AI-Enabled Customer Leadership: Architecting the Next Operating Model
Omid Razavi
A standout gathering of senior leaders for an evening of executive dialogue on AI-enabled customer leadership, marked by strong ideas, candid conversation, meaningful reunions, new connections, and genuine community.
It was a pleasure to organize the 𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗟𝗮𝗯 𝗖𝗦𝗦 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 – 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 and welcome such a strong group of leaders for a thoughtful exchange.
My thanks to Srivatsan Vaiyakarnam and the NetApp team for hosting us so graciously. Srivatsan shared that while reducing cost to serve remains important, NetApp is placing even greater emphasis on customer value realization through an end-to-end reimagining of the customer journey, roles, structure, and product experience.
Ted Shelton opened with a reminder that AI will scale speed, synthesis, and execution, while judgment, creativity, and human relationships remain deeply human. He emphasized agency, urging leaders to build AI fluency themselves and not wait on others. For customer support leaders, his message was especially relevant: AI can make organizations more customer-centric across silos, while trust, judgment, and relationship-building remain where enduring human value sits.
Our executive exchange featured Mari Cross, Lavina Pinto, Prakash Kota, and Swetal Desai, moderated by Angad Grewal and Cathal McCarthy. The discussion focused on what it takes to move from pilots to scaled impact: redesigning work from the outcome backward, strengthening data and architecture foundations, tightening alignment, and raising the bar on governance, accountability, and change leadership. The panel also spoke candidly about shifting roles, evolving decision rights, and the operating discipline required as AI becomes more embedded in everyday work.
We also held two strong workshops on Value-Centric Operating Models, led by Ecosystems.io, and AI-Native Service Operations, led by Neuron7.ai, each bringing practical discussion on growth, retention, service, and support transformation.
Earlier in the day, our 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗟𝗮𝗯 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 discussed themes we will continue to explore with the broader community: how leaders are reinvesting AI-created capacity, how customer organizations can deepen their impact on trust, retention, and growth, and how operating models, roles, and expectations are shifting with AI. We also explored how leaders guide teams through pressure and uncertainty while deciding which gains to harvest and which to redeploy for greater value.
Thank you as well to Gradual, IFS Loops, Kore.ai, Movate, Planhat, Rocketlane, SearchUnify, and SupportLogic for sharing how they help, why this community matters to them, and the customer outcomes behind their work.
Most of all, thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to a strong evening of learning, sharing, and connection. I look forward to continuing the conversation in our online community and at our upcoming forums and roundtables.
hashtag#CSShashtag#SuccessLab
