What exactly would you suggest it's a leading indicator of? Churn?
Ultimately if it matters, it should have to be an input to the cash flow time series -- mediated by churn -- no? (Article means to frame free cash flow as a series rather than a point-in-time value).
If you're interested in forecasting, as a company, you should know the things that mean your customer is not doing well within the specific context of your specific business. E.g. in software, you should have a customer health score that's built up from product data. Or you could ask simple questions that are easily interpreted, e.g. asking "how would you rate X's value for money," or "how satisfied are you with X," or even "have you recommended X in the last Y months." These things have a cleaner relationship to future business metrics and a tidier interpretation.
Ultimately if it matters, it should have to be an input to the cash flow time series -- mediated by churn -- no? (Article means to frame free cash flow as a series rather than a point-in-time value).
If you're interested in forecasting, as a company, you should know the things that mean your customer is not doing well within the specific context of your specific business. E.g. in software, you should have a customer health score that's built up from product data. Or you could ask simple questions that are easily interpreted, e.g. asking "how would you rate X's value for money," or "how satisfied are you with X," or even "have you recommended X in the last Y months." These things have a cleaner relationship to future business metrics and a tidier interpretation.