle “analysis” that has clear deliverables, known effort, quantifiable impact on the client, etc.

If the service is more customized, then I have always found success with the CSM acting as a hybrid PM / Analyst: Involved in the day-to-day but also part of setting strategy and reviewing impact. Happy to share more stories if that would be helpful.

Amanda.Ormsby

@REmery thank you for that feedback! Our leaders have managed to turn our services into a subscription model pretty early on, so we've got that going for us! Historically we have operated under a very customized approach, however, we're also actively undergoing an effort to productize everything we do... which is why intuitively I knew it made sense to push for a dedicated CS practice beyond our technology. Thank you for helping me put my intuition into words and to shift the way I'm thinking of how we should approach this.

I don't see a world where our CS team replaces the dedicated account team, but I do think I can find some nice milestones in the journey where CS can partner with the account team for even deeper impact.