Speed as a Strategic Advantage
Businesses rarely recognize speed as the problem itself. They recognize the friction created from a lack of speed. A renewal slips because a decision took two weeks longer than it should have. A customer escalates the same issue twice because ownership wasn’t clear. A pricing change stalls because three teams need to weigh in, and no one is sure who […]
read moreCase Study: Protecting Revenue Through a High-Risk Product Transition
Overview A private equity–backed SaaS provider in the health care market faced a time-sensitive transition with direct implications for revenue retention, cost structure, and customer continuity. Business leaders provided a mandate to sunset an aging platform reducing infrastructure costs by end of fiscal year in 3 months’ time. Supporting both legacy and current product created […]
read moreThe Engagement Model Fix
Ask three people who owns the customer. You’ll probably get three different answers. An engagement model doesn’t always fail from bad strategy or underperforming teams. The problem is often structural, with a model that was never fully defined – so everyone fills in the gaps differently, and inconsistent results follow. Why Engagement Models Break Down […]
read moreCase Study: Improving Retention and Enterprise Value Through a Scalable Customer Success System
“If you follow their guidance, ESG will not allow you to fail. Their rigor, experience, and commitment to execution ensured we built Customer Success the right way from the start.” — Director of Customer Success Operations Overview A private equity–backed identity security business was racing the clock and under intense pressure to remediate churn, stabilize retention, and improve valuation before a quickly approaching exit timeline. Failure wasn’t an option. Every […]
read moreThe External Operator Play
Everyone is busy. Calendars are full. Back-to-back meetings. Squeezing in lunch during a mid-day call – “I’m just going to leave my camera off for this one if that’s okay, need to eat really quick.” And yet the work that matters keeps getting pushed. Not because people don’t care. Because the business is loud, and the squeakiest wheel often wins. Customer […]
read moreCase Study: From Fragmentation to Enterprise Value: How HPE Built and Scaled Customer Success Across the Business
“ESG didn’t just advise – they executed alongside us. They anchored our focus on what actually moves the needle: customer needs, team alignment, and prioritized action. The result was a materially faster transformation from legacy technology company to modern SaaS operating model.”— Carlos Quezada, VP of CX Strategy, Automation & Enablement, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Overview HPE was […]
read moreWhy Customer Success Complexity Erodes Enterprise Value
Customer Success rarely starts with a fully designed operating model. It starts with urgency – smart people doing whatever it takes to keep customers moving. Roles are loosely defined. Handoffs are informal. Customer ownership is often fluid, shifting depending on the account and what’s needed in the moment. As the company grows, those early patterns harden. Exceptions become habits. Habits become […]
read moreCase Study: Redesigning Implementation to Reduce Cost-to-Serve and Restore Retention for a PE-Backed Software Company
42% Onboarding Reduction 90% Escalation Reduction 71% Faster Time to Kickoff The Situation: Revenue and Margin at Risk A private equity-backed technology company approaching a valuation event faced mounting retention pressure driven by stalled implementations. More than 20 customers sat in an implementation backlog, most well past their planned timelines. Sales communicated a 12-week onboarding […]
read moreThe Financial Literacy Gap in Customer Success
Most customer success teams work hard. Many deliver consistent activity. Far fewer improve financial performance by design. The gap is rarely effort or intent. It’s literacy. Inside many technology companies, customer success leaders responsible for retention and expansion are not fluent in how their work translates into financial outcomes. They know what they do. They […]
read moreThe New Standard for Enterprise Value
Most technology leaders already sense that the environment has shifted. For private-equity-backed technology companies, the change is no longer debatable. New logo growth has slowed materially. Across SaaS, growth rates today are roughly two-thirds lower than pre-COVID levels, and steadily declining. Budgets are tighter and more closely scrutinized. Conversion rates are down. Customer acquisition costs […]
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