The Unchurned podcast brings you the stories that will help you forge incredible customer relationships, prevent churn, &amp; build institutional knowledge. The CS &amp; BS series is a part of the Unchurned podcast wherein, with each episode, our hosts - Kristi Faltorusso, Jon Johnson, Josh Schachter, and special guests uncover the secrets of top leaders and innovators of companies so that you can advance your career and the performance of your customer success team.

Unchurned, and the CS&amp;BS series, are presented by UpdateAI - https://update.ai/

&lt;p&gt;Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at &lt;a href=&quot;unchurned.substack.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferer&quot;&gt;unchurned.substack.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simon Farthing, VP of Customer Success at Bloomreach, joins Josh Schachter to discuss what it actually takes to lead a customer success organization in the AI era. Drawing from his experience leading a 100-person CS and services team, Simon shares the lessons he&amp;#39;s learned from experimenting with AI tools at scale, building internal tools, rethinking team structure, and preparing for what&amp;#39;s next. It&amp;#39;s a candid conversation about moving beyond AI hype and turning it into measurable operational impact.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;---&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What You&amp;#39;ll Learn&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- Lessons from testing 60+ AI tools across a 100-person CS organization&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- How Simon built a personal AI command center in Claude&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- A practical framework for build vs. buy vs. build-on-top decisions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- Why AI accuracy becomes non-negotiable at the executive level&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- Why &amp;quot;tool migration&amp;quot; is becoming a core professional skill&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- How Bloomreach rebalanced CSM compensation around GRR and NRR&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- Why Forward Deployed Engineers are emerging and where they fit&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;---&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Timestamps&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;0:00 - Preview &amp;amp; Intro&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;1:28 - Meet Simon Farthing, BloomReach overview&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;2:48 - 60+ AI tools tested, tool proliferation problem&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;6:00 - Building &amp;quot;Mission Control&amp;quot; in Claude&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;8:57 - Bottoms-up AI leadership structure&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;11:00 - The accuracy problem: when AI slides hit the boardroom&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;13:52 - Tool migration as a critical human skill&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;15:05 - Build vs. buy vs. build-on-top framework&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;17:00 - CSM comp redesign&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;18:33 - The rise of the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;21:10 - Smaller customers and customer marketing, agentic AI&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;---&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Josh is writing a book on building customer relationships. Follow his journey and insights at &lt;a href=&quot;www.joshschachter.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferer&quot;&gt;www.joshschachter.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;---&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where to Find the Guest&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simon Farthing: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-farthing/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferer&quot;&gt;https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-farthing/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;---&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where to Find the Hosts: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Josh&amp;#39;s LinkedIn: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferer&quot;&gt;https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unchurned Substack: &lt;a href=&quot;https://unchurned.substack.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferer&quot;&gt;https://unchurned.substack.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />


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