Executive Summary
The customer success (CS) landscape is currently navigating its most significant architectural shift since the category’s inception, in the early 2010s. For years, customer success platforms (CSPs) functioned primarily as specialized “systems of action” sitting atop the “systems of record” (customer relationship management [CRM] systems). However, the emergence of generative and agentic artificial intelligence (AI) has blurred these lines, creating a trimodal future for the industry.
This report explores the three primary forces shaping the next decade of CS: the defensive and offensive evolution of standalone platforms; the encroachment of CRM giants via agentic automation; and the rise of “vibe coding” as businesses opt for custom-built, AI-assisted solutions.
