[Un]Churned – The No. 1 Podcast for Customer Retention What Consumption-Based CS Looks Like Inside a $100B Company ft. Jared Collins (Dell)
Feb 18, 2026
Jared Collins, Senior Director of Customer Success at Dell Technologies who builds consumption-based post-sales operations for Apex. He discusses how hardware logistics force months-ahead planning. He explains unifying enterprise data into triggers and playbooks. He covers partnering tightly with sales and preparing data foundations for AI-driven signals.
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Apex Is Consumption-Based Infrastructure
- Dell Apex sells consumption-based infrastructure that stays in customer data centers rather than pure SaaS.
- Jared Collins describes his CSM team managing the post-sales experience for these subscription-style hardware offerings.
Hardware Forces Proactive CS Planning
- Physical hardware introduces multi-month lead times that make CS inherently proactive and forward-looking.
- CSMs must anticipate customer needs months ahead rather than react instantly like in SaaS.
Position CSMs As Operational Leads
- Treat CSMs as COOs who operate arm-in-arm with account executives as the relationship CEO.
- Embed CSMs in the account ecosystem and align them closely with sales to deliver operational value.