New Features and Enhancements in Customer Success Cloud January 2026

The following new features have been introduced in the January 2026 release of Customer Success Cloud.

If you are upgrading from a previous version, see Upgrading to Customer Success Cloud January 2026. This provides a summary of the items that have been added for each feature and details of any required upgrade steps.

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than Winter 2026, check the documentation for previous releases for upgrade details.

Create Expansion Opportunities to Manage Business Growth

We’ve added the Expansion Opportunity object, which stores the information about a potential expansion sale. This enables you to capture the details discussed with an account when an opportunity to turn an accounts’ need into a sale arises. This object stores information such as the predicted value of the expansion opportunity, the status of the expansion opportunity, and its owner. You can use the Description field to capture any key notes about the expansion opportunity. During creation, you can associate the expansion opportunity to the relevant account, objective, and success plan. You can also associate the expansion opportunity with any relevant products. You can create expansion opportunities from the Actions panel available on the Customer Success Management Workspace or from CS Cloud record pages. You can also create them on Account record pages if your administrator has added the Actions panel to the page.

We’ve also added the Expansion Opportunity Product object, which stores the relationship between a product and an expansion opportunity. This enables you to associate relevant products to expansion opportunities. When you associate products with the expansion opportunity, expansion opportunity product records are created.

When you’ve created an expansion opportunity and you would like to create a Salesforce opportunity from it to pass on to the sales team, you can use the Create Opportunity from Expansion Opportunity action available from the Actions panel on expansion opportunity record pages.

We've added the following Lightning App Builder properties to the CSC Actions: Record Pages feature to enable your administrator to show and hide these actions:

  • Show Create Expansion Opportunity

  • Show Create Opportunity from Expansion Opportunity

The following new tabs are available to support these objects:

  • Expansion Opportunity Products

  • Expansion Opportunities

The following new compact layouts are also available:

  • Expansion Opportunity Product Layout

  • Expansion Opportunity Layout

We’ve also added the following new page layouts:

  • Expansion Opportunity Product Record Page

  • Expansion Opportunity Record Page

We've added the two following fields to the CS Cloud Process Settings custom setting to enable your administrator to bypass triggers associated with expansion opportunities and expansion opportunity products.

  • Bypass Expansion Opp. Product Trigger

  • Bypass Expansion Opportunity Trigger

Finally, we've added the new CS Cloud Expansion Opportunity Settings custom setting which contains settings that control the behavior of opportunities when creating them from expansion opportunities in CS Cloud.

For more information, see:

Enhance Product Support

We've made the following enhancements to working with products in Customer Success Cloud.

Product Field in the Create and Edit Windows

We’ve updated the create and edit windows to improve usability when working with the Product field.

Now, when you create a success plan, objective, or playbook from a template, any products from the template are automatically populated in the Product field on the new record.

We've also added the Product field to the following windows:

  • Create Success Plan from Opportunity

  • Create CS Activities

  • Edit CS Activities

When creating or editing success plans, objectives, playbooks, playbook tasks, CS activities, or success plans from opportunities, the Product field now filters based on the closest parent record in the hierarchy to ensure you only see relevant options. For example, when creating a success plan, only the products assigned to the associated account are available to select. If the account has two products assigned, and you only select one product to assign to your success plan, when you create an objective associated with that success plan, only the one product assigned to the success plan is available to assign to the objective. Your administrator can disable this setting. If this setting is disabled, the product field will not be cleared when you associate it with a parent parent, and the options will not be refined based on the associated records.

For more information, see:

Deleting Account, Success Plan, Objective and Playbook Products

When you associate a record with a product during creation, a corresponding product record is created. If you have a record that has child records and a product associated with it, you must ensure that no child records are associated with the product before removing the parent's association with the product. For example, when trying to delete an account product record, you must remove the success plan product, objective product, playbook product, and playbook task product records that are associated with the success plans, objectives, playbooks, and playbook tasks associated with the account that relates to the account product you are trying to delete. Your administrator can disable this validation using the Enable Product Hierarchy custom setting field. When disabled, you can delete any of the corresponding product records.

For more information, see Deleting Account, Success Plan, Objective and Playbook Products.

Product Filter Fields and Settings

We've added new field sets, custom setting fields, and a new custom setting to enable your administrator to control the product related fields you can filter by across CS Cloud features, and to enable your administrator to control the options displayed in the Product field during record creation and editing. These updates ensure that the product field is integrated throughout the features available, and respects the hierarchy in the way you need during record creation.

We’ve added the following new field sets to these objects:

  • Account Product: Account Grid Product Filters Fields

  • CS Activity Product: Activity Tracker Product Filters Fields

  • Objective KPI Product: Value Tracker Product Filters Fields

  • Playbook Task Product: Task Management Product Filters Fields

These new field sets all support custom fields.

To support this, we’ve also added the following new custom setting fields to the CS Cloud Filters custom setting:

  • Activity Tracker Product Filters Fields

  • Account Grid Product Filters Fields

  • Task Management Product Filters Fields

  • Value Tracker Product Filters Fields

To remain consistent with these new custom setting fields, we’ve renamed the following existing custom settings fields on the CS Cloud Filters custom setting:

  • Account Filters Panel Fields to Account Grid Filters Panel Fields

  • Playbook Task Filters Panel Fields to Task Management Filters Panel Fields

We’ve also added the Active field to the Create Playbook Fields and Edit Playbook Fields field sets on the Playbook object.

We've added the following new fields to the Customer Success Cloud Process Settings custom setting to enable your administrator to bypass product triggers:

  • Bypass Account Product Trigger

  • Bypass Success Plan Product Trigger

  • Bypass Objective Product Trigger

  • Bypass Playbook Product Trigger

Finally, we've added the new CS Cloud Product Settings custom setting which contains the Enable Product Hierarchy and Product Grid Field Set fields. When the field is disabled, you can add and remove any products during record creation and editing. If the setting is enabled, then the hierarchy is respected. For example, when creating a success plan from an account record page, only the products associated with the account are available for selection. This setting must be enabled by your administrator. The Product Grid Field Set field can be used by your administrator to define the additional fields displayed in the Product Grid.

For more information, see:

Enhance Resource Allocation in Customer Success Cloud

We've made the following enhancements to resource allocation in Customer Success Cloud.

Customize Sequential Allocation Settings for Different Objects

We've provided you with additional sequential auto-allocation custom setting fields in the CS Cloud Resource Allocation Settings custom setting. Previously, the setting contained one such field called Sequential Auto-Allocation. Because that field now supports only playbook records, we've introduced two additional, similar fields for account and success plan records. The new custom setting fields are:

  • Account Sequential Auto-Allocation
  • Success Plan Sequential Auto-Allocation
  • Playbook Sequential Auto-Allocation

These settings change the auto-allocation methodology for their respective records from ranking to sequential. This gives customer success managers the freedom to choose different auto-allocation methodologies for different objects.

For more information, seeCustom Settings.

Auto-Allocating Resources to Accounts via APIs

We've added the autoAllocateAccount API, which enables automatic allocation of a resource for accounts. This API includes the following request and response:

  • AutoAllocateAccountRequest: The request object passed to the service to automatically allocate resources to an account.
  • AutoAllocateAccountResponse: The response object returned from the service after automatic allocation is performed on an account.

We’ve also added the ActionAutoAllocateAccount invocable method, which helps automatically allocate resources to the account from flows.

For more information, see Custom Actions and Permission Sets and Other Technical Documentation.

Improve Resource Ranking Using the Role Specified on a Playbook, Account, and Success Plan

We’ve improved the manual resource allocation ranking for the Account, Playbook, and Success Plan objects.

  • If a role is associated with the object’s record, that role receives priority and results in a higher rank in the available resources table on the Allocate Resources window.
  • If no role is associated with the object’s record, the previous functionality is applicable, and all resources with the Customer Success Manager role receive priority in the available resources table on the Allocate Resources window.

This enhancement enables you to identify and allocate the mostsuitable resources by prioritizing those with roles specifically associated with the Account, Playbook, or Success Plan records.

In addition, we've renamed the following allocation ranking custom settings:

  • CSC Account Allocation Ranking Settings
  • Objective Allocation Ranking Settings
  • Playbook Allocation Ranking Settings
  • Success Plan Allocation Ranking Settings

The new names make it easier for administrators to differentiate between the settings and use them effectively.

For more information, see Resourcing Overview and Allocating Resources.

Refine Auto-Allocation by Considering Skills and Skill Ratings

We’ve introduced the following new custom setting fields within the CS Cloud Resource Allocation Settings custom setting to refine the auto-allocation process by considering the skills, skill sets, and skill ratings.

  • Match All Account Skills
  • Match or Exceed Account Skill Ratings
  • Match All Success Plan Skills
  • Match or Exceed Success Plan Skill Ratings
  • Match All Playbook Skills
  • Match or Exceed Playbook Skill Ratings

These settings ensure that, when auto-allocating resources for different objects, the associated skills, skill sets, and corresponding skill ratings are considered to allocate a suitable CS resource to the specific object's record.

For more information, seeCustom Settings.

Enhance Your Workflow with New Playbook AI Summary Features

We’ve made enhancements to the playbook AI summary windows to enable you to easily find the most important information related to playbooks . This ensures that you can quickly understand the state of the playbook so that you are able to start or complete it efficiently.

We’ve made the following updates to the Playbook AI Summary window:

  • The Open Escalated Cases heading in the Account Highlights section now links to the three most recently created cases.

  • There are now two sections for internal and external stakeholders, which link to the relevant resource and display their role.

  • Links are provided throughout the summary so that you can easily navigate to the relevant records.

We’ve made the following updates to the Complete and Summarize Playbook window:

  • The Mark Playbook as Completed field is selected by default.

  • Links are provided to the relevant records in the playbook closure summary contained in the Notes field.

For more information, see CS Activity AI Summaries Overview and Completing and Summarizing Playbooks.

Optimize Dynamic Playbook Generation with CS Policy

Note:

This feature is part of the Certinia Early Adopter Program. This program is only available to a limited number of customers.

We've added the CS Cloud Work Suggestion Settings custom setting, which provides Customer Success Managers with control over the behavior of work suggestions, playbooks, and playbook tasks generated through CS policy.

For more information, see Custom Settings.

Optimize Playbook and Task Management and Progress Tracking

We’ve enhanced the Playbook Task Manager, Playbook Task Portfolio Grid, and Success Tracker to help customer success managers manage their playbooks and tasks more efficiently.

Enhance Playbook Task Date Management

We’ve streamlined the management of the start and end dates of multiple playbook tasks to help customer success managers (CSMs) reschedule playbook tasks more easily. Previously, CSMs could reschedule their tasks using the Move Task Dates feature in the Playbook Task Manager grid. Now, we’ve made it easier to shift the start and end dates of playbook tasks either earlier or later by a specific number of days, weeks, or months. To do this, we’ve made the following enhancements:

  • Renamed the Move Task Dates feature to Shift Task Dates to better reflect its benefits
  • Added a Shift Dates button to the Playbook Task Manager and Playbook Task Portfolio Grid toolbars to make the feature more accessible
  • Enhanced the Shift Task Dates window to make the feature more intuitive to use

In addition to using the new Shift Dates button, CSMs can continue to shift task dates in the Playbook Task Manager grid, where they can select one or more tasks, right-click anywhere in the grid, and click Shift Dates.

For more information, see:

Maintain Your Customized Layouts Between Grids

We’ve enhanced the Playbook Task Manager and the Playbook Task Portfolio Grid to retain and synchronize their customized layouts. Now, if a customer success manager makes any layout changes to the Playbook Task Manager or the Playbook Task Portfolio Grid, including column visibility, width, grouping, and sorting, the changes are retained across sessions on the same computer and browser. Such customized layouts are then synchronized between the Playbook Task Manager and the Playbook Task Portfolio Grid, ensuring that changes made in one of them are automatically applied to the other.

For more information, see:

Track Playbook Progress in Success Tracker

We've changed the progress calculation for playbooks with no tasks in Success Tracker. Previously, playbooks without tasks displayed 0% progress even when marked as completed. Now, the playbook progress bar in the Progress column reflects the status of playbooks that don’t contain tasks. When you mark a playbook as completed and there are no tasks associated with it, the progress bar displays 100%.

For more information, see:

Prepare AI-Powered Business Review Summaries

Note:

This feature is part of the Certinia Early Adopter Program. This program is only available to a limited number of customers.

Customer success managers (CSMs) can now instantly generate and view AI-powered business review summaries to prepare for business reviews and strategic planning sessions. These summaries consolidate account data and provide a holistic overview of account data for the last six months. To generate a business account summary, CSMs can now use the new Generate Business Review Summary action in the Actions panel on account record pages. The generated AI summaries are displayed in the new Generate Business Review Summary window and contain the following sections:

  • Key Stakeholders
  • Executive Summary
  • Key Achievements
  • Risks and Blockers
  • Expansion Opportunities
  • Strategic Next Steps
  • Immediate Actions

For more information, see:

Prepare for Customer Interactions with AI-Powered Account Summaries

Note:

This feature is part of the Certinia Early Adopter Program. This program is only available to a limited number of customers.

We've added the new Account Highlights section to the Generate Account Summary window, providing customer success managers (CSMs) with an even more holistic overview that demonstrates value and aligns future strategy. By default, this section displays the following account information:

  • Annual revenue
  • Open cases
  • Escalated cases
  • Overall objective KPI progress
  • Open opportunities

To support this, we've also added:

  • The CS Cloud AI Summary Settings custom setting. It contains the Account Summary Highlights Fields custom setting field, which administrators can use to specify the API name of the field set that defines the additional fields displayed in the Account Highlights section.
  • The Account Summary Highlights Fields field set to the Account object, which administrators can use to define the fields displayed in the Account Highlights section.

For more information, see:

Refine Displayed Records with Enhanced Filtering

To help customer success managers find the right objective and success plan templates faster, we've added a new Filters panel to the template selection sections in the Create Objective and Create Success Plan windows. They can open the Filters panel by clicking Filters panel in those sections. Previously, they could only filter playbook templates in the Create Playbook window. Now, this enhancement enables them to also streamline objective and success plan creation by quickly viewing the templates that match the following filtering criteria:

  • For objectives: Objective types, categories, parent accounts, priorities, and success plans
  • For success plans: Roles, accounts, and statuses

To support this, we've added:

  • For objectives:

    • The Objective Template Filters Panel Fields field to the CS Cloud Filter Settings custom setting. Administrators can use it to select the field set that defines the additional fields displayed in the Filters panel in the Create Objective window.
    • The Objective Template Filters Panel Fields field set to the Objective object. Administrators can use it to define the fields to display in the Filters panel in the Create Objective window.

  • For success plans:

    • The Success Plan Template Filters Fields field to the CS Cloud Filter Settings custom setting. Administrators can use it to select the field set that defines the additional fields displayed in the Filters panel in the Create Success Plan window.
    • The Success Plan Template Filters Fields field set to the Success Plan object. Administrators can use it to define the fields to display in the Filters panel in the Create Success Plan window.

For more information, see:

Streamline Record Creation from Templates

We've enhanced objectives, playbooks, and playbook tasks to help you complete a focused piece of customer success work more easily.

Streamline Objective and Playbook Creation with Enhanced Template Permissions

We've enabled customer success managers (CSMs) to create objectives and playbooks from templates even if they lack Create permission to the underlying objects of:

  • For objective template records, the Objective KPI, Playbook, and Playbook Task objects
  • For playbook template records, the Playbook Task object

Previously, missing these permissions blocked objective and playbook creation even if those records weren’t part of the template. Now, they can create an objective or playbook from a template and view only the records they have permission to in:

  • The Objective Template Records section of the Create Objective window
  • The Playbook Template Records section of the Create Playbook window

These enhancements provide a more seamless and flexible experience when using complex objective and playbook templates and help administrators to control objective and playbook creation more efficiently.

For more information, see:

View Playbook Task Duration

We've enhanced playbook task management by enabling CSMs to specify the task duration when creating a playbook from a template. This removes the need for manual date calculation because entering a duration now automatically populates the task's end date. Conversely, adjusting the start or end dates now automatically calculates the duration, ensuring all dates remain synchronized and accurate. To support this functionality, we've added a new Duration in Days column to the grid in the Playbook Template Records section of the Create Playbook window. Previously, CSMs could specify playbook task duration only when creating or editing playbook tasks. This enhancement simplifies scheduling, improves planning accuracy, and reduces the administrative effort for their team.

For more information, see:

Automatically Assign Playbook Owners as Task Resources on Playbooks Created from Templates

We’ve automated the assignment of playbook task resources when creating playbooks from templates in the Create Playbook window. Now, when creating a playbook from a template that includes playbook tasks without assigned resources, the playbook’s owner is automatically assigned as the playbook task resource. Previously, playbook task resources weren’t assigned when creating playbooks from such templates. This enables customer success managers, leaders, and participant users to create playbooks with assigned resources more quickly and efficiently.

For more information, see:

Streamlining Objective and KPI Generation with AI

We’ve added the Generate Objectives and Objective KPIs action to the CSC Actions Lightning component. Previously, the Generate Objective button was available on the Success Tracker tab on a success plan record page. This enables you to generate both objectives and their corresponding KPIs simultaneously from the success plan record page. The Generate Objectives and Objective KPIs action is only visible from a success plan record page.

For more information, see Objectives Overview and Creating Objectives.

Support Custom Account Object in Customer Success Cloud

We've implemented the following enhancements to better support custom account object for customer success managers and leaders:

  • We've added the Activity Account Not Required field in the CS Cloud Account Settings custom setting. Selecting this field makes:
    • The Account field optional in Create CS Activity and Edit CS Activity windows
    • The Account filter field optional in the Activity Tracker , which means it displays all activity records, even those not linked to a specific account
  • We've also added the Account Optional Activity Layout to give you the flexibility to make the Account field optional or not on the Activity record page.

For more information, see:

Release Content

We want to help you find all of the information and resources that you need to use our products effectively.

Fixes

Fixes are listed on the Known Issues page of the Certinia Community. You can access this page from the Community Support Hub. For a brief description of the issues that have been fixed in this version of Customer Success Cloud, see the relevant section of the Known Issues page.