Top 5 Skills for Customer Success Professionals in 2025 by Ricky Cheung

Customer Success (CS) as a function continues to evolve and is going through a significant transformation. In 2024, we saw the function gain broader recognition for it's strategic value, supported by advancements in AI-powered CS tools like chatbots, CRM systems, and knowledge management platforms. These innovations have enhanced efficiency and helped CS to deliver value to customers sooner. CS professionals are no longer limited to providing technical support or resolving escalations—they are now expected to conduct themselves as strategic advisors, helping customers achieve their goals and maximize outcomes. As we look ahead to 2025, considering the continued economic uncertainty and cautious buyer behaviours, these are my forecast of the five critical skills for CS professionals to stay impactful and future-ready.

1. Learnability: Embracing Change with an Open Mind

The rise of AI and automation has brought countless tools and platforms to the workplace, with CS professionals often using over 30 tools daily to manage their responsibilities. While these tools improve efficiency, they also challenge teams to adopt a mindset of continuous learning. This involves:

Unlearn outdated practices: Be willing to let go of habits or processes that no longer align with evolving tool landscape and ways of work

Navigate ambiguity: Be comfortable with the unknown and stay flexible and solution-oriented in uncertain situations

2. Commercial Acumen: Connecting CS Efforts to Revenue

As economic uncertainty persists, organizations are scrutinizing budgets and investments. For CS professionals, the ability to demonstrate their tangible contributions to revenue is critical.

· Aligning with business outcomes: Whether managing renewals, driving upsells, or securing customer advocacy, CS teams ought to position themselves as revenue-generating assets.

· Quantifying impact: Using data to showcase how CS efforts directly influence business success, from improved customer retention to increased lifetime value.

3. Data-Driven Storytelling: Showcasing Value to Customers

Data visualisation, and telling a story with data, helps CS tremendously in showcasing value to customers. From external market insights, we see a rising trend of CS professionals with technical data analyses and visualization related skills, including SQL, PowerBI, and Tableau.

4. Multi-Threading: Building Relationships Across Stakeholders

There is an increasing trend where Customer Success now often overlaps with Account Management, requiring CS professionals to manage relationships across all levels of an organization, from project team all the way up to C-suite. CS professionals are expected to:

Expanding influence: Proactively expand their sphere of influence within the customer organization; engage and draw alignment with stakeholders from all levels, to help avoid surprises during renewals;

Internal collaboration: Act as a bridge between Product, Engineering, Support, and Sales teams to deliver a seamless and unified customer experience.

5. Strategising: Focusing on What Matters Most

CS professionals often face an overwhelming list of daily tasks. While it’s tempting to address every immediate issue, successful CS professionals are able to prioritize ruthlessly: Focus on initiatives that deliver long-term value to customers and the business, over the more urgent, but less important tasks

The Road Ahead for Customer Success

This is an exciting time to be in Customer Success. Organizations across industries—not just SaaS—are investing in CS functions, creating diverse opportunities for specialization and career growth. Roles like Customer Advocacy, Technical Account Management, Implementation, and Solution Architecture are expanding, allowing CS professionals to branch out into various career development tracks.

Developing learnability, commercial acumen, data-driven storytelling, multi-threading, and strategising skills, are the top recommendations for CS professionals to remain relevant and future ready in 2025. What do you think of this list? Are there other skills you would suggest? Let me know in the comments below.