Global – October 12, 2026 -- Customer success (CS) teams with a dedicated customer success platform (CSP) reported 100% net revenue retention (NRR), versus 94% for organizations without one, according to ChurnZero's Customer Revenue Leadership Study. The figure was cited during a webinar in which three CS executives each backed a dedicated CSP over a CRM module as leaders plan for 2027.
Gartner survey finds 91% of service leaders feel more pressure to adopt AI
Ravi Pimplaskar, Senior Director of Revenue Marketing at ChurnZero, cited a Gartner survey in which 91% of customer service and support leaders reported increased pressure to adopt AI. The pressure runs in both directions. Boardrooms are issuing mandates, while CSMs want AI to cut heavy administrative workloads, said Lukas Alexander, VP of Customer Success at ChurnZero.
WelcomeHome Software set up an AI committee that includes individual service-level team members. The group evaluates workflows and identifies where AI automation would make the most difference, said Emily Alexander, the company's Chief Customer Officer.
Panel favors buying AI tools over building custom workflows
Jeff Davison, Chief Customer Officer at Unanet, said custom AI builds add costs to maintain, develop and scale over time. He listed security hurdles, maintenance overhead, excessive token costs, development constraints and mounting debt. In his view, out-of-the-box tools are the more sustainable and cost-effective route.
Emily Alexander said internal builds often cost more money, time and maintenance than handing the work to a trusted vendor. She added that embedding AI in the tool that already houses company data makes the most sense.
Panelists unanimously back dedicated CSPs over CRM modules
Davison said building CS workflows inside a CRM not designed for customer success can take months of development and carry high maintenance costs. The result can still be an underused tool. Unanet now manages CS in ChurnZero and shares churn score metrics in Salesforce to give its sales team visibility.
Emily Alexander said separating CSMs in a CSP from sales in a CRM, linked by bidirectional integrations, limits system fatigue. "You need to give [CSMs] as little tools as possible to log into," she said.
Pimplaskar and Lukas Alexander both work for ChurnZero, the vendor behind the study and the CSP Unanet uses. The panel's first two segments covered AI adoption and the CRM-versus-CSP choice. A follow-up covering the remaining two segments is planned.