Amsterdam One Year Later: What Leaders Are Really Saying About AI
# CSS
# CSS Forum
AI is here — the challenge now is delivering value with trust, quality, and scale.
December 1, 2025Across our CSS Executive Forums this year, a few themes keep showing up:
▪ AI is now an expectation.
▪ The push for outcomes is accelerating.
▪ AI doesn’t remove complexity. It reveals it.
Back in Amsterdam this week, I reconnect with customer leaders who joined our earlier forums and hear how these themes were playing out in their work.
GitHub hosted us at their Spuistraat office, and what started as a simple regroup quickly shifted into an open conversation about what’s moving AI forward in customer support and success, and what still slows it down.
What Leaders Shared
Leaders were more focused and pragmatic than last year.
In 2024: “AI looks promising.”
In 2025: “AI is here. How do we deliver value with trust, quality, and scale?”
Around the table, we heard:
▪ Customers expecting intuitive, ChatGPT-like ease
▪ CFOs pushing for smarter spend and clear ROI
▪ AI timelines moving faster than data readiness
▪ Boards wanting outcomes, not pilots
▪ Teams needing real enablement to keep up
Curiosity remains, but now it’s paired with urgency and ownership.
GitHub’s approach stood out
Victor Pikula, who spoke at our 2024 Amsterdam Forum, shared an update on how GitHub is scaling AI in support. A few points resonated:
▪ AI is integrated directly into the workflow. Not a separate chatbot. It shows up where users already work, reducing friction and boosting adoption.
▪ Documentation powers the system. AI proposes. Humans refine. Reviewers validate. This loop strengthens both content and AI performance.
▪ Transparency over perfection. Victor discussed responsible use with guardrails.
His approach was grounded and practical; a model others can learn from.
Shared themes across industries
Across SaaS, media, fintech, hospitality, telecom, and consulting, leaders echoed similar patterns:
▪ Customers are moving faster than internal systems.
▪ AI is reshaping roles; support engineers becoming product experts; writers becoming AI amplifiers; FDEs increasing their impact.
▪ Experience and judgment matter more than ever.
▪ Data quality remains the biggest barrier.
▪ Build vs. buy vs. best-of-breed is now a strategic call, not a tooling debate.
One line captured the mood: “AI raises the floor. People raise the ceiling.”
The candor made the session direct and thoughtful, as I’ve come to expect from Dutch and European leaders.
My takeaway
From Silicon Valley to Amsterdam, one message stands out:
AI transformation is a leadership journey, shaped and strengthened by community.
AI is redefining customer leadership — elevating leaders who align teams, modernize workflows, and deliver outcomes with trust.
Huge thanks to this group, Victor, and the GitHub team for the warm hospitality.
If you’d like to join or speak at our CSS Executive Forums and Roundtables, message me. We’d love to have you with us.
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