What it actually takes to ship a production AI agent in 2026
Beyond the demo. The five engineering disciplines that separate AI agents you put in front of customers from the ones that stay in dev forever.
Read the full post → Common Challenges
What we see in customer success organizations.
The patterns that come up in nearly every customer success engagement.
01
Customer health scoring everyone disagrees with
Most CS health scores are built on instinct and outdated assumptions. Building a defensible, predictive health score is harder than the vendor pitch decks suggest.
02
CSM portfolios that do not scale
When CSMs each manage 30-50 accounts manually, growth stalls. Better tooling and AI can expand portfolio capacity meaningfully without sacrificing relationship quality.
03
Renewal forecasts the CFO does not believe
Most renewal forecasts are gut feel. Building a forecast finance trusts requires structured renewal stages, predictive churn signals, and disciplined CSM data hygiene.
04
CS as a black box to the rest of the company
Sales does not know what is happening with their accounts post-close. Product does not know what users are struggling with. CS is often the bottleneck rather than the connector.
05
Expansion revenue forecasting
Net revenue retention depends on expansion — and most companies cannot predict it because the signals are scattered.
06
Onboarding-to-retention loop
Strong onboarding correlates with strong retention. Most onboarding programs are reactive and unmeasured.
How We Help
What we deliver for customer success leaders.
Customer health scoring built on real data
Health scoring models that combine product usage, support interactions, NPS, contract data, and CSM-captured signals — calibrated against actual churn outcomes to validate predictive power.
Gainsight, ChurnZero, or Salesforce CS Cloud deployment
Full implementation including playbook automation, CTAs, health scores, journey orchestration, and integration with your CRM and product analytics.
Predictive renewal forecasting
Multi-factor renewal forecasting models, structured renewal stage definitions, and CFO-grade reporting that holds up to scrutiny.
Product usage telemetry integration
Pulling product analytics from Mixpanel, Amplitude, Pendo, or Heap into the CS platform so usage signals drive both health scoring and CSM action.
Expansion revenue platform
Expansion opportunity identification, account growth modeling, and integrated CSM-to-AE workflows for expansion deals.
Structured onboarding-to-retention program
Templated onboarding journeys with milestone tracking, time-to-value measurement, and retention correlation analytics.
Compliance & Regulatory Matters
What we navigate in customer success.
Compliance and regulatory considerations are built into every workflow we deliver. The major frameworks we work within:
GDPR / CCPA Customer Data
Customer data subject request workflows, data portability, and privacy preference management.
Contractual SLA & Service Credits
SLA monitoring, breach detection, and automated service credit calculation tied to contractual obligations.
SOX Subscription Revenue
Subscription change controls, ASC 606 revenue recognition workflows, and audit-ready change history.
Renewal Notice Requirements
Automatic renewal disclosures, notice timing requirements (varies by state), and opt-out workflows.
Customer Data Residency
Multi-region data handling, cross-border transfer documentation, and residency-aware support routing.
Industry-Specific (HIPAA, SOC 2)
Sector-specific customer obligations — BAA management, security questionnaire responses, audit evidence.
Signature Service Categories
The major customer success practices our team runs.
Each category represents a deep specialization with dedicated playbooks, accelerators, and experienced practitioners.
01
CS Platform Implementation
Gainsight, ChurnZero, Salesforce CS Cloud deployments with full integration.
02
Customer Health Scoring
Multi-factor health models calibrated against actual churn outcomes.
03
Renewal & Expansion Forecasting
Structured forecasting infrastructure with CFO-grade reporting.
04
Onboarding & Time-to-Value
Structured onboarding journeys with milestone tracking and retention correlation.
05
CSM Productivity & Playbooks
Playbook automation, CTAs, journey orchestration, capacity expansion.
06
Product Telemetry Integration
Mixpanel, Amplitude, Pendo integrated into CS workflows.
Platforms & Tools
The technology stack we typically deploy here.
Gainsight
ChurnZero
Salesforce CS Cloud
Mixpanel / Amplitude / Pendo integrations
Vitally
Catalyst
Customer feedback platforms (Pendo, Beamer)
Renewal management tools
Integration Ecosystem
The platforms we connect to in customer success.
Our team carries hands-on experience across the systems that already run your customer success function. Integration is rarely the bottleneck.
Gainsight
Totango
Churnzero
Vitally
Catalyst
Planhat
Salesforce Service Cloud
HubSpot Service Hub
Zendesk
Intercom
Pendo
Heap / Amplitude
Mixpanel
DocuSign CLM
Conga
Snowflake / Data Cloud
Looker / Tableau
Slack / MS Teams
What We Measure
The KPIs that matter for customer success success.
Every engagement starts by defining how success will be measured. These are the metrics we typically baseline before we begin and improve over time.
- Gross retention rate
- Net revenue retention
- CSM portfolio size
- Renewal forecast accuracy
- Time to first value
- CTA completion rate
Recent Engagements
Real work for customer success teams.
A few examples of how these capabilities show up in practice — drawn from recent and active engagements.
01
Customer health scoring rebuild for a $50M SaaS company
Replaced gut-feel health scores with a multi-factor model combining product usage, support sentiment, and contract data — calibrated against historical churn. Identified at-risk accounts 60-90 days earlier; gross retention up 5 points.
02
Gainsight implementation for a 25-CSM team
Full Gainsight deployment with playbook automation, journey orchestration, and Salesforce integration. CSM portfolio capacity grew from 35 to 55 accounts per CSM without churn impact.
03
Renewal forecasting for the CFO
Built a structured renewal forecasting model with stage gates, risk flags, and forward-looking CSM commitments. Renewal forecast accuracy moved from 70% to 94% at start-of-quarter.
04
CS Cloud deployment with expansion automation
Deployed Salesforce CS Cloud with expansion opportunity identification, CSM-AE handoff workflows, and NRR forecasting. Expansion revenue contribution up 35%.
05
Onboarding rebuild for a $80M SaaS company
Replaced ad-hoc onboarding with a structured 90-day journey, milestone tracking, and time-to-value measurement. First-year retention up 7 points.
How Clients Engage Us
Four ways to work with us on customer success initiatives.
From short diagnostics to fractional leadership, every engagement model is built around your stage and needs.
Model 01
CS Operations Audit
Diagnostic of CS platform, health scoring, retention metrics, and CSM productivity.
Model 02
Fixed-Scope Project
CS platform deployment, health scoring rebuild, onboarding redesign.
Model 03
Managed CS Operations
Ongoing platform administration and CSM enablement.
Model 04
Fractional VP CS Operations
Senior CS operations leadership.
Outcomes We Deliver
The metrics we actually move for customer success teams.
Engagements are measured by movement on the numbers that matter. These are the directions of travel we commit to.
01
Gross retention rate
Increase 3-10 points
02
Net retention rate (NRR)
Increase 5-15 points
03
Time-to-first-value
Reduce 30-60%
04
CSM book-of-business capacity
Increase 20-40%
05
Renewal forecast accuracy
Increase to 90%+
06
Expansion pipeline coverage
Build to 3x+ target
Signature Frameworks
Proprietary methodologies for customer success work.
Every engagement leverages reusable assets — frameworks, blueprints, and diagnostics built up over hundreds of client projects.
Framework 01
Customer Health Reference Model
A blueprint for product usage signals, support signals, engagement signals, and financial signals that produces a health score you can act on.
Framework 02
Onboarding Operating System
Our framework for moving customers from contract signature to first measurable value as fast as possible, with milestones and accountability.
Framework 03
Renewal Playbook Reference Design
A pattern for renewal forecasting, risk identification, and intervention workflows that captures revenue otherwise lost.
Framework 04
Expansion Operating Model
A framework for systematically identifying, qualifying, and pursuing expansion opportunities inside the existing customer base.
Featured Insight
Insight & analysis from our customer success team.
Practitioner-level analysis from the consultants delivering the work.
AI Implementation
What it actually takes to ship a production AI agent in 2026
AI Implementation
How We Work
The engagement model.
Predictable phases. Clear deliverables. No surprises.
01
Discovery
One to two working sessions to map your current state, business goals, gaps, and constraints. We come out with a written scope document and recommendation.
02
Design
Documented solution architecture, technical design, realistic timeline, and a transparent commercial proposal — reviewed with your team before any build.
03
Build
Configuration, development, integrations, data migration, AI training, and QA — delivered in iterative sprints with weekly demos and adjustments.
04
Launch & Optimize
Training, change management, hypercare support, and continuous improvement. We do not disappear after go-live. Most engagements continue into managed services.
Our Capabilities
The five practices that support your customer success work.
Systems Integration
Connect the systems that run your business — CRM, ERP, billing, data, AI, analytics — into one cohesive architecture.
Learn more →Custom Development
Custom applications, platform extensions, integrations, and engineered solutions built when off-the-shelf software won't fit.
Learn more →AI & Technology Consulting
Strategic guidance from certified architects plus production AI deployments. System selection, roadmaps, audits, Agentforce, custom agents, and AI strategy — all under one practice.
Learn more →Revenue Operations
Align marketing, sales, and customer success into one revenue engine. Process, forecasting, attribution, and tech-stack optimization.
Learn more → More Departments
Other functions we support.
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Free 30-minute strategy session with a consultant who works with customer success leaders every week.
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