When you’re moving from hardware to software and services, customer success can’t be an afterthought. It has to become part of how you sell, deliver, and support value—especially when your customers experience your brand through partners.

That’s exactly what two TSIA members, Eaton and Wesco, are working together to solve. Eaton, a power management company, is focused on helping customers manage electrical power more reliably, efficiently, and safely. Wesco, a global supply chain solutions provider, works with partners like Eaton to serve as the channel that brings their products, services, and software platforms to market.

Both organizations were already building customer success capabilities as their offerings expanded beyond hardware into software and services. But it wasn’t until TSIA connected the right people at the right time that those parallel efforts became a shared initiative—one aimed at improving enablement, smoothing handoffs, and ultimately delivering a better customer journey.

Key Takeaways

• TSIA’s community helps you find the right partners faster. Eaton and Wesco connected through TSIA, something they believe otherwise could have taken months, if at all.
• Partner-led customer success starts with enablement and alignment. When hardware, software, and services aren’t connected across teams, adoption and experience suffer.
• A shared customer journey creates shared outcomes. Eaton and Wesco are building a repeatable approach to improve the customer experience and drive stronger adoption.

Two Companies, One Shared Challenge

For decades, Eaton’s business was rooted in hardware. Its products powered critical infrastructure, and its success depended on manufacturing excellence, engineering expertise, and a strong distribution network.

But as digital capabilities expanded, Eaton began delivering more Brightlayer-enabled solutions and services. That shift created new opportunities, but it also introduced new complexity. Teams across the organization had to think differently about how products, software, and services worked together to deliver value over time, not just at the point of sale.

Wesco was experiencing a similar transition. As a global distributor and solutions provider, Wesco had long played a central role in bringing Eaton’s products to market. But as software and services became more important, Wesco’s role in the customer lifecycle expanded. Customer success was no longer just about delivering equipment—it was about helping customers adopt, implement, and realize ongoing value from digital solutions.

At the same time, both Eaton and Wesco recognized that customer success couldn’t be built in isolation. Their customers experienced their solutions through a shared ecosystem spanning manufacturer, distributor, and service teams. If those handoffs weren’t aligned, the customer experience suffered. If they were aligned, adoption accelerated. Both companies were working toward the same goal. They just hadn’t yet realized how much stronger that effort could be together.

Related: The State of Customer Success 2026

The TSIA Moment That Changed the Trajectory

Eaton and Wesco had been strategic partners for years. They worked together every day to bring power management solutions to market. But, like many large organizations, their collaboration had been shaped primarily by transactions rather than by a shared strategy for customer success. That began to change at a TSIA World conference.

Amy Aguirre, Director of Innovation IoT and Platform Sales at Wesco, had been actively seeking peers navigating the same transition from hardware-centric sales to software and services-led customer relationships. She turned to TSIA not just for research, but for connection. As Aguirre explained, “I reached out to my TSIA contact to connect with peer companies on a similar journey—from hardware‑centric models to software and services.” TSIA made the introduction, and suddenly, what had been separate internal efforts became a shared conversation.

For Chris Berke, Offer Management Director of Digital Services at Eaton, the timing couldn’t have been better. Eaton had been investing in digital services for years, but partner alignment hadn’t kept pace. Meeting Wesco in that environment created immediate clarity and momentum.

“All the iron’s hot, the timing’s right, all the people were literally at the table at TSIA… It was almost serendipitous how quickly this came together. Normally, it really doesn’t happen that quickly.”—Chris Berke, Offer Management Director of Digital Services, Eaton.

That speed was significant. Large organizations rarely discover new strategic alignment overnight. As Aguirre noted, without TSIA creating the right environment, “two companies the size of Eaton and Wesco could have spent months trying to find each other, if it happened at all.”

Instead, the connection happened in a single setting designed to bring peers together. What began as an introduction quickly evolved into an ongoing dialogue, one focused not just on maintaining a partnership but on strengthening it through a shared approach to customer success.

Related: Transforming Challenges into Success: A TSIA Member’s Journey With Braze

Why Partner Alignment Became Urgent

As Eaton and Wesco expanded their software and digital services offerings, both organizations began to see firsthand how different the customer lifecycle was from traditional hardware sales. Delivering a physical product had always been relatively straightforward. But software and services introduced new phases—implementation, onboarding, adoption, and ongoing engagement—that required tighter coordination across teams and across companies.

Through their early conversations, they quickly realized that some of the most critical moments in the customer journey were also the most vulnerable. Amy pointed to the transition points between presales, deployment, and project management, explaining that gaps during those handoffs could directly affect how customers experienced the solution and whether they successfully adopted it.

At the same time, both organizations were still building their customer success functions internally. Teams defined roles, created processes, and helped their broader organizations understand that lifecycle ownership extended far beyond the initial sale. That internal evolution made it clear that improving the customer experience required stronger alignment across their partner ecosystem—turning what began as a peer conversation through TSIA into a deliberate joint effort.

Instead of focusing only on their internal progress, Eaton and Wesco saw an opportunity to align externally to rethink how they enabled each other, coordinated handoffs, and supported customers as a unified ecosystem. The goal was no longer just to improve individual processes, but to design a connected customer journey from the start.

What Partner-Led Customer Success Means in Practice

Once Eaton and Wesco began aligning around a shared customer journey, the next question became clear: what would partner-led customer success actually look like in practice? For Eaton, that shift also required ensuring partners had the clarity and confidence to support customers throughout the lifecycle. As Sarah Nicholson, Director of Commercial Operations at Eaton, explained, success begins with “making sure that our partners are enabled and understand our products.”

Both organizations realized that improving the customer experience depended on how well they enabled each other. In a traditional hardware model, responsibilities often end once a product is delivered. But with software and services, value is realized over time. That means partners need the knowledge, tools, and confidence to guide customers through onboarding, adoption, and ongoing engagement.

For Berke, that made enablement the foundation of everything they were trying to build. As he explained, “If Wesco does not feel enabled, then we miss something; enablement for me is the keyword there.” Without that alignment, even the strongest partnership would struggle to deliver consistent customer outcomes.

Aguirre had seen firsthand how software and services exposed gaps in traditional partner workflows. Hardware transactions tend to move in a straight line, from purchase to delivery. But digital solutions require ongoing coordination across teams and organizations. As she put it, “In a software and services engagement, the experience can’t be linear—it has to stay connected all the way through the value chain.” Every handoff, every interaction, and every phase of the lifecycle contribute to the overall customer experience.

That realization shifted the focus of their collaboration. Instead of treating partner interactions as isolated transactions, Eaton and Wesco began working toward a model where both organizations could support customers continuously, from the first conversation through long-term adoption. The goal wasn’t just to define partner-led customer success in theory, but to build the operational alignment needed to make it real.

Early Wins: Turning Alignment Into Action

With a shared vision taking shape, Eaton and Wesco quickly shifted from discussion to execution. What began as informal conversations through TSIA evolved into a structured, ongoing collaboration to bring their teams closer together and test new ways to support customers.

They established regular working sessions to stay aligned and maintain momentum. Nicholson noted, “we’re meeting weekly, and we’ve got a shared Teams channel between Wesco and Eaton now.” These standing touchpoints created space for teams on both sides to exchange information, address gaps, and coordinate next steps in real time.

The collaboration has also moved beyond virtual meetings. Eaton teams began visiting Wesco’s Innovation Center in Chicago to review solutions together, align on enablement, and work through the operational realities of jointly supporting customers. These in-person sessions are helping both organizations understand where additional clarity, training, or process improvements are needed.

At the center of their efforts is a shared goal: to pilot a fully connected customer journey. By identifying a customer opportunity and walking through the entire lifecycle together, from presales alignment to onboarding and long-term engagement, both teams can observe where friction exists and refine their approach. Amy described the intent clearly: “to work through the full process, capture the learnings, document them, and operationalize them as a standard operating procedure for future client engagements.” 

This deliberate, hands-on approach ensures that partner-led customer success becomes more than a concept. It becomes something repeatable, scalable, and embedded into how both organizations operate.

Why This Progress Might Not Have Happened Without TSIA

Eaton and Wesco had been partners for years. But without TSIA, this deeper level of alignment may never have taken shape. Before the introduction, both organizations were independently building customer success capabilities, with limited visibility into their partners' evolution. 

Aguirre reflected on that reality candidly, noting that without TSIA, “we wouldn’t have even known that they were working on it. Honestly, I think that we would have been just business as usual.” Each company might have continued solving similar challenges in isolation, missing the opportunity to align earlier and more intentionally.

TSIA provided more than research or frameworks. It created a space where leaders navigating similar transitions could find each other and start meaningful conversations. For Berke, that connection reinforced the broader value of the community, explaining, “Knowing this is a resource from TSIA, it makes the membership all the more valuable.”

By bringing the right people together at the right moment, TSIA helped accelerate a collaboration that is now reshaping how both organizations approach customer success. Instead of working in parallel, Eaton and Wesco are building a shared foundation designed to improve enablement, strengthen partnerships, and deliver a more seamless customer experience.

Related: Case Study: Inside Dell’s AI Strategy for Predictive and Proactive Support

A Collaboration Built for What Comes Next

Eaton and Wesco are still early in this effort. But the intent is clear: align the teams, pilot the journey, document what works, and then scale through repetition.

Partner-led customer success isn’t a quick fix; it’s a new operating model. But with the right connections and shared learning, organizations can accelerate that transition together. For Eaton and Wesco, that journey began with a single introduction and is now reshaping how they support customers for the long term.

FAQ

What is partner-led customer success?

Partner-led customer success is a shared approach in which partners collaborate across enablement, onboarding, adoption, and renewal to deliver a single, connected lifecycle rather than fragmented handoffs.

Why does enablement matter so much in partner ecosystems?

Because without enablement, partners can’t confidently sell or support digital offerings. That directly impacts adoption and customer outcomes.

How did TSIA support Eaton and Wesco?

TSIA facilitated the initial connection at a TSIA conference and provided research and tools that helped both organizations build internal alignment and a shared foundation for customer success.