It has become an important aspect of many businesses, with teams and tools created to support this effort Presently, the customer success function within most organizations is embodied in the customer success manager (CSM), client relationship manager (CRM), or client strategy consultant (CSC) job titles.
Furthermore, lacking the top-down support will deprive the CSM of the ability to garner the right resources needed by them to complete their jobs.
In traditional businesses, these functions are most commonly referred to as "fulfillment", "post sales", or "professional services".
[citation needed] In the technology sector, companies have been developing, selling, and enabling software solutions for many years.
With SaaS, companies offer their products as services instead of physical objects, transitioning the economy to a subscription model.
This shift in the software industry's operating model highlighted the need for a dedicated function within the company to ensure the success of its customers.
Case studies show that companies with strong CS teams outperform peers with weak or no CS teams in a multitude of financial criteria including customer retention (also measured by "churn", which is the opposite of retention), revenue growth rates, gross margin, customer satisfaction, and referrals.
In fact, customer experience is the greatest untapped source of both decreased costs and increased revenue in most industries, but only if companies take the time to understand what underpins it and how they can benefit financially from improving it.