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Service delivery manager vs customer success manager

The differences between service delivery managers and customer success managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a service delivery manager and a customer success manager. Additionally, a service delivery manager has an average salary of $102,213, which is higher than the $93,820 average annual salary of a customer success manager.

The top three skills for a service delivery manager include service delivery, project management and cloud. The most important skills for a customer success manager are client facing, cloud, and account management.

Service delivery manager vs customer success manager overview

Service Delivery ManagerCustomer Success Manager
Yearly salary$102,213$93,820
Hourly rate$49.14$45.11
Growth rate16%5%
Number of jobs71,47595,053
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Average age4746
Years of experience88

What does a service delivery manager do?

A service delivery manager is primarily responsible for overseeing department operations, ensuring everything is running smoothly and that all customers receive optimal services. They are also responsible for performing technical tasks such as addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, spearheading system repairs and maintenance, and performing corrective measures. They also have clerical duties such as producing progress reports and presentations, maintaining data and records, managing budgets and expenditures, setting goals, assessing workforce performance, and adhering to deadlines. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team, all while prioritizing customer satisfaction.

What does a customer success manager do?

A customer success manager works to understand repeat customers and prioritize their long-term needs. Primarily, they manage the customer relationship and give them prompt value propositions. They act as mentors to customers by educating them about the sales process and ensure efficient transaction processing. Their tasks include advocating for the company, onboarding customers to the products, follow-up on renewals, and encouraging cross-sells and upsells. Additionally, they build relationships with the customer and the support team as well as advocating customers' needs.

Service delivery manager vs customer success manager salary

Service delivery managers and customer success managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Service Delivery ManagerCustomer Success Manager
Average salary$102,213$93,820
Salary rangeBetween $74,000 And $140,000Between $61,000 And $142,000
Highest paying CityStamford, CTRedwood City, CA
Highest paying stateConnecticutCalifornia
Best paying companyMcKinsey & Company IncVMware
Best paying industryFinanceTechnology

Differences between service delivery manager and customer success manager education

There are a few differences between a service delivery manager and a customer success manager in terms of educational background:

Service Delivery ManagerCustomer Success Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Service delivery manager vs customer success manager demographics

Here are the differences between service delivery managers' and customer success managers' demographics:

Service Delivery ManagerCustomer Success Manager
Average age4746
Gender ratioMale, 72.3% Female, 27.7%Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%7%

Differences between service delivery manager and customer success manager duties and responsibilities

Service delivery manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage and maintain VCE Vblock, Cisco networking, EMC storage, and VMware server / desktop infrastructure.
  • Manage internal global IPVPN network services, comprise of approximately 1.6K routers / switches / Wi-Fi access points.
  • Manage the back office PBX for VoIP customers which includes porting of phones and ordering new hardware from 3rd party vendors.
  • Leverage the SDLC incremental release model to manage the design and implementation of a new integrate billing and check processing system.
  • Manage and execute ERP implementation and optimization work.
  • Manage virtualization of two data centers and 72 disparate satellite locations.
  • Show more

Customer success manager example responsibilities.

  • Help doctors manage their facebook page and website.
  • Achieve excellent performance results as compared to other Aarons stores.
  • Help customers establish spend and savings goals and achieve those to get full ROI.
  • Link QuickBooks system with customer sales database to automate the process of tax administration.
  • Well verse in leveraging CRM to manage accounts, capture metrics, and implement relevant processes.
  • Raise RingCentral's NPS score, by creating superb relations with clients that lead to increase survey ratings.
  • Show more

Service delivery manager vs customer success manager skills

Common service delivery manager skills
  • Service Delivery, 16%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 5%
  • Client Facing, 4%
Common customer success manager skills
  • Client Facing, 10%
  • Cloud, 7%
  • Account Management, 7%
  • Customer Relationships, 5%
  • Saas, 5%
  • Customer Service, 5%

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