The Value Episode

Hosts Valerio and William discuss how market and industry challenges from 2020-2023 have influenced the evolution of the CSM role in 2024 and beyond.

Hosts Valerio and William are joined by Ty Friend to discuss value and value engineering, a relatively new concept in the world of SaaS and emerging technology. We cover questions such as: Is value subjective? Is engineering value an art or a science? Do all products and services have value engineering principles? Listen here to find out more!

Our guest this time around is Rebecca Wilde who has over six years in client-facing and Customer Success roles. Almost every CSM has their own take on QBRs, and we address some of the most common misconceptions in this episode, answering questions such as:- What's in it for the customer?- How can any decision maker attend all the QBRs from all of their vendors?- How to make the most of your time with your stakeholders in a QBR

Valerio and William welcome Justin Bradley, a veteran of both cybersecurity and customer success. In this episode, we tackle such thorny questions as:- Why do you need a Customer Success Platform?- When is the right time for companies to start thinking about investing in them?- What are these platforms trying to achieve?- What role can an AI take alongside a CSP?- Do all companies need a CSP, or are there alternative methods that achieve the same outcome?

Hosts William and Valerio speak to Carlynn McCarthy, a Professional Services Project Manager who has worked at a number of small and large, on-premises and SaaS companies working on large-scale enterprise customer implementations. We tackle the complex delineation of responsibilities of PMs and CSMs, especially when it comes to ownership of customer onboarding, executive relationships, project handover, escalations and more.Tune in for an interesting debate, and to find out if Implementation Project Managers and CSMs are compensated on the same metrics or not...

In this episode, Ryan Noakes and Ramon Wiersema join Valerio and I to compare notes on working as CSMs for SaaS companies in various industries, from logistics and fleet management, through to Health & Safety compliance, cybersecurity and sustainability platforms - with a sprinkling of AI throughout!

Valerio and William welcome James Alliband, esteemed Product Manager in Cybersecurity on to the show for the first time. James lends his extensive experience to a lively debate about the do's & don'ts of product teams and CSMs who want to work together.

We know... How could three seasoned CS professionals even debate such a topic? Join Valerio and William as they welcome guest speaker Lauren Verby on to the show to discuss how companies make the transition to the cloud, to SaaS and to CS and the various pitfalls that can be found along the way. We also discuss when CS is and is not suitable for a company, and the role of CS in self-hosted platforms which are typically held in the customer's datacentre rather than the vendor's.Join us for what is one of the most heated debates of the series so far!

Building on the theme of CS Culture, William Belcher speaks to Bhavika Khochhar about why people join communities, how it can help a CSM to be a part of the CS community,  and ways to contribute and support colleagues and peers within the Customer Success industry.

Valerio and William are joined by Bassam Khoreich - Bassam has been a CSM for a number of years and is a vocal and passionate member of the global Customer Success community. We discuss the ins and outs of building a culture of CS within your own organization, some things that work well, and from the perspective of a candidate for a CSM role, how you can tell if your potential employer truly understands CS before you join them. Tune in for a great discussion!