Customer-Centricity Key to Consistent Vendor Success, KLAS Finds

A new KLAS analysis suggests that the safest bet in health IT may have less to do with the logo on the contract and more to do with a vendor’s behavior once the ink is dry. Across software and services, firms that consistently deliver high customer satisfaction share a common approach built around partnership, continuous feedback, and disciplined follow-through—traits CIOs can use as screening criteria in nearly any vendor selection.

The inaugural “Consistent High Performers” report, KLAS examines 26 software products and a cohort of services firms whose performance scores remained high over a three-year rolling period, drawing on more than 1,700 provider interviews for software alone. Rather than focusing solely on individual winners, the study looks at what these firms do differently—and how those behaviors translate into loyalty metrics that far exceed market norms.

Among the software products in the top tier, 98% of surveyed customers said they would buy the solution again, while services firms saw similarly strong willingness to re-engage. For these organizations, satisfaction is driven less by technology specifications than by the strength of the relationship: operations and product scores are actually the highest-rated experience pillars in this cohort, suggesting that reliable execution and steady value delivery matter more than a long feature checklist.

Beyond Features: Exceeding Expectations

KLAS’ long-running research demonstrates that high performers routinely do more than customers expect—for both software and services—by pairing strong tools with visible partnership. Software winners stand out for “above-and-beyond” service and outcomes that feel commensurate with price, while services firms excel in one or more of five areas: outcomes, cost, delivery speed, strategic guidance, or specialized knowledge. For health-system buyers, those categories translate into practical questions about which outcomes will be measured, how quickly value will appear, and whether the firm will help navigate unfamiliar terrain.

To sustain that level of performance, consistent high performers lean on repeatable practices that keep clients at the center of decision-making. The most frequently cited initiatives include voice-of-customer feedback loops—formal user groups, structured surveys, and regular review sessions that drive product and service improvements—along with partnership models such as joint road-mapping and outcome-based contracts. When evaluating new vendors, CIOs can look for tangible evidence of these mechanisms: named advisory structures, published processes for incorporating feedback, and contracts that tie at least some compensation to delivered results.

2025 Consistent High Performers KLAS’ inaugural list of consistent high performers spans a wide range of software and services segments. Examples on the software side include products such as Access’ Fovea EHR Archive, Azara Healthcare’s DRVS population-health platform, Epic’s EpicCare Inpatient EHR, ClosedLoop Healthcare’s Data Science Platform, and Rhapsody’s Corepoint interoperability engine. Among services firms, KLAS highlights offerings such as Chartis’ digital transformation consulting, Guidehouse’s revenue cycle optimization services, iMethods’ health IT staffing, Tegria’s clinical optimization work, and security and privacy consulting from tw-Security. The full set of products and firms appears in the KLAS report and reflects performance measured over a three-year period rather than a single-year snapshot.

Make ROI and Adoption Non-Negotiable

With capital tight and digital demand rising, return on investment remains a central filter for IT spending decisions. Nearly all consistent high performers—software vendors and services firms alike—said that helping clients measure ROI is an explicit part of their strategy, often through dashboards, structured business reviews, or account-management routines. Software vendors in this group also emphasize clinical outcomes alongside financial metrics, and KLAS found that perceptions of “money’s worth” and tangible results are among the strongest predictors of overall satisfaction.

Measurement alone, however, is not enough if users never fully adopt the tools they are given. Many of the high performers in the study monitor adoption levels and go-live metrics proactively, intervening when usage patterns suggest an implementation is drifting off track. High-scoring software vendors tend to design training around real workflows instead of one-time feature overviews, while services firms more often rely on formal change-management methodologies to support long-term success. For CIOs, effective due diligence means pressing vendors on how they will track adoption, which leading indicators they watch, and whether change-management resources are funded as part of the deal or treated as optional extras.

Customer Success and Talent Stability Matter

If the traits of high performers can be boiled down to a job description, “customer success” would be near the top. KLAS found that when providers feel a vendor has a strong customer success manager program, they are markedly more likely to buy again and recommend the firm to peers. Nearly all consistent high performers assign dedicated managers—CSMs or account managers on the software side, project or engagement managers for services—supplemented by layers of support that can include tier-one and tier-two help desks, IT contacts, executive sponsors, and clinical experts. For buyers, that suggests the following: ask to see the actual engagement model, including named roles, cadence of executive check-ins, and examples of how issues are escalated and resolved.

The people behind those roles matter just as much as the org chart. Turnover in services firms, in particular, has a measurable negative impact on perceived consultant quality, and consultant quality is strongly correlated with overall satisfaction. Yet clients of consistent high performers rarely cited turnover as a concern. These firms report using multiple tactics to attract and retain talent, from clear career-growth pathways and professional-development investments to mission-driven cultures and reputations that draw experienced staff. For health-system leaders, vendor selection conversations increasingly resemble talent-strategy discussions: what are your attrition rates, how do you ensure continuity on long engagements, and how do you keep domain experts at the table once the initial project is live?

For CIOs and other digital leaders, the broader message is that “high performer” status is not confined to a particular segment, product type, or architecture. The report’s cohort spans large and small companies, publicly traded and privately held organizations, and offerings that touch acute, ambulatory, and post-acute care. The common thread is a disciplined approach to partnership that shows up consistently in customer feedback, business reviews, and renewal decisions.

Take it Away

• Look beyond feature lists; probe how vendors plan to exceed expectations on outcomes, cost, and delivery speed.
• Ask for concrete evidence of voice-of-customer programs, co-innovation models, and outcome-based contracts.
• Make ROI and clinical impact part of the engagement from day one, with dashboards and business reviews defined in the contract.
• Treat adoption and change management as core requirements, and insist on workflow-centric training.
• Evaluate customer success programs and talent strategies with the same rigor you apply to technology road maps.

“In a crowded market, the vendors worth betting on are the ones who prove—quarter after quarter—that your success is the metric that matters most.”