New Research Shows Major Differences between Organizations that Centralize Customer Experience and Those that Don’t

New [24]7.ai report examines how organizational structure impacts both customers and business goals

[24]7.ai, Inc., a recognized leader in conversational AI for both voice and digital customer engagement, announced new research that shows a strong consensus that CX needs more accountability, but little consensus on how to provide that. The report titled “The CX Leader of the Future What’s Changed, What’s Possible — and What Works,” is based on a survey of more than 400 customer experience leaders in North America.

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In December 2020, [24]7.ai and SMG Research and Content Studio, a B2B technology information and research services company, conducted a study to examine the organizational structures of large businesses as they relate to customer experience, and whether there is a difference between companies that centralize the CX function and those that don’t. The study found that the way a company is organized, and the metrics it measures, has a direct impact on the overall customer experience.

Key Findings:

• Finding 1: Centralizing CX responsibility shapes an organization’s worldview. A majority of companies surveyed (51 percent) distribute customer experience across multiple functions, while 43 percent have all functions reporting to one leader. Leaders in centralized CX organizations are more likely to say their work has a great deal of impact on business-critical priorities, such as customer satisfaction, company growth, and profitability. Centralizing CX also increases impact on net promoter score.
• Finding 2: Centralized CX organizations take a more data-driven approach, which allows them to drive impactful CX change. Nearly half of all centralized CX organizations (49 percent) say that their role as a CX leader has become more data driven over the past few years, compared to just 31 percent of distributed CX organizations who say the same thing.
• Finding 3: Centralizing responsibility for CX has a provable positive impact on the organization. There’s a business case to make for centralizing CX ownership. By having a single person or team responsible for improving CX, the organization can use their experience to align organizational outcomes to customer-first decisions, increasing customer satisfaction and improving the bottom line. 49 percent of respondents say organizational KPIs help them improve the customer experience.

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In addition to explaining the key findings, the report features actionable recommendations to help companies improve the customer experience at their organizations.

“This study shows that, while delivering exceptional customer experiences is critical, many companies neither concentrate this function within a team, nor account for it effectively,” said Lisa Matherly, Vice President of Marketing for [24]7.ai. “Centralized CX organizations have a different point of view surrounding CX than their peers. In addition, they measure harder metrics and experience better outcomes compared to organizations with a more decentralized approach to CX. Simply put, if your organization has a decentralized approach to CX, then you’re wasting time and money.”