[Un]Churned – The No. 1 Podcast for Customer Retention

Claude Code Cut Dev Cycles 60% Then Forced an Org Redesign ft. Margo Martin & Jason Goldsmith (Deltek)

[Un]Churned – The No. 1 Podcast for Customer Retention

Show Notes

Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.

Deltek's CCO Margo Martin and newly-appointed VP Customer Strategy & Services at Deltek Jason Goldsmith reveal how Claude turned three siloed post-sale teams into one AI-first machine and why they built a brand new executive role just to keep up. Deltek didn't just adopt AI. They restructured around it. After Claude and Claude Code cut documentation timelines by 80% and dev cycles by 50-60%, CCO Margo Martin realized her three post-sale orgs (implementation, CS, and support) were quietly duplicating AI work. Her fix? A brand-new "AI convergence" role . And she picked an internal boomerang employee to run it.

In this episode, you'll hear exactly how they built the business case, picked the right leader, and what's next on the roadmap.

--- What You'll Learn - The tradeoff between touchless implementation and long-term customer stickiness - How Claude Code cut custom implementation timelines by 50-60% - Why Deltek reduced customer documentation & training time by 80% - How to spot "AI silos" forming across your org before they cost you - What it takes to build (and pitch) a brand-new AI strategy role internally - Deltek's build-vs-buy framework for AI tools - How CX leaders are using personal AI "chiefs of staff" day-to-day - Why Deltek is rebuilding its entire customer journey around AI - How to balance automation speed with customer stickiness

--- Timestamps 0:00 - Preview & Intro 1:50 - Meet Margo Martin & Jason Goldsmith (Deltek) 2:45 - What Deltek does & org structure 6:40 - How Claude Code changed everything 10:23 - Duplicate AI efforts & the new VP of AI strategy role 14:45 - Why Jason was the pick 19:10 - Jason's 30/60/90 day plan 24:10 - Predicting the first team to join Jason's org 26:45 - Personal AI chiefs of staff 28:28 - Build vs. buy: Deltek's AI tooling philosophy 32:56 - KPIs and metrics for AI transformation

--- Josh is writing a book on building customer relationships. Follow his journey and insights at www.joshschachter.com

--- Where to Find the Guest Margo Martin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margomartin-/ Jason Goldsmith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwgoldsmith/

--- Where to Find the Hosts: Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/ Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/

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