Customer success management through alignment of marketing, sales and IT

Abstract

Digitalization unites marketing, sales and IT (M-S-I) actors in the context of customer interactions. However, currently, little is known about the dynamics underlying the interplay and the alignment of these three actors. Additionally, salespeople are increasingly challenged by customer success management (CSM) for remaining accountable to customers in the postpurchase phase of customers' journeys. This study examines the organizational alignment of M-S-I actors using a qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted in the context of a case study of four matched triads of M-S-I actors—including the executive directors of each company—throughout the customer journey to explore the dynamics underlying this trilateral alignment. The findings demonstrate six dimensions and twenty attributes of alignment, which are integrated into the COMPLY framework to provide guidance regarding how to adjust the alignment among M-S-I actors. This approach results in the discovery of novel key propositions for intradimensional alignment and ultimately interdimensional interventions, thereby revealing ways in which researchers and managers can analyze and adjust alignment among M-S-I actors, with the ultimate goal of facilitating CSM more effectively. This study contributes to existing models of alignment as well as to CSM research and provides guidance on how to analyze and adjust alignment for organizational M-S-I actors.