What it is (plain English)
The customer-side data model CSM depends on: who your customers are (accounts and contacts), what they bought (products and assets), and what support they're entitled to (contracts, service levels). Without this, a case is just a note with no context about who it's for or what they're owed.
Problems it solves
- Agents can't see a customer's history, products, or entitlements when a case comes in.
- Service-level commitments can't be enforced because entitlements aren't recorded.
- Reporting by account, product, or contract is impossible.
What must exist first
Platform Core Setup and Data Foundation & Quality — the platform and clean base data this hangs off.
What the customer needs to provide
- Your customer list: accounts and their contacts, from your CRM or billing system.
- What each customer bought and is entitled to (products, service contracts, SLAs).
- A decision on the system of record for customer data — CSM or an external CRM — and which direction it syncs.
- A data owner accountable for keeping accounts and contacts current.
Where it can go next
A solid customer data model makes CSM Case Management context-rich and unlocks entitlement-based routing and reporting.