Customer Journey

Purpose

This page describes how the Commercial Organization supports customers across the full customer journey at FlowFuse.
It defines lifecycle stages, primary ownership, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure a consistent, coordinated experience from initial engagement through renewal and expansion.

The customer journey is not linear in practice, but clear stage ownership helps reduce friction, confusion, and risk as customers progress.


Customer Lifecycle Overview

FlowFuse organizes the customer journey into the following high-level stages:

  1. Awareness & Initial Engagement
  2. Discovery & Qualification
  3. Solution Evaluation
  4. Proof of Concept (PoC)
  5. Commercial Commitment
  6. Implementation & Adoption
  7. Ongoing Value & Expansion
  8. Renewal & Advocacy

Each stage has a primary owner, with other functions contributing as needed.


Lifecycle Stages and Ownership

1. Awareness & Initial Engagement

Primary owner: Sales
Supporting functions: Sales Partnerships

Focus:

  • Initial customer engagement
  • High-level qualification
  • Identifying buying context and intent

Outcome:

  • Decision to enter a formal discovery process

2. Discovery & Qualification

Primary owner: Sales
Supporting functions: Solution Engineering

Focus:

  • Understanding customer problems and impact
  • Validating intent, urgency, and fit
  • Mapping stakeholders and decision process

Outcome:

  • Qualified opportunity with clear next steps

3. Solution Evaluation

Primary owner: Sales
Supporting functions: Solution Engineering

Focus:

  • Solution alignment and technical validation
  • Targeted demos and technical deep dives
  • Risk identification and mitigation

Outcome:

  • Agreement to proceed to PoC or structured evaluation

4. Proof of Concept (PoC)

Primary owner: Solution Engineering
Supporting functions: Sales, Professional Services

Focus:

  • Validating solution fit against agreed criteria
  • Reducing technical and delivery risk
  • Establishing confidence in the proposed approach

Outcome:

  • PoC success or failure against defined criteria

5. Commercial Commitment

Primary owner: Sales
Supporting functions: Solution Engineering, Professional Services

Focus:

  • Proposal development and pricing
  • Contract and commercial alignment
  • Executive and procurement approval

Outcome:

  • Signed agreement and readiness to implement

6. Implementation & Adoption

Primary owner: Customer Success
Supporting functions: Professional Services, Solution Engineering

Focus:

  • Onboarding and enablement
  • Initial adoption and usage
  • Delivery of contracted services (if applicable)

Outcome:

  • Customer live and realizing initial value

7. Ongoing Value & Expansion

Primary owner: Customer Success
Supporting functions: Sales, Solution Engineering

Focus:

  • Monitoring customer health and outcomes
  • Identifying additional use cases or value opportunities
  • Supporting expansion discussions when appropriate

Outcome:

  • Sustained adoption and growth of customer value

8. Renewal & Advocacy

Primary owner: Sales
Supporting functions: Customer Success

Focus:

  • Renewal planning and execution
  • Commercial expansion (where applicable)
  • Customer advocacy and references

Outcome:

  • Renewed relationship and long-term partnership

Guiding Principles

The Commercial Organization supports the customer journey according to the following principles:

  • Clear ownership at every stage
    One function is always accountable, even when multiple functions contribute.

  • Early collaboration reduces downstream risk
    Engaging the right expertise early improves outcomes later.

  • Customer outcomes over internal convenience
    Internal boundaries should not create customer friction.

  • Progression requires intent and validation
    Customers move forward based on readiness, not pressure.


How This Page Is Used

This page provides shared context for:

  • Onboarding new team members
  • Aligning cross-functional engagement
  • Clarifying ownership and handoffs
  • Supporting consistent customer experiences

Detailed execution guidance is documented in:

  • Function-specific pages
  • Sales process documentation
  • Playbooks and enablement materials