The Future of CS Might Be Strategic Account Management
I went through a layoff last year that didn't fully make sense to me at the time. Looking back, I think I understand why it happened.
My company eliminated the Customer Success Manager role and folded those responsibilities into a new Strategic Account Management function within Sales. At first, I thought it was simply a cost-cutting measure. With the rise of AI, I believe this may be where much of the SaaS industry is headed.
In many SaaS organizations there are too many people involved in managing the same customer:
- Account Executives
- Account Managers
- Customer Success Managers
- Support Teams
- Solution Engineers
- Product Specialists
From the customer's perspective, this can be confusing. Multiple people are reaching out with overlapping responsibilities and mixed messages.
When you strip Customer Success down to its core, the role is about understanding the customer's objectives, helping them realize value, and identifying growth opportunities. In theory, Account Managers should already be doing this. The challenge is that many have historically focused more on renewals and upsells than on deeply understanding the customer's business.
That gap led to the creation of Customer Success as a separate function.
AI is changing that equation with tools that can summarize meetings, analyze product usage, identify adoption gaps, and surface expansion opportunities, Account Managers can become far more strategic and productive. If they are given a smaller book of business, they can spend more time understanding each customer's goals and grow accounts in a way that aligns with real business outcomes.
In this model, Customer Success does not disappear entirely. Its responsibilities become embedded within a more consultative Account Management role.
I believe this could be beneficial for everyone:
- Customers deal with fewer points of contact.
- Companies reduce organizational complexity.
- Account Managers become more strategic and less stressed with a smaller book of business.
- Former Customer Success professionals can move into higher-compensation roles.
- Growth opportunities are identified in a way that are aligned with customer objectives rather than quota-driven.
To be clear, I am not saying all Customer Success jobs will disappear overnight. I do believe the standalone CSM role will become less common, especially in organizations where AI can augment discovery, planning, and account analysis.
The future may involve a smaller number of highly strategic account managers supported by AI, rather than multiple overlapping roles all trying to manage the same relationship.
Curious if others are seeing the same trend.