Ep. 252: Erin Wallace | The Data Doesn't Care How Good You Think You Are

Episode 252: Most CX maturity assessments ask how you think you're doing. This one demands proof.

Erin Wallace, director of client engagement at MyCX from Bain & Company, is helping to lead a fundamental shift in how companies measure CX maturity. Most tools rely on perception-based self-assessments that reward self-promotion over progress. The Customer Experience Roadmap and Accreditation (CXRA) demands verifiable proof—evidence against 55 global, industry-backed standards. It's not always comfortable, but it's often the turning point.

Bain's CXRA challenges the internal echo chamber. Erin explains how most assessments rely on surveys sent to a handful of CX insiders, producing a distorted view of reality. The CXRA demands documentation of policies, processes, behaviors, and measurable outcomes such as customer experience metrics, operational KPIs, or business results. It uses outside-in validation to confront that distortion.

This isn't academic. It's where things get real. Leaders often push back. Some insist, "We're better than this." Others admit, "We're not as good as we might think." That tension is the point. Because CXRA doesn't just assess quality—it measures how consistently CX practices are applied across the business. That's how it exposes the "pockets of brilliance" that never scale, leaving most customers with a fragmented, uneven experience and leadership teams with a false sense of progress.

For many leaders, conducting the CXRA offers clarity they've never achieved: a shared fact base, benchmarks of world-class practice, and a clear path forward. It doesn't just reveal what's missing, it builds the conviction to fix it.

Guest: Erin Wallace, Director of Client Engagement, Bain & Company

Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company

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Key Topics Covered

• 01:00 – Why perception-based CX tools fall short
• 02:20 – What defines a successful evidence-based assessment
• 03:10 – The challenge with identifying "pockets of brilliance"
• 04:15 – How companies respond to uncomfortable truths
• 05:40 – Aligning leaders around what "good" really looks like
• 06:55 – Using 55 global standards to benchmark performance
• 08:10 – What Bain's CX Roadmap and Accreditation assesses
• 09:30 – What Erin learned at the X4 2025 Conference in Salt Lake City

Time-Stamped Notable Quotes

• [5:00] "MyCX℠ is a tool anyone in the industry can use, whether you're a strategic advisor, a technology implementer, or a CX practitioner. These should be things we agree on in terms of the standard of excellence for culture, capabilities, and execution."
• [6:00] "Most maturity assessments—tools to understand where you are and how you're doing with CX—are survey-based. They're perception-based. We send [them] out to a couple hundred people in the company, see what they think, and how they think they're doing with CX. You usually get back a pretty inactionable result. What's different about MyCX Roadmap and Accreditation, which is based on these global standards, is that it's an evidence-based, outside-in assessment."
• [7:00] "It's an opportunity to dig in and have a conversation. And to evaluate the perception with the policy against results."
• [8:00] "We look at quality, coverage, and consistency of application across the business. There could very well be a spotlight—like pockets of excellence—that are not applied across the organization in a meaningful way."
• "[9:00] "What does good look like, and is that really what we aspire to accomplish? And then what will it take to get there? Because oftentimes, everyone has a different opinion of what is 'good.' And do we really want to get there? This helps [organizations] break through and get that bigger investment unlock that's required to lead."

Learn more about Bain & Company's CX Roadmap and Accreditation process: https://www.bain.com/consulting-services/customer-strategy-and-marketing/customer-experience-transformation/mycx/

Learn more about the Global CX Standards: https://www.netpromotersystem.com/resources/cx-standards/