Will half of CX teams become redundant?

Half of CX teams are still just running surveys. The other half stopped reporting and started operating.Bill Staikos spent two decades in customer experience leadership at companies like American Express, BNY Mellon, and JPMorgan, and now writes the newsletter AI Not KPI. In this conversation, he explains why CX is splitting into a "bottom 50%" still stuck in survey-and-dashboard mode and a "top 50%" rebuilding around AI, data architecture, and operating models - and argues the role's most important relationship is shifting from the CFO to the CIO.KEY TAKEAWAYS- Half of CX teams still only run surveys- the rest have moved to an operating model.- When CX and the Chief Product Officer have "no daylight" between them, transformation accelerates.- The closed-loop model needs two new loops: orchestration (AI acting in real time) and learning (feedback improving the system).- CX leaders need data literacy and curiosity about tools like semantic layers and MCP, not just survey skills.- Start with the biggest business pain point, not the biggest customer pain point — the experience issue usually surfaces there anyway.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction03:09 Why half of CX teams are stuck doing surveys05:48 The CX–CPO relationship as the biggest marker of change07:11 How insight teams are getting into product planning cycles11:02 What the top 5% of CX leaders do differently13:16 Should a survey-background CX leader be a red flag?15:45 Business acumen vs. data vocabulary — CX needs both17:32 Rethinking Bain's closed-loop model: adding orchestration and learning loops22:01 Should these loops be intentionally governed or left emergent?24:45 Hijacking existing rituals like PI planning to drive CX decisions26:59 A real example: redesigning how teams are measured beyond output29:52 From raw data to signal, context, intelligence, and impact33:04 Is CX at a crossroads about its own purpose?35:05 Why the most important CX relationship is now with the CIO, not the CFO39:09 Where to start building an internal customer context layer43:34 Why incentives and change leadership determine whether any of this works45:30 Inside Bill's newsletter: turning frameworks into usable artifactsLINKEDINGuest: Bill Staikos — https://www.linkedin.com/in/billstaikos/Host: Jochem van der Veer — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jochemvanderveer/THEYDOLearn more about Journey Management with TheyDo: https://www.theydo.com#TheExperienceEdge #Staikos #AIinCX #DataArchitecture #ClosedLoopFeedback #CustomerExperience #JourneyManagement #CX #TheyDo #podcast