The State of Customer Success: Next Gen Success

Talk to any next-gen Customer Success leader and they’ll tell you: the role of the CSM is evolving fast. Today’s CSMs are managing onboarding, driving adoption, collaborating across teams, managing renewals and surfacing expansion opportunities, all while delivering a consistent client experience. The next-gen Customer Success Manager (CSM) is not just a support agent; they are a key revenue driver. With longer decision cycles and tighter budgets, many teams are being asked to deliver more value with fewer resources in order to increase Net Revenue Retention (NRR). Investing in proper training and development of CSM teams and processes, including software upgrades and the adoption of digital programs, is increasing scalability and efficiency. At 2Win, we’ve been keeping a close eye on where the function is headed and how to help CS teams keep up. Here’s what we’re seeing, and what it means for leaders trying to modernize their motions and outcomes.

Industry Benchmarks from 2023 Customer Success Reports

In 2023, 55% of customer success (CS) teams either reduced or maintained their headcount, and 63% of CS leaders decreased or maintained their non-headcount budgets. ​- ChurnZero 2023 Customer Success Report 

The 2023 Customer Success Leadership Study, conducted by ChurnZero in collaboration with ESG, SaaStr, and HubSpot, provided a snapshot of Customer Success (CS) leadership trends. It polled over 1,200 CS professionals to study patterns of spending, processes, and strategies. Its findings are instructive for CS leaders and executives making organizational changes in response to changes in customer lifecycle and expectations. 55% of teams reported reducing or maintaining staff, while 63% held steady or cut budgets. Despite these constraints, the importance of the CS function didn’t waver—leaders simply had to do more with less.

Longer decision cycles (65% reported delays of 3–6 months on major purchases) and shifting customer expectations meant CS teams had to prove value faster and more often. That made consistent execution across adoption, value realization, renewal, and expansion more critical than ever.

Investment in Technology and AI

More than half of CS orgs are now using Customer Success platforms like ChurnZero or Gainsight, and 78% have implemented or plan to implement AI within the year. These tools promise automation, personalization at scale, and better visibility into the customer lifecycle.  AI adoption across sales organizations is changing how organizations automate insights, manage workflows, and personalize customer interactions. 

But tech alone won’t move the needle.

Digital platforms may help with insight delivery and workflow efficiency but those gains still depend on human-led conversations that drive real outcomes. For CS teams to succeed, they need the soft skills to build trust, navigate complexity, and guide clients toward measurable results.

That’s where the Success2Win program fits in.

The Role of Training and Soft Skills in CS Strategy

Digital-first motions, hybrid engagement models, and asynchronous workflows are the new norm—but that doesn’t make live interaction less important. In fact, the more digital we get, the more valuable strong communication becomes.

It's worth noting that many customer success studies are produced by CS software vendors, which means they may reflect certain perspectives or priorities. That said, the data they provide still offers valuable insight into the current trends shaping the customer success landscape. Investment in technology and training that drive product adoption, and simplify the customer lifecycle aids CS teams in making more hard data decisions. Leaving more time and budget for training on soft skills, like Success2Win training. 

Success2Win trains CSMs to lead conversations that influence adoption, deepen relationships, and drive renewals and expansions. Our communication frameworks—like L3 and CDIM™—equip teams to manage friction, ask better questions, and connect your solution to what matters most.

Soft skills aren’t optional. They’re what make automation work. When paired with platforms like Gainsight or ChurnZero, the Success2Win curriculum ensures CSMs don’t just respond to customer needs, they shape outcomes with clarity and purpose.

Gainsight Insights

Digital-First Success Programs

Nearly half (48%) of SaaS companies have implemented formal DCS programs to enhance scalability and efficiency. -Gainsight Software

Gainsight produces and compiles the Customer Success Index for North America, in collaboration with Benchmarkit. Like ChurnZero, it is a software interested in the mechanics and trends around how SaaS companies are scaling post-sale growth. These give us a broader landscape of how customer success programs are operating. Digital first models are a departure in customer success and the ability to blend automation, self-service, alongside hyper-personalization have become benchmarks of really great CS programs because they are both operationally efficient and high touch. 

Digital Engagements and CS Metrics

Nearly half of SaaS companies now have formal Digital Customer Success (DCS) programs in place, and 59% cite scale and efficiency as top priorities. But despite all the investment in tech, only 27% of orgs track KPIs directly tied to those DCS programs.

That’s a gap.

While automation is crucial for scalability, the CS metrics that matter—renewal rates, net revenue retention, and churn—still depend on people. And people need training. That’s why many organizations turn to 2Win Consulting to design scalable, experience-led strategies that align technology, training, and process. And for teams navigating complex buying groups, Consensus2Win offers a proven framework to create alignment across internal and external stakeholders.

The most effective CS organizations aren’t choosing between digital tools and human connection—they’re combining both. They’re building teams that can interpret data, act with empathy, and guide conversations that lead to business outcomes.

Modernizing CSM Motions 

2Win Global closely tracks shifts in sales organizations and the customer lifecycle.  These changes drive our training and how we serve our clients. Modernizing your customer success motions by moving into a digital platform is clearly an agenda item on many executives hit list. But these efficiency boosts and promises of software need a soft skill execution arm. Success2Win curriculum is as relevant now, as ever, for next generation customer success teams. Your CSM’s learn to handle difficult conversations with compassion and also meet the modern customer where they are. Customer success growth strategies are arguably more important that presales or sales. If you are looking for a proven investment for upskilling your customer success teams and modernizing your CSM motions, Success2Win helps CSMs thrive in this new era.