Still, experts say a chief experience officer who heads up both CX and EX could more neatly align the two organizations. “Designating a chief experience officer can serve as a powerful signal to the organization about how important XM is,” Lucas says.

Adobe, for example, installed an executive with specific XM responsibilities. Donna Morris, the company’s former executive VP of customer and employee experience, focused on aligning the two sides through feedback, metrics, and incentives among both teams, with a focus on engagement and retention, attraction, and development

Assigning a single chief of XM can help keep both teams focused on the same strategy and meeting the same standards, says Isabelle Zdatny, XM analyst at Qualtrics, and “can influence how employees think and act to align with the company’s XM vision.”