Navigating the AI Revolution in Customer Success: A Personal Perspective
As a Director of Customer Success at Jellyfish, I've witnessed firsthand the rapid evolution of our industry. Recently, I've been particularly intrigued by the surge of AI-powered tools in the customer success management (CSM) landscape - even going as far as utilizing four (yes, 4) different AI notetaking apps to assist me in my day-to-day duties, only to have each of them get blocked by our IT team (darn). While these innovations offer exciting possibilities, they've also prompted me to reflect on their potential impact on our profession.
The Double-Edged Sword of AI in CSM
The influx of AI-powered CSM tools is undeniable. As someone who has implemented and used several of these solutions, I've come to appreciate their benefits. However, I can't help but wonder: At what point do these AI systems become a double-edged sword?
My concerns are twofold:
1. Skill Erosion: There's a risk that we, as CSMs, might become complacent and stop developing our core skills, relying too heavily on AI-powered solutions.
2. Over-dependence: We might start taking these tools for granted, potentially missing important nuances in customer interactions that only human intuition can catch.
My AI Note-Taking Journey
To illustrate this point, let me share my personal experience with AI note-taking apps. As someone who struggles with note-taking during calls, I was initially thrilled by these tools. My journey looked something like this:
1. At first, I closely monitored the AI's note-taking during calls to ensure accuracy.
2. As my trust in the AI grew, I stopped actively monitoring and focused entirely on the conversation.
3. Eventually, I found myself only skimming the AI-generated notes, potentially missing valuable context and connections to previous meetings.
This experience was a wake-up call. While AI tools offer undeniable convenience, I realized I might be missing crucial details that could impact my customer relationships and business outcomes in the long term.
Striking the Right Balance
Despite these concerns, I'm not advocating for a complete rejection of AI tools. Instead, I believe the key lies in finding the right balance. Here are some strategies I've adopted to use AI effectively without becoming overly reliant:
1. Hone critical listening skills: I'm working on improving my ability to discern important information during conversations, even when AI is doing the note-taking.
2. Diversify tools: I avoid putting all my eggs in one basket by using multiple tools and approaches.
3. Understand the technology: I make an effort to familiarize myself with AI tools and their limitations.
4. Trust my experience: I've learned to be confident in my ability to recognize when AI outputs need revision or correction.
5. Commit to continuous learning: I'm dedicated to upskilling in both AI technologies and core CSM capabilities.
Embracing the Future
As we navigate this AI revolution in customer success, it's crucial to remember that these tools are meant to enhance our capabilities, not replace them. By maintaining a balance between leveraging AI and developing our human skills, we can provide even better service to our clients. Some things that I will be particularly interested in will be AI’s ability to gauge sentiment from a customers voice, I believe that will allow for even more actionable insights and a better connection with the customer.
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane…It’s….DeepSeek
The emergence of DeepSeek, particularly its latest model DeepSeek-V3, is poised to have a significant impact on the AI landscape in customer success. Here’s how DeepSeek could affect this field:
Enhanced Personalization and Proactive Support
With DeepSeek’s advanced reasoning capabilities and efficient performance, customer success teams may be able to provide more personalized and proactive support. The AI could help identify potential churn risks, suggest personalized retention strategies, and enhance overall customer experiences.
Transparency in AI Decision-Making
DeepSeek’s focus on transparency, particularly its ability to articulate its reasoning before providing responses, could lead to more explainable AI in customer success applications. This feature could help CS professionals better understand and trust AI-generated insights and recommendations.
I'm excited about the future of CSM and the role AI will play in it. But I'm even more excited about how we, as professionals, will evolve alongside these technologies. Let's embrace the change while staying true to the human touch that makes customer success truly successful.
