A risk framework built so churn is never a surprise.

Every account needs a path to value: engagement, activation, utilization, and then value realized. When that path breaks, the fix isn't a health score, it's a program: a shared definition of risk, clear ownership across every function that touches the account, and a reporting cadence that puts the same picture in front of a CSM and in front of the CEO. I designed and led that program at Alteryx. Here's how it worked.

Two levels of risk, not one

The single biggest thing that made this program work: a shared, precise definition of what counts as a real, in-year risk versus an early warning. Without it, every team argues about severity instead of acting on it.

Risk Mitigation

Out-of-year revenue

Customer is struggling: missed usage or value milestones
Relationship issues, but no confirmed financial risk yet
CSM sees a credible path to mitigation on their own
Not yet within the renewal danger zone

Red Account

In-year revenue

Strong, confirmed financial / revenue risk
CSM alone cannot influence a positive outcome or mitigate churn
Escalated the moment the account is within 9 months of renewal
Stays red until it exits: saved or lost, never left open-ended

The goal underneath the framework

To deliver predictable growth, every customer needs a path to value. Risk is just what it looks like when that path breaks.

Engagement

Is the customer showing up: usage, contacts, executive sponsorship?

Activation

Are the licenses / seats actually turned on and in use?

Utilization

Is usage deep enough to matter, not just technically "active"?

Value

Can the customer point to a business outcome the product delivered?

How an account moves through the program

Detection blends human judgment with automated signal, so an account can enter the program from a CSM's read on the relationship or from the data itself. Everything lands in one source of truth.

Risk identification

CSM, RM, AE, or SE flags the account — alongside automated engagement-rate, risk-event, and value-realization triggers reading straight off product and account data.

Risk collection

Every flag lands in one place: the Gainsight risk / mitigation plan for CSM-owned signal, the CRM opportunity record for commercial risk, unified so churn and downgrade reasons match across systems.

Risk storage

A single record per account, the account stays "red" and visible until it formally exits.

Weekly theatre-level review

Regional CS, Sales, and Renewals leaders review every active Red Account together, with a required next step and owner attached to each.

Monthly Executive Red Account Summary

A trend view (not just a list) with an executive pre-read, so leadership sees the pattern, not just the fire.

Top 20 deal reviews

Our largest at-risk accounts, reviewed weekly at the CEO and Board level — the same underlying data as the CSM's dashboard, rolled up.

Exit: saved or lost

Exit criteria were set the day the record was created, so "done" was never a judgment call made in the room.

What leadership actually saw

A single dashboard, not a slide someone rebuilt every week.

Risk by dollar exposure and downgrade reasonalways current

Bi-weekly cross-functional risk review with regional VPsstanding meeting

Renewal forecast visibility for the largest dealsrolled into forecasting

What it measured

The program's own KPIs, tracked over time, not just reported once.

De-escalation rateRed → exited

Time-to-exitdays in program

Churn / downgrade ratetrend, not snapshot

Activation, utilization, value realizationtracked to recovery

A risk framework built so churn is never a surprise.

Two levels of risk, not one

Out-of-year revenue

In-year revenue

The goal underneath the framework

Shared ownership by risk reason

Exit criteria

Escalation updates

CSM health plan steps

Executive next step

How an account moves through the program

What leadership actually saw

What it measured

One team, three principles

What I fixed once the first version was in the wild