If you think Customer Success is just a buzzword on the decline, a look at the public markets might change your mind.
In a volatile economy, the most successful professional services organizations (PSOs) are doubling down on Customer Success (CS) and Net Revenue Retention (NRR) as the keys to predictable growth.
How do we know? We analyzed over 4,000 quarterly earnings reports from 430+ of the world’s top public services firms for our inaugural 2025 Public Market Pulse report. The findings show a clear and widening gap between the companies that treat customer outcomes as a core strategy and those that don’t.
A Mindset Shift: Thinking Beyond the Project
Traditionally, concepts like CS and NRR were reserved strictly for SaaS companies. But that’s changing. Inspired by the success of the SaaS approach, more services and technology businesses are adopting recurring revenue models, and shifting from delivering one-off projects to providing continuous value.
In light of this development, metrics like NRR are becoming the new benchmark for health in any services-driven business. The role of Customer Success is also evolving. It’s no longer the job of a single department but a shared responsibility across sales, services, and support teams, all working together to drive customer outcomes.
This shift is exactly why a unified platform for service delivery and success is the operational backbone required to manage a modern, recurring customer relationship.
Wall Street is Paying Attention
The numbers tell a clear story: market leaders are talking more about CS and NRR. Mentions of Net Revenue Retention in earnings calls jumped 38% in 2023, and Customer Success mentions rose 11%, with both trends continuing upward in 2024.
But here’s where it gets interesting. There’s a clear divide between the winners and the rest of the pack. Top-performing companies aren’t only mentioning CS, but crediting it for their strong results. Meanwhile, underperforming companies often talk about CS in aspirational terms, a strategy designed to help them recover from underperforming.
The message is simple: mature CS programs are a route to building investor confidence.
How CS Drives NRR
It’s no coincidence that CS and NRR are mentioned together so often. One clearly drives the other. Our analysis found that NRR was mentioned in 84% of earnings calls that featured positive mentions of CS.
This confirms what services leaders already know: a proactive CS function that ensures customers get value is the engine for renewals and expansion.
As our recent Global Service Dynamics report found, when CS teams collaborate closely with sales and professional services, 61% believe their margins would improve, 59% believe their customer retention would improve, and 56% believe they would have stronger renewal rates.
Building a More Resilient Business
In a tough market, your existing customers are your best path to growth. The findings from our 2025 Public Market Pulse report make clear that as the services landscape shifts, CS and NRR are essential for stability and success.
The ability to grow and hit profitability goals now hinges on delivering consistent, value-driven customer outcomes. The organizations that excel here will be tomorrow’s market leaders.
How you get there is by moving beyond “heroic acts of account management” and implementing a platform built to orchestrate success across the entire customer journey. Certinia’s Customer Success Cloud connects your services and success teams, ensuring that the insights gained during sales and delivery are transformed into actions that drive customer lifetime value. It provides a repeatable, predictable way to deliver exceptional outcomes, turning customer relationships into your most valuable asset.
Download the full Public Market Pulse to explore the full findings and learn how some of the top services organizations are leaning into Customer Success and Net Revenue Retention.
