Bridging the Gap: CS and Product Alignment in the AI Era.

Customer Success and Product are no longer separate players in the customer journey. They are becoming new co-pilots.

But getting the teams aligned has never been easy.

In a recent conversation with Ohad Biron, CEO of Bagel.AI, we explored why this misalignment persists, what AI changes about it, and how CS and Product can move forward together.

🔍 The Alignment Challenge

CS and Product often operate in different worlds.

• Different KPIs

• Different perspectives.

• Different language

  
  

Customer Success teams are intensely focused on short- and mid-term goals: driving adoption, preventing churn, and expanding accounts. Product teams, on the other hand, think about long-term vision, innovation, and maintaining a competitive edge. Throw in the pressures of revenue targets and new logo acquisition, and the tension can rise to new levels. However, there is a bigger opportunity for collaboration.

🎯 Expectations Are Evolving

Changes take place faster than before:

• CS is expected to own revenue, reduce churn, and drive expansion.

• The product team is expected to demonstrate tangible ROI and measurable business impact.

• Both are expected to use AI to improve outcomes, accelerate time-to-value, and deliver seamless customer experiences.

  
  

The bar has been raised. The question is: how do these teams jointly rise to meet it?

👫 The Opportunity for Smarter Collaboration

This is where platforms like Bagel.AI step in.

Bagel turns fragmented feedback and scattered product signals into clear, revenue-driven priorities. Its customer-driven AI models surface fundamental product gaps and customer pain points, giving CS and Product a single source of truth they can rally around.

Key value points include:

• Automatically detecting trends from customer conversations and feedback.

• Prioritizing features based on customer impact

• Driving strategic alignment using shared data

  
  

But as Ohad and I agreed, data and tools aren’t enough.

👉 The Human Factor Still Matters 👈

Even the most innovative tools can’t replace trust.

Alignment between CS and Product isn’t just about dashboards and analytics; it’s about

building partnerships built on:

• Transparency and ownership of the company's goals

• Patience to explore and interpret insights together

• Curiosity to ask more profound questions beyond surface-level metrics

  
  

AI can assist, but collaboration is still a team sport played by professionals.

🔍 What AI Can Help Predict (And What It Can’t)

AI is advancing rapidly in B2B SaaS. Companies now use it to:

• Predict renewals

• Surface expansion opportunities

• Gauge the impact of new product features.

• Improve sales forecasting

• Highlight signals of value and impact on users and customers.

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But AI isn’t perfect. It may overlook the following:

• Organizational politics

• Company culture

• Team morale

• The nuances of human communication (also known as soft skills)

That’s why critical thinking, human instincts, and maintaining contextual decision making are still essential.

🚀 The Path Forward

AI is changing how CS and Product collaborate—but it won’t fix broken communication or misaligned goals on its own.

The most forward-thinking companies will use AI not to replace teams, but to empower them. They’ll foster closer alignment, more intelligent prioritization, and more meaningful customer impact.

Platforms like Bagel.AI are enabling this shift. But the real difference will come from people, namely, CS and Product leaders, who view collaboration not as a challenge, but as a strategic advantage.

More about my interview with Ohad Biron here