Experts of Experience: Episode #55 Summary Unlocking Customer Success: How BetterUp Uses Data and AI to Transform Workforces

Podcast Information

• Title: Experts of Experience
• Host: Lauren Wood, Mission.org
• Description: Exploring how businesses exceed customer expectations through consistent experiences and emerging technologies like AI and GPT. Hosted by Lauren Wood, featuring leading business minds.
• Presented by: Salesforce Customer Success
• Episode Title: Unlocking Customer Success: How BetterUp Uses Data and AI to Transform Workforces
• Release Date: November 6, 2024

Introduction

In Episode #55 of Experts of Experience, host Lauren Wood engages in a deep conversation with Sarah Parker, the Senior Vice President of Customer Success at BetterUp. The discussion centers on how BetterUp leverages data and artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize customer success and workforce transformation in the modern business landscape.

Challenges in Organizational Performance

Lauren initiates the conversation by addressing the pervasive challenges enterprises face in unlocking workforce performance and potential to drive business success. Sarah highlights two major themes:

1. Resilience and Adaptability: In an ever-changing world, organizations prioritize building resilient and adaptable workforces.
2. AI Readiness: AI has become ubiquitous across industries, necessitating that companies prepare their entire workforce—from senior leadership to entry-level employees—for the transformative impact of AI.

Notable Quote:

"Something that we thought was like coming conceptually is now here and our work is going to change drastically."
— Sarah Parker [00:08]

Embracing AI and Data in Customer Success

Sarah emphasizes the critical need for organizations to transition from being passive recipients of AI advancements to actively piloting their AI strategies. BetterUp’s approach involves targeting the right populations within organizations to maximize the impact of their coaching solutions. This includes diagnosing key talent within specific divisions, ensuring engagement with coaching services, and utilizing data to drive mindset shifts toward AI integration.

Notable Quote:

"We are definitely acting as like data translators, helping them elevate the narrative of what the data is telling them."
— Sarah Parker [03:25]

Data-Driven, Consultative Approach

BetterUp adopts a consultative and data-driven methodology to support their clients. Sarah explains that beyond traditional HR functions, BetterUp integrates business context and performance indicators to demonstrate how talent transformation correlates with business outcomes. This sophisticated data analysis allows BetterUp to provide actionable insights and validate the impact of their coaching programs on business performance.

Notable Quote:

"The data is the true unlock here."
— Sarah Parker [05:16]

Scaling Customer Success Efforts

As BetterUp scales, Sarah discusses the evolution from a high-touch customer success model to one that incorporates standardization and automation. This transition allows BetterUp to manage a growing number of enterprise clients without compromising on service quality. By standardizing processes, BetterUp can implement automated systems that handle routine tasks, freeing human customer success managers (CSMs) to focus on more strategic, high-impact activities.

Notable Quote:

"Standardization is the precedent for automation."
— Sarah Parker [16:31]

Enhancing Member Engagement with AI

Engaging employees who receive coaching is crucial for the success of BetterUp’s programs. Sarah outlines how BetterUp uses AI to drive member engagement through:

• AI-Prompted Reinforcement: AI tools reinforce coaching insights asynchronously, keeping users engaged and motivated.
• Early Warning Systems: Data analytics identify patterns of disengagement, allowing proactive interventions to maintain user engagement.
• Product-Led Growth: Continuous innovation within the platform enhances user experience, making the coaching process more intuitive and effective.

Notable Quote:

"We've instituted data alerts that meet our account teams in the flow of their work."
— Sarah Parker [15:40]

Future of Customer Success and AI Integration

Looking ahead, Sarah envisions a customer success landscape where AI significantly enhances, but does not replace, the human elements of the role. Key points include:

• Increased Efficiency: AI automates monitoring and risk management, allowing CSMs to dedicate more time to problem-solving and revenue generation.
• Enhanced Relationship Building: While AI handles data-driven tasks, humans focus on building deep, empathetic relationships with customers.
• Scalable Delight: AI enables the delivery of personalized and delightful customer experiences at scale, differentiating high-performing customer success teams.

Notable Quote:

"Trust and the nuances of building deep relationships have to be driven by a human."
— Sarah Parker [28:17]

Personal Insights and Advice

In the concluding segments, Sarah shares personal anecdotes and advice for customer experience leaders:

• Feeling Known as a Customer: Drawing from her personal experiences, Sarah underscores the importance of vendors genuinely understanding and knowing their customers.
• Comprehensive Business Understanding: She advises customer experience leaders to deeply understand their customers' businesses and industries to provide more effective consultancy and value.

Notable Quote:

"Know the business of your customers... Understanding the business of your customers is."
— Sarah Parker [39:09]

Conclusion

Episode #55 of Experts of Experience offers valuable insights into how BetterUp harnesses data and AI to transform customer success and workforce development. Sarah Parker’s expertise illustrates the importance of a data-driven, consultative approach combined with AI integration to scale customer success effectively while maintaining the essential human touch. This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for businesses aiming to elevate their customer experience through innovation and strategic use of emerging technologies.

Key Takeaways:

• AI as an Enabler: Embrace AI to proactively lead and shape workforce and customer success strategies.
• Data Translation: Act as a bridge between raw data and actionable business insights to drive meaningful outcomes.
• Standardization and Automation: Standardize processes to facilitate scalable and efficient customer success operations.
• Enhanced Engagement: Use AI to maintain high levels of employee engagement and derive predictive insights.
• Human-Centric Relationships: Balance AI efficiencies with deep, empathetic human interactions to build trust and loyalty.

For Further Listening: To delve deeper into how BetterUp leverages data and AI for exceptional customer success, listen to Episode #55 of Experts of Experience on Mission.org.