At Pure Storage, like at many other B2B or SaaS companies, Customer Success or Account Managers faced the challenging task of managing 33 - 65 accounts per CSM, each demanding personalized attention and intricate understanding of their accounts.
Further, assigning a CS/AM to every customer, especially those generating lower revenue, was not economically feasible.
Despite the inherent complexity of their products, the Pure Storage team remains committed to providing individualized attention, insights, and recommendations to help customers maximize their investments and to suggest new products and services.
To rise above these hurdles, Pure Storage used Cast.app’s AI-driven Digital Customer Success and Account Managers, automating a whopping 75% of routine tasks and, impressively, realizing a 30X ROI.
Today, I'm excited to chat with Warlito Talagtag and request him to share The Pure Storage & Digital CSM Success Story.
Warlito, Please introduce yourself, tell us about your role at Pure Storage, and tell us about the Pure Storage and Digital CSM success story.
Thank you Dickey. I'm excited about our conversation.
My name is Warlito Talagtag, Senior Manager of Analytics and Automation at Pure Storage, where I lead a team of Data Analysts.
I report into Annette Pedroza, Director of Customer Success Operations.
I've been with Pure Storage for nearly four years, being the first hire for the Customer Success Department. Prior to this, I held roles at Palo Alto Networks for over six years, Cisco for five years, and Ariba for two years.
My primary focus at Pure Storage centers on a thorough understanding of our data to drive precise analytics, delivering critical business insights around Evergreen subscriptions.
Additionally, I optimize operations and streamline processes by strategically implementing automation-driven tools and other digital initiatives aligned with Pure Storage objectives.
Pure Storage recognized and endorsed cast.app's innovative vision for employing automation and AI in Digital CS. We began our journey with cast.app as a Design Partner, playing a pivotal role in shaping the product by providing invaluable feedback.
Our first collaboration was the Digital Service Value Review (SVR), aimed at disseminating personalized metrics to users and executives to bolster adoption and expansion. We wanted the SVR to be more than just informational; we championed the personalization of content, tailoring recommendations to cater to our diverse customer accounts, with users that range from basic users to executives and power users or admins.
The Pure Storage Digital Service Review ties insights to relevant recommendations to drive usage, adoption, and expansion. It includes:
The Digital CSM's role is vital here, ensuring that every recommendation is tailored, ensuring customers extract maximum value from their Pure Storage subscription.
Here are two examples.
Let's look at our success with this first use case quantitatively.
Based on the company's success with Digital CS/AMs, Pure Storage started the expansion to nine additional use cases across business units, including pre-boarding prospects, onboarding accounts, onboarding users, personalized education, benchmarking and insights-driven feature upsells and product cross-sells.
Digital CSMs introduce the support, service, and sales teams as and when appropriate.
As an aside, the Portworx division [of Pure Storage] uses cast.app solely with Digital CSMs and without any CSMs.
In particular, I want to cover the Pre-boarding and Onboarding use case. We think of onboarding in three distinct ways.
Customer Success should digitally start getting involved with potential customers or prospects even before they become customers. We plan to prepare the late-stage prospects for their personalized customer journey, explaining the processes, introducing the people, and sharing timelines.
At the start of the Customer Journey, we onboard new accounts, users, and executives, sharing both progress and dynamic next steps.
And anytime the customer hires new employees or buys new products, we onboard new hires, feature upsells, and product cross-sells.
Cast is perfectly suited for complex onboarding as it is flexible enough to accommodate personas, changes, and updates in success plans.
As indicated, at any time we share the status, recently completed tasks, and what each persona should work on next, implying if customers, CSMs, or AEs complete onboarding steps out of sequence, the onboarding still operates smoothly.
Thank you so much, Warlito. How can people contact you?
The best way to reach me is on LinkedIn.
Thank you Warlito for sharing the Pure Storage and Digital CSM success story with our audience.
The pattern Warlito describes is not unique to Pure Storage. It applies to B2B / SaaS businesses across segments who want to scale customer-facing outcomes.
For high-touch segments, the Customer Success or Account Managers are usually responsible for too many accounts, juggling their time from account to account.
For lower tier or SMB accounts, you cannot afford to assign a CS/AMs to every account but you want to maintain a standard of excellence, standardization that does not sacrifice the customer experience.
In both scenarios, as a result, there is a lack of personal attention and individualized recommendations leading to a decline in adoption and expansion opportunities.
This impact is felt across the segments, including lower-tier or SMB customer accounts without assigned team members.
If you are interested in replicating Pure Storage’s success and ROI, please set up a demo at https://cast.app/demo
