Cisco 820-605 - Cisco Customer Success Manager

The two adoption barriers that must be investigated are business misalignment and lack of communication. Business misalignment occurs when the new solution does not align with the current business processes or goals. Lack of communication refers to the failure to inform or involve end-users in the decision-making process, leading to resistance or non-use of the new software34.

The most important results of a successful customer onboarding stage include discussing the desired business outcomes and identifying stakeholders. These elements ensure that the solution is aligned with the customer’s goals and that all relevant parties are engaged from the beginning. References: Onboarding best practices that emphasize the importance of goal alignment and stakeholder engagement.

A Quarterly Success Review is a conversation that outlines the key initiatives that are agreed upon in the success plan. It is an opportunity to review progress against the success plan and make any necessary adjustments. 

Customer A faces cultural and process barriers to adoption. The cultural barrier arises from the employees’ long-standing familiarity with the personalized service, which may make them resistant to a self-serve model. The process barrier is related to the established procedures and routines around the old meeting booking system, which employees may find challenging to change

 The Customer Success Manager should consider re-enforcing the time to value of the solution. This involves communicating the benefits and potential impact of the solution on the customer’s business operations and objectives, emphasizing how timely deployment can lead to quicker realization of these benefits.

 If a customer’s privacy policy prevents public sharing, the Customer Success Manager can create a success story for internal use only. This allows the organization to document and learn from the customer’s experience without violating their privacy policy. References: Cisco Customer Success Manager best practices suggest respecting customer privacy while still capturing valuable insights from their experiences.

The loss of a project sponsor can significantly delay time to value. A project sponsor provides the necessary support, resources, and advocacy for a project within an organization. Without a sponsor, projects can face delays due to lack of direction, resources, and organizational support

Opportunities that can lead to customers becoming advocates include moments of success when the customer acknowledges progress and continuing results based on unexpected value. These instances demonstrate the tangible benefits of the solution and can inspire customers to share their positive experiences with others, leading to advocacy.

When the product utilization score is not improving, a Customer Success Manager should conduct customer interviews to understand the barriers to adoption and develop a plan to address them. References: Customer success strategies that focus on aligning product capabilities with evolving business processes.

To address the customer’s concern about the lack of insights during quarterly business reviews, it is important to focus on actionable metrics. By agreeing on a set of relevant metrics and sharing the results along with trend lines, the Customer Success Manager can provide meaningful insights and recommendations that can lead to improvements in the customer’s business processes or solution utilization. References: The practice of using data-driven insights to inform business decisions is a key component of Customer Success, ensuring that reviews are not just data presentations but strategic discussions that drive value.