Post by Callam Pentecost

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked: where should CX sit in an organisation? Marketing? Operations? Product? At one level, the answer is: it depends. In my experience, CX should sit wherever there’s the most motivation and willpower to drive change. Strong sponsorship matters more than structure, especially in the early stages. I’ll take an empowered, energised executive over a perfect org design any day. But here’s the other answer: CX doesn’t fit neatly anywhere, because it should live everywhere. Most organisations treat CX as a separate lane with its own frameworks, dashboards, and rituals. The real goal? Dissolve CX into the business. Make it so ingrained it doesn’t need a department to exist. You still need a CX team, but their role evolves. They move from doing CX → enabling CX. Building capability. Coaching teams. Creating frameworks that help everyone make better customer decisions. You know CX is working when teams act on customer impact naturally, not because a department tells them to: ✅ Customer impact shapes every discussion, from product design to operations planning ✅ Feedback is referenced proactively, even outside traditional CX areas ✅ Decisions weigh downstream customer consequences, not just cost or efficiency ✅ Employees feel empowered to challenge decisions and make customer-informed choices This drives better strategy: ✅ Priorities and trade-offs are shaped by customer impact ✅ Investment decisions consider long-term customer value, not just short-term ROI …and changes how the business operates: ✅ Planning becomes iterative and customer-informed ✅ Cross-functional alignment is faster because teams share a CX language ✅ Initiatives include checkpoints for learning and course correction ✅ Leadership shifts from approving actions → enabling outcomes That’s CX maturity. So next time this question comes up, forget the org chart. Think: “How do we want CX shaping decisions every day?”, and see how that reframe changes the conversation. ❔If CX disappeared from your org chart tomorrow, how much of it would people keep doing anyway?