Customers rarely invest in software because of its features alone. They invest because they expect it to help them achieve better business outcomes.
That simple shift has fundamentally changed what Customer Experience means.
Product innovation still matters, but customers now evaluate every experience surrounding the product—from implementation and training to support, Customer Success, and the long-term partnership that follows.
At the same time, customer expectations continue to evolve. AI is changing how people access information. Digital-first experiences have become the norm, and organizations increasingly rely on connected technology ecosystems rather than standalone solutions. Customers expect software providers to not only to deliver technology, but to help them navigate complexity and realize value faster.
As a result, Customer Experience is no longer just another function within an organization. It has become the operating model that connects the entire customer lifecycle.
Over the past two years, Esko’s approach to Customer Experience has evolved alongside this shift. While we’re still on that journey, one lesson has become increasingly clear: customers don’t experience departments—they experience the company as a whole.
Customer Experience Is Evolving Because Customer Expectations Have Changed
Customer Success originally emerged as software companies transitioned to subscription and recurring revenue models. Success was measured through retention, renewals, and reducing churn.
Today, that role has expanded significantly.
Customer Experience is about far more than keeping customers satisfied. Satisfied customers can still choose another provider. The real measure of success isn’t whether we resolved a support issue—it’s whether we helped customers achieve the business outcomes they set out to accomplish.
That shift changes how organizations think about the customer lifecycle. Adoption matters as much as implementation. Continuous learning matters as much as deployment. Long-term partnership matters as much as the initial purchase.
Today’s users expect to find answers independently, access digital learning on demand, and engage through the channel that’s most relevant to them. AI is becoming an important part of that experience—not by replacing people, but by removing friction and helping customers find the right information more quickly.
For software companies, Customer Experience has shifted from responding faster to helping customers succeed faster.
Our Transformation Started with a Simple Realization
As Esko evolved from a product-focused organization toward delivering connected, end-to-end solutions, we realized our approach to Customer Experience needed to evolve alongside it.
This isn’t a story with a finish line. It’s about continuously learning and improving.
Like many software companies, our organization had naturally grown around functions. That realization led us to ask a different question. Instead of asking, “How can each department perform better?”, we began asking, “How can we create one connected customer experience?”
That change in perspective continues to shape how we think about Customer Experience today.
Five Lessons We’ve Learned About Customer Experience
Customers Don’t Experience Departments
Organizations naturally organize themselves into functions. Customers don’t.
Whether they’re onboarding a solution, contacting support, attending training, or working with a Customer Success Manager, every interaction contributes to one overall impression of your company.
Creating a connected experience requires breaking down internal silos and aligning teams around the customer journey rather than individual departmental goals.
Measure Customer Success, Not Just Operational Efficiency
Operational metrics such as response times, ticket volumes, and utilization remain important. They help organizations manage performance.
But they don’t tell the whole story.
The metrics that matter most increasingly reflect customer outcomes: adoption, customer health, time-to-value, and long-term value realization.
The objective isn’t simply to resolve issues more quickly. It’s to help customers achieve meaningful business outcomes sooner.
Organizations that help customers realize value faster don’t simply improve satisfaction. They strengthen renewals, create opportunities for expansion, and build long-term advocacy. Customer outcomes ultimately become business outcomes.
Implementation Starts the Relationship
Implementation has traditionally been viewed as the finish line.
In reality, it’s the beginning.
Helping customers succeed means supporting onboarding, enabling continuous learning, guiding adoption, and continuously aligning technology with business objectives. Every customer should understand not only how to use a solution, but why it helps them achieve their goals.
AI Should Amplify Human Expertise
AI will undoubtedly play a significant role in the future of Customer Experience, but perhaps not in the way many people expect.
Its greatest value lies in strengthening human expertise.
Whether translating support tickets, surfacing relevant knowledge, improving digital learning, or helping customers find answers faster, AI removes repetitive work so experts can focus on higher-value conversations.
Technology creates efficiency. People create trust.
Customer Experience Is an Operating Model
One of the biggest misconceptions about Customer Experience is that it’s owned by a single department.
It isn’t.
Product teams shape Customer Experience through usability. Engineering influences it through reliability. Marketing contributes through education. Finance influences commercial interactions. Professional Services, Support, and Customer Success all play essential roles.
Every customer interaction—whether it’s a product release, an invoice, a training session, or a support conversation—either reinforces or weakens trust.
Customer Experience is therefore not a department. It’s a company-wide commitment and an operating model that connects every stage of the customer lifecycle.
Bringing Connected Experiences to Life
One example that brought this philosophy to life was The Big Easy at Esko World 2026.
Rather than talking about connected workflows, we wanted customers to experience one firsthand.
Over the course of 36 hours, attendees helped shape a flexible pouch, guided creative decisions, and watched that concept move through artwork creation, approvals, production, printing, and conversion before taking home the finished package.
The objective wasn’t to demonstrate how quickly a package could be produced. It was to demonstrate what becomes possible when technology, expertise, and collaboration work together around a shared outcome across multiple domains.
Events like Esko World also create opportunities that extend well beyond product demonstrations. Customers learn from one another, exchange best practices, influence future innovation, and connect with peers facing similar challenges. Some of the most valuable insights emerge not from presentations, but from conversations between customers solving common problems together.
Building that sense of community is just as important as building great technology.
Looking Ahead
Customer Experience will continue to evolve as technology advances and customer expectations change.
Customer Success will increasingly shift from reactive issue resolution toward strategic value creation. AI will accelerate that transformation, but technology alone won’t define great Customer Experience.
The greatest differentiator will continue to be the quality of the partnerships organizations build with their customers.
Our own journey reinforces an important lesson: Customer Experience is never finished. Every interaction, every innovation, and every piece of customer feedback creates another opportunity to improve.
Ultimately, customers won’t judge organizations by the quality of individual interactions alone. They’ll judge them by whether those interactions helped achieve the outcomes that mattered.
When organizations align around those outcomes instead of individual functions, Customer Experience becomes more than a department—it becomes a competitive advantage.
Because when customers succeed, companies succeed.
