Precursive Perspective

 Reda Bennani is a Professional Services, Partnerships, and Product Management Senior Leader with 12+ years of B2C, B2B, and global experience spanning SaaS (GRC, BPM, CRM, Cyber Security, SOC, and Fintech). He has built and scaled services in companies such as IBM and Stripe. Reda is also a member of the Services Delivery Alliance (SDA), a community of peers in the Professional Services industry. Find out more here.

 In this episode, host Jonathan Corrie, and Reda discuss the importance of team alignment, customer enablement and scalable strategy for Professional Services. 

Some key highlights include:
- The Rise of Services in Customer Success
- Unlocking Business Growth with Strategic Partner Ecosystems
- Productising and Automation of Services Delivery
- Mastering Metrics: Articulating Value to the Board of Directors

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Ash Sawhney is the Global Director of Professional Services at Zebra Technologies. His experience lies in the successful leadership of large-scale global programs, optimizing customer satisfaction, driving revenue growth, and enhancing operational efficiency. Ash is also a member of the Services Delivery Alliance (SDA), a community of peers in the Professional Services industry. Find out more here.

 In this episode, host Jonathan Corrie, and Ash discuss the progressive nature of professional services as a function and also not just the delivery but value of SaaS solutions. 

Some key highlights include:
- The power of packaging services delivery
- The role and importance of partner enablement
- The changing landscape of customer expectations
- The role of Professional Services in driving better margin for your business

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Vijay started off with a background in Engineering, using his skills to become a Project Manager and move into the world of Professional Services. Vijay is also a Founding member of the Services Delivery Alliance (SDA), a community of peers in the Professional Services industry. Find out more here.

 In this episode, host Jonathan Corrie, and Vijay discuss the value of a diverse career path and how Consulting companies are being impacted by SaaS.

Some key highlights include:
- The challenges of Talent Management
- The evolution and metrics of Consulting
- How getting it right the second time is more important
- The power of a Professional Services Community

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James Brown is a commercial strategy and global pricing expert, specialising in the B2B Services and Retail & Consumer Goods sectors.  In this episode he discusses the pricing puzzle faced by consultancies and how they can revolutinize their assessment methods for better monetization with host, Jonathan Corrie. 

Some key highlights include:
- Value based pricing for strategy consulting
- Transforming legal and accounting industries with automation
- Reccuring Revenue in Professional Services business
- AI's impact on Time and Cost efficiency



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In this episode, Saood unlocks the power of customer success including the seven laws of customer onboarding with host, Jonathan Corrie. 

Some key highlights include:
- The power of effective onboarding and post-onboarding strategies
- Boosting Customer Value in SaaS
- The Key Connection Between Faster Delivery and Revenue Growth
- Success with Strategic Metrics and Continuous Iteration
- The Thrill of Turning Customers into Advocates



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As an experienced Professional Services (PS) and Customer Success (CS) leader, with a successful track record of building and scaling technical customer-facing organizations, Ilan Gendellman unravels the constantly shifting landscape of PS with host, Jonathan Corrie. 

Some key highlights include:

- Why Chaos-Free Operations Drive Performance and Partner Satisfaction
- The Secret Sauce for Customer Success
- Simplify Your Strategy for Subscription Services
- The Key to Selling Enterprise Software
- Key Metrics for an Exceptional Professional Service Organization

Get to know the Services Delivery Alliance (SDA): https://www.servicesdeliveryalliance.com

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With a proven history as an executive leader in scaling businesses and delivering customer success, Rob Niehaus brings his tenure of knowledge and experience in Professional Services to this discussion with host, Jonathan Corrie. 

Some key learnings include:

- Connect and Convergence of teams with customers
- The value proposition of Services
- The 3 Phases: Necessary, Differentiator, Growth Engine
- Work with a Maturity model and build pillars to articulate and drive continuous value 

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Layla Selick - VP of Strategic Customer Success at Productboard, speaks with Jonathan about building a Professional Services organization within the company to create, and how efficient or inefficient operations can spell make or break for consulting firms and their clients.

Some key learnings include:

- Understanding hiring profiles for a Professional Services team
- Alignment with GTM: 'Passing the baton' between Services & CS 
- Driving faster time-to-value and recurring value for the customer
- Archetype & prototype in the language of your customer base & Industry
- Gearing people around retention

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In this podcast episode, guest Adam Maze - Head of Operations at MMT Digital, speaks with Jonathan about the changing landscape in the world of Consulting, and how efficient or inefficient operations can spell make or break for consulting firms and their clients.

Some key learnings include:

- Adam’s three main consulting frameworks to use with current and prospective clients
- How revenue recognition impacts the world of Consulting
- Metrics that matter
- How to encourage efficient operations

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In this episode, guest Augusto Negrillo - Managing Director at Vivero, speaks about transformation in the world of Consulting and the perceptions and expectations of how delivery services should be, some key learnings include: 

- Resourcing models: not just local but on a global scale. People become the product you sell. 
- Speed of digitalization in Consulting - the need to be agile. 
- The impact of and the mindset required to navigate through the Modern SaaS Economy
- Metrics that Matter
 

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Dubbed the 'Jedi Knight' of Managed Services by our host, Precursive CEO Jonathan Corrie, Mark Henoch's tenure and impact at SimCorp is evident. With 15+ years of experience in product development and services along with being on the advisory board for TSIA (Technology & Services Industry Association). 

He delves into the transitioning of a traditional software company to a modern SaaS company, what that means and what sort of mindset recalibration it requires. 
Find out:
- The difference between Customer Success & Managed Services 
- The pitfalls of maintaining services delivery and how to avoid them
- The complexities of designing, building and implementing services packages based on the business model
- A crowd favourite: The metrics that matter

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Bringing in experience from a variety of different roles and industries, Mike Osborn - VP of Customer Success at Advanced speaks about scaling Customer Success in a multimarket, multiproduct organization while driving outcomes, some key learnings include: 

- Stripping back what a CSM actually is. What are they doing to be effective and make an impact for their customer so they get most value.
- Digital Success vs Person Intervention: Service packages as a value add service for the customer
- The importance of correlating a CSMs activities to drive business outcomes
- Metrics that dictate retention, for example time-to-replace & adoption
 

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With a background ranging from Automotives sales to supply chain including working at IBM and SAP to now Head of Services, Global CS at Conga, Peter's experience shows is growth and range of expertise. He delves into Professional Services (PS) Operations 101 for scaling SaaS companies, whether high-velocity or Enterprise. 

In this episode, he speaks about:

- Designing and building professional services offerings
- Learnings from a multi-product line company with different service delivery models
- Role of PS operations in scaling SaaS companies
 

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From an elementary school teacher to Sales Manager and Store leader in retail stores, to now a VP of Professional Services & Support, Joshua Sheldon's background in these various disciplines has allowed him to become an innovative business leader with significant experience in developing and implementing strategies based on the needs of the business, employees and customers.

In this episode, he speaks about:

- How does the role of your business model impact the world of services delivery? (e.g. moving from product to platform offering and having both to manage)

- How honing his previous skills of customer service, analytics, innovation and problem-solving helped his transition into the software/high-tech industry. 

- How has the world of Professional Services changed in his tenure?

- Planning a transformation of Services Delivery including PS and CS strategy, governance, organization and technology

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David Sakamoto has dedicated 10+ years of his career to continuously delivering value throughout the customer journey. His experience makes him a leader in customer success, transforming businesses and teams, and optimizing delivery of products and services to maximize customer value and propel revenue growth. Currently, he is the VP of Customer Success at Gitlab Inc., leading teams of Solution Architects / Sales Engineering, Professional Services and Technical Account Management / Customer Success Managers.

In this episode, David discusses how to drive the 'growth' stage (ie post-sales), adopting a 'kaizen' attitude of continuous improvement, ownership vs partnership, and the values and culture around the customer journey. 

As mentioned, you can find the Gitlab Handbook here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/

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Brad Jacobs is an experienced leader in the industry with a background in enabling services and support teams to optimize professional services delivery. He is currently the Vice President of Worldwide Professional Services at MongoDB, a leading modern, general-purpose database platform, designed to unleash the power of software and data for developers and the applications they build. 

In this episode, Brad speaks about: 

- The evolution of Services delivery 
- How customer behaviors/demands shape the world of Professional Services? 
- Has the shift in the importance of Customer success affected Services organizations? 
- SaaS metrics that matter: Traditional vs. Modern

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Nate Bitting is an experienced leader with a background in operations, strategy, customer success, automation, project and product management. Having built large teams from scratch and developed products from inception to production resulting in millions of dollars of the incremental pipeline. He is currently the Vice President of Customer Services Strategy & Operations at Alteryx. 

In this episode, Nate speaks about: 
- Building operational capability for Customer Success and Professional Services 
- The metrics that matter for modern Customer Success & Services teams 
- Convergence in the Outcomes Era 
- Customer Operations 101

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Rav Dhaliwal is an investor and former software executive, with particular experience building, leading & scaling start-ups and business units that drive net revenue retention such as Customer Success, Professional Services & Support). In this episode, Rav speaks about the role of customer success in driving revenue retention and how it works with sales, support and other functions in SaaS organizations, to deliver high-velocity services at scale.

As mentioned in the episode you can download the Customer Onboarding Benchmark report here: https://www.precursive.com/customer-onboarding-report-2021

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Dave Kellogg, is a thought-leader, advisor, director, consultant, blogger and currently the EIR at Balderton Capital. Formerly the CEO of Host Analytics, he is known as the SaaS metrics expert. In this episode, Dave shares his insight into the role of Services in scaling SaaS businesses, linking time-to-value to net retention, the 'correct mindset' for successful Professional Services and Customer Success organizations.

Dave is the author of the highly regarded 'Kellblog', where he covers topics ranging from startups, metrics to venture capital and Silicon Valley. Check it out here - https://kellblog.com/ 
 

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Himanshu Kapoor, Customer Success Leader at Google plays a vital role in shaping their Customer Success organization through mentoring, hiring, building service offerings and driving digital transformation. He has a wealth of knowledge in this field having worked in sales, customer experience and professional services at companies such as Cisco, IBM and InfoSys. In this episode, he calls out Customer Success trends he sees coming up in 2022 and its future in the high-velocity services delivery era. A must-listen for all looking to get into the CS space!

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