Episode 005 • February 5, 2026 • 1 hour 4 minutes
Jay Nathan, Jeff Breunsbach, Justin Chappell
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
About This Episode
Justin Chappell, Head of Digital Strategy at OneTrust, joins Jay and Jeff to break down the evolution from reactive to proactive to predictive customer success—and why most teams are still stuck in proactive mode calling it predictive.
Justin shares how his team reduced onboarding time from 44 days to 8 days using journey orchestration, why dirty data isn't the blocker you think it is, and the new roles required for an AI-first CX org: AI Architect, Knowledge & AI Readiness Specialist, Business Value Architect, and AI Governance.
Plus: why the best way to predict a renewal is to just ask, and how success packages turn CS into recurring revenue.
Key Takeaways
Proactive ≠ predictive. Proactive means you tell the system the rules (health scores, thresholds). Predictive means the system tells you—looking at all your data holistically and determining what each customer needs, even if they're in the same segment.
Dirty data isn't the blocker. Predictive models can identify which data is usable and which isn't—then learn on what matters while you clean up the rest. Don't let "our data is dirty" stop you from starting.
Just ask. The best predictor of renewal? Ask the customer: "If you had to renew today, would you?" Give three options—yes, no, or undecided. Undecided opens the door to value conversations without ruining the relationship.
Three pillars of world-class digital CX: Personalized, predictive, and digital-first (meet customers where they are). If you're not hitting all three, you're not offering world-class experiences.
OneTrust cut onboarding from 44 days to 8. By moving from time-based drip campaigns to CTA-based journey orchestration—and being intentional about roles, timing, and relevance—they transformed first time to value.
New roles for AI-first CX: AI Architect (manages and coaches agents), Knowledge & AI Readiness Specialist (ensures content is consumable by AI), Business Value Architect (owns lifecycle and value realization), AI Governance (ensures compliance).
AI is an extension, not a replacement. CSMs won't lose their jobs—but they will take on more accounts because AI handles the prep work. The role becomes strategic account management, not Netflix small talk.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro and Justin's background
01:53 – Evolution of CS: reactive → proactive → predictive
05:39 – Why product teams need to build better self-serve experiences
10:09 – Dirty data isn't a blocker for predictive models
12:09 – NPS response rates and signal quality
15:30 – Just ask: the renewal intent question (yes/no/undecided)
21:48 – Three pillars: personalized, predictive, digital-first
23:30 – OneTrust onboarding transformation (44 days → 8 days)
30:52 – Lessons learned: roles matter, timing matters
36:30 – Building the tech stack: CRM, CSP, Community
42:15 – AI agents and knowledge taxonomy challenges
46:10 – Future role: AI Architect
52:00 – Future role: Knowledge & AI Readiness Specialist
57:00 – Future role: Business Value Architect
59:24 – Future role: AI Governance
01:00:11 – CSMs as extensions of AI, not replaced by it
01:07:51 – Success packages as monetized CS
Mentioned in This Episode
OneTrust – privacy, security, and governance platform
Sixth Sense – ABM platform (Justin's previous company)
CMP (Consent Management Platform) – OneTrust's cookies and consent product
Marketo – marketing automation
Pendo – product analytics
Snowflake – data cloud
About Justin Chappell
Justin Chappell – Head of Digital Strategy at OneTrust. Previously at Sixth Sense and Highland Software. Conference speaker and leader of the Atlanta Customer Success community.
Your Hosts
Jay Nathan – CEO of Balboa Solutions and co-founder of ChiefCustomerOfficer.io
Jeff Breunsbach – Head of Customer Success at Junction and co-founder of ChiefCustomerOfficer.io
