[Un]Churned · 18 Feb 2026 · From the week of 16 February
What Consumption-Based CS Looks Like Inside a $100B Company ft. Jared Collins (Dell)
These are notes on the conversation, checked against its transcript. The episode itself has the full discussion.
In brief
Jared Collins, Senior Director of Customer Success at Dell, describes how the Apex team runs customer success for consumption-based data center infrastructure, where Dell owns the hardware and it is hosted at customer sites. Host Josh Schachter guides the conversation through long hardware lead times, the data, triggers and playbooks framework, how CSMs work alongside account executives in a very large enterprise, and how the team is approaching AI. Collins's central argument is that the team can only anticipate customer needs months ahead if its data is standardized and connected, and that AI adds value only on top of that foundation.
For founders
- Hardware lead times mean Dell Apex customer success has to anticipate customer needs months ahead rather than react to them.
- Standardized KPI triggers should bring issues to the CSM automatically, and the playbook defines what to do about them.
- Playbooks work best as a practical checklist that leaves room for the CSM's own expertise rather than detailed prescription.
- AI only pays off once data sources, triggers and playbooks are standardized, which Dell is building first.
- Collins encouraged his team to start AI use with individual day-to-day tasks rather than waiting for enterprise-wide initiatives.
For revenue leaders
- The account executive drives strategy on a large customer relationship while the CSM owns the day-to-day operational experience, and the two work arm in arm.
- CSMs at Dell are expected to be generalists who know enough to recognize when to bring in an expert, and Collins says everyone owns the customer relationship.
- Collins looks at how many times a CSM is in person with the customer and the account team as evidence that the CSM is adding strategic value.
- Customer health scores should include signals from outside the product line, because those can represent indirect opportunity or risk to the account.
- Teams that have spent their careers in classic CapEx selling need the basics of adoption, renewal, risk and expansion explained before they think about consumption models.
What was said 19, most useful first
A usage-based hardware asset approaching full utilization can serve as a trigger to start planning its replacement. Listen
Collins gave an example for Dell Apex: the customer is billed on usage, the asset fills with data and gets close to full utilization, and that should prompt the CSM to start thinking about shipping a new asset. The trigger has to account for manufacturing and delivery lead times, which come from a different data source.
“We ship an asset out to the customer, we're billing on usage and then that asset's going to fill up with data and it's getting close to being fully utilized.”
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Health scores at Dell include non-Apex signals, because those can represent indirect opportunity or risk to the Apex business. Listen
Collins said Dell looks at things outside the Apex business that matter to the customer, so it has line of sight across the whole account. He said these data points are presented in a consistent, standardized way so CSMs can see them come up early and bring in the account team or customer. Only the Apex business is not enough to see the full picture.
“because that could represent an indirect opportunity or risk to that apex piece of it.”
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AI only pays off on top of standardized data, triggers and playbooks, so Dell builds those foundations first. Listen
Collins said the foundation work of standardizing data sources, KPIs, triggers and playbooks is not fun, but it becomes the raw material for AI. He said AI is then layered over the top to bring data points together more predictably and proactively. Dell's scale lets it do that groundwork well.
“let's get standardized triggers, let's get standardized playbooks. That all becomes raw material to work with AI.”
AI adoption should start with individuals automating day-to-day repetitive tasks rather than enterprise-wide initiatives. Listen
Collins said he has encouraged his team to experiment, asking what repetitive day-to-day tasks could be turned into a one-click action, and how AI might surface insights from a customer contract. He said he is only doing some Excel vibe coding so far, and that individuals have already produced useful results in a few minutes.
“It doesn't have to be these massive kind of enterprise wide kind of initiatives to get that AI efficiency. It starts with just day-to-day work.”
Hardware lead times mean Dell Apex customer success has to anticipate customer needs months ahead. Listen
Collins said Apex cannot deliver value by pushing a button, because getting hardware in place takes months. His team works out what a customer will need at the end of the year and what has to be put in motion now. This requires a deep partnership and transparency with the customer.
“it takes many times, months and months in advance of understanding what does a customer need, you know, at the end of the year and how do we, what things do we need to put in motion now?”
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A current memory shortage is lengthening hardware lead times, so Dell's customer conversations have to start earlier. Listen
Collins said the industry is in a memory supply shortage, which adds complexity and pushes lead times longer. Because of this, his team has to bring customer conversations forward and get more transparency into what customers are doing. Manufacturing and delivery lead times come from separate data sources that have to be connected to the trigger.
“our industry is in a memory shortage, right, supply shortage.”
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Data becomes useful only when standardized KPIs with defined triggers and playbooks sit on top of it. Listen
Collins said data is a starting point, and teams need standardized KPIs with triggers that define what good looks like for each KPI. The triggers should bring issues to the CSM so they do not slip through the cracks. The playbook then sets out what to actually do about the issue.
“data is a starting point, but then you have to develop standardized ways of KPIs with triggers.”
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At Dell, the account executive is the strategic lead on a customer relationship and the CSM runs day-to-day operations. Listen
Collins described the account executive as the one driving strategy and making the big decisions, while the Apex CSM delivers the day-to-day operational experience. He said the relationship works best when the sales executive, the CSM and the customer are all in sync. The account executive then translates the Apex picture into what it means for the overall relationship.
“the account executive is the CEO of that customer relationship”
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Dell expects its CSMs to be generalists who know when to bring in experts, because nobody owns the customer relationship alone. Listen
Collins said he expects CSMs to be dangerous on a lot of topics, enough to know when to bring in a specialist. Dell can draw on large teams of experts and on its view of similar customer profiles. He said the principle is that everybody owns the customer relationship, and the CSM's job includes bringing the right people in at the right times.
“I kind of expect my CSMs to be generalist in the sense they need to be kind of dangerous about knowing a lot about a lot of things”
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The most effective CSMs prioritize strategic relationships with the customer and internal account teams, not just technical and contract knowledge. Listen
Collins said technical knowledge of the products and knowledge of contracts, financing and pricing are important. But he said the most successful CSMs at Dell spend time building strategic relationships with the customer, the account teams and the specialists. Dell is working to free CSMs' time for this.
“the ones that spend time and prioritize building really strategic relationships, not just with the customer”
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Frequency of in-person meetings between a CSM, the customer and the account team is one sign of strategic value. Listen
Collins said one of the signs he looks for is how often a CSM is in person in front of a customer with the account team. He added that this is not the only way to measure it, but it shows the CSM is being pulled into the right meetings at the right times. Dell is looking for ways to free up CSM time for this kind of work.
“one of the evidences I look for is how many times is a CSM, you know, in person in front of a customer with the account team”
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Dell builds customer health scores for complex data center agreements using hardware delivery timeliness and utilization. Listen
Collins said Dell is building customer health scores to look at its complex data center agreements and relationships. The metrics include how effectively and on time hardware reaches the customer when needed, and how the team is helping customers optimize utilization.
“we build customer health scores, for example, that help us look at these complex data center utility agreements”
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Collins expects AI to surface patterns and problems that teams did not know existed, beyond making known tasks faster. Listen
Collins said the benefit goes beyond CSMs doing existing tasks faster. He said AI tries to connect data and create patterns, which can help solve problems the organization did not know it had. This is a forward-looking view and he did not describe a result from Dell.
“it's trying to connect and create all these patterns and find patterns that you didn't even know were there.”
Leaders from classic CapEx selling often do not naturally think in terms of adoption, renewal, risk and expansion, so the basics need explaining. Listen
Collins said one of Dell's challenges is helping colleagues understand how the consumption-based subscription Apex business differs from traditional upfront CapEx purchases. He said people are not unintelligent, but their perspective is shaped by their careers, so his team starts from the basics and explains why Apex operates differently.
“if you spent your whole career in classic CapEx deals, you might not naturally think about things like we do in the customer success space all the time about adoption, renewal, risk expansion”
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After a customer signs an Apex agreement, the first job is to determine what hardware they need, where it goes and how to deliver it. Listen
Collins said Dell owns the equipment and it is hosted at the customer's data centers, so onboarding involves physical logistics. The team confirms what hardware is needed and where, and checks details such as space on the data center floor and having the right cables. He described this as a white-glove experience for the customer.
“we kind of help provide a, a white glove experience for that customer”
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Collins measures success for Apex CS in one to two years as account teams naturally pulling CSMs into customer situations. Listen
Collins said he hopes Dell's collective teams will integrate customer success into how the company thinks about its business. He described a future where, when customers or account teams hit certain situations, it is natural to pull in the CSM because the CSM has a perspective nobody else has. He framed this as his view of what good looks like.
“success to me as I played out for the next few years is we're, we're we're integrated in the way Dell thinks about our business.”
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Dell customers see the company as one entity, which means coordinating across Dell's business units takes deliberate effort. Listen
Collins said Dell's customers do not separate Apex from the rest of the company. They see Dell as one and expect the teams to work together, which Collins said does not happen naturally. He said it takes a lot of grunt work to take data across the company and standardize it, which his team does to help facilitate this.
“They just see us all as Dell and they expect us to kind of work together. And that takes effort.”
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Playbooks should be practical checklists that leave room for CSM judgment rather than detailed prescription. Listen
Collins said playbooks can get over-engineered. He prefers to think of a playbook as a practical checklist that gives the CSM room to bring their own expertise into the conversation, without overly prescribing it.
“I think playbooks can get over engineered. I, I like to think of a playbook. It's a practical checklist”
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Dell's Apex post-sales functions were only recently pulled together and named as a formal customer success function. Listen
Collins said Apex offerings have existed for a while, but only in the last couple of years did the company collect its post-sales functions and call it customer success, then build a more formal framework around it. He described the work as feeling like a startup within a large company that is building muscles the company has not needed as much before.
“it was only in the last couple of years that we really collected all these post sales functions and said, hey, this is really customer success”
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