CX as a growth driver in the modern organization

Proving the importance of experience and the role of tech in value-driven CX, with a case study on how CX supports higher revenue at Simplyhealth

CX as a growth driver in the modern organization

The modern organization is relentlessly focused on growth, and this is driving a top-down need for CX to prove its contribution.

While there is clear evidence that many C-suite executives still overlook the important role of the customer function, CX itself is busily working away.

Since 2023, CX Network’s annual research into the state of CX has found customer base growth to be the number one strategic aim for practitioners, with more than 50 percent of respondents selecting this response each year.

According to Paul Cuglietta (pictured on page 7), customer services director for Simplyhealth, the role of CX has evolved from “what could be considered a support function into much more of a strategic driver of business success”.

He explains: “At Simplyhealth, we no longer view the customer experience purely as a measure of service quality. Instead, we understand CX can influence our brand reputation, customer loyalty and revenue growth, and create a competitive advantage.

Cuglietta says recent advances in technologies such as AI, automation, predictive analytics, and self-service platforms “enable organizations to better understand customer needs and respond more quickly and efficiently”. As a result, CX professionals have become “key contributors to the organizational strategy”.

He adds: “Their role extends beyond resolving issues in a typically reactive way, to designing end-to-end customer journeys, interpreting customer insights, and collaborating across departments to drive continuous improvement.”

“CX teams help ensure that any technological innovation enhances, rather than replaces, the human element that remains critical to building trust and emotional connection.”

At Simplyhealth, customer experience serves as the voice of the customer, influencing decision making at every level. Cuglietta says: “We also recognize that delivering exceptional CX is not the responsibility of a single department but a shared organizational commitment that supports long-term growth, customer retention, and sustainable business performance.”

Driven by its heightened focus on and empowerment of CX, in the calendar year 2025 Simplyhealth recorded outstanding results in customer base growth, profit and external recognition:

>> The company achieved a first-place ranking in KPMG’s 2025/26 Customer Experience Excellence report for the healthcare and insurance sector, and number 31 across all sectors.

>> It added more than 40,700 new customers to its whole-of-workforce product, Simply On Demand, bringing the total number of customers to 2.4 million.

>> Launched a new patient onboarding system and practice management portal for Denplan clients.

>> Profit before tax climbed to £25.6 million, up from £18 million the year prior.

At Simplyhealth, we no longer view the customer experience purely as a measure of service quality. Instead, we understand that it can influence our brand reputation, customer loyalty and revenue growth, and create a competitive advantage.”

Paul Cuglietta, customer services director forSimplyhealth

Proving which experiences matter most

Exceptional customer experiences do not happen by accident. Practitioners are investing heavily to bring their growth-first strategies to life, with a focus on agentic AI, automation, business continuity and customer engagement, as per CX Network’s 2026 research into the state of CX.

Just as practitioners are being pressed to prove the value of their work, they are also under pressure to prove a return on investment (ROI). In fact, in 2026, CX Network’s research found 52 percent of practitioners believe the pressure to prove ROI is increasing.

“We’re seeing a natural evolution of the profession, as for a long time many CX and UX teams were focused on helping organizations understand why experience matters,” says Paul Weaver, VP of design for Hyatt Hotels Corporation (pictured opposite).

“Today, I think, and hope, most leaders already accept that it does… The more important question now is where to invest, which experiences matter most, and what kind of return those investments can create.”

Weaver says this “healthy shift” in focus means CX is now being held to same level of accountability as other business functions. However, “the challenge is not proving that experience matters; the challenge is proving which experiences matter most,” he says.

“That is where customer insights and data analytics become incredibly important. They help understand where friction

exists in a journey, how that friction affects customer behavior and what impact it may be having on conversion, loyalty, operational efficiency or revenue,” he explains.

“In many ways, this pressure is good for the profession,” Weaver adds. “It pushes us to connect our work more clearly to business outcomes, and to be more honest and specific about the value we are creating.”

The role of tech in value-driven CX

Naturally, the availability of more technology is changing how CX operates, as well as the value it can generate. CX, however, must use these tools wisely to support, rather than replace human connection, and undermine its value.

Jo Foxall, customer experience director at Transport for Wales, says that while there is clearly excitement round the new tools available to CX, “there's a danger that people run at it before they actually understand the implications”.

Such implications can include reducing CX to transactional interactions rather than building relationships with customers, or utilizing AI for all low-level customer contacts then overloading human agents with the complex cases AI doesn't handle.

“We have to be more speculative in how we use technology, and I think it can be a tool in the kit but it can't replace real connection with our customer teams,” Foxall says.

The next section of this report explores the role of customer insight, data, and analytics in proving the value of CX. It looks at the shift to and importance of leading vs lagging indicators and includes a use case from Oura, which devised a new metric to measure how AI can deliver results for CX.