Future of CS - New Ebook + Thoughts On Predictions!

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Ben Winn
Ben Winn Member Posts: 13 Contributor
First Anniversary
edited July 2020 in Industry Insights

Hey everyone! As some of you may have seen (especially considering many of the co-authors are in this group), we launched a new ebook today at Catalyst on the Future of Customer Success: https://bit.ly/CatalystEBook

We really go deep into predictions, strategies, advice, etc., but while I certainly hope you take a look at the book, the reason I wanted to post in here to get your thoughts on some key predictions that I think are very applicable today:

  1. CS Operations will become increasingly critical, however, it's going to get much harder to hire for this role as CS teams become more specialized
  2. CS comp will increase across the board due to the impact of retention and expansion on company valuations
  3. The next CROs will come from CS

Super curious to know if you believe these are true? not true? If you've seen them already happening? etc. 

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  • Ryan Creamore
    Ryan Creamore Member Posts: 9 Seeker
    edited July 2020
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    Thanks @Ben Winn it's been a wild 10 years of transformation in the CS community and looking forward to seeing the evolution.  I see the top 3 predictions taken shape all around us today as well. 

  • Matt Myszkowski
    Matt Myszkowski Member Posts: 143 Expert
    First Comment Photogenic First Anniversary
    edited July 2020
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    Love the eBook @Ben Winn - it maybe time for me to think about creating an EMEA one! 

    On your predictions....

    1. Agree on their value & growing importance, but unsure I agree or understand why this will become harder to fill. Within my team of CSMs (75 in EMEA) I have a number that want to develop into more CS Ops style roles involving tool management, data, analytics, ABM, etc. I think we have these people within our existing teams as we mature and grow.
    2. Agreed - but as we see in EMEA to a huge degree of complexity this growth of salary is at different pace in each country. For a large company like SAP it is hard (impossible) to therefore have a globally or even EMEA consistency to it. This causes huge challenges in attracting talent, retaining talent and rewarding talent fairly.
    3. Disagree - CROs will become redundant and will be replaced with CCOs with all customer interacting roles under them from sales, to consulting, to support, to Customer Success.
  • Ben Winn
    Ben Winn Member Posts: 13 Contributor
    First Anniversary
    edited July 2020
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    Thanks for sharing your thoughts @Matt Myszkowski! An EMEA one would be super interesting! 

    Your second point intrigues me in particular because Facebook just announced that their salaries will be based on the city or state where each employee works, whereas Basecamp is keeping their salaries consistent regardless of location. As more and more tech companies go 100% remote, I think this question/challenge will come up more and more!

    Also I'll be sure to let our CRO knows he's redundant ;) 

    Kidding aside - do you see that as purely a title change to demonstrate customer-centricity? Or do you see it as something deeper/fundamentally different about each job?

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