age of the customer

The hype around big data got several things right, one being that data volumes are big and growing quickly. Digital transformation — as well as the growing adoption of IoT and the ubiquity of the device (AKA, “mobile phone”) that we all carry with us — has accelerated the growth of data. Having successfully put that data […]

Automation will be central to the next phase of digital transformation, driving new levels of customer value such as faster delivery of products, higher quality and dependability, deeper personalization, and greater convenience. Last year, Forrester predicted that automation would reach a tipping point — altering the workforce, augmenting employees, and driving new levels of customer value. Since then, […]

Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) research shows that, year on year, retail performance is still not reaching levels of “excellence.” Instead, retailer performance clusters around the “OK” level. There are of course bright sparks, with retailers such as John Lewis outperforming peers, but even those standouts are only reaching “good.” So what is holding […]

Forrester’s customer experience Forums are in their 10th year — from our first one in 2009 in New York, they’ve grown and spread to San Francisco, London, Singapore, and other cities around the world and have become yearly destinations for CX pros far and wide. CX Europe 2018 is just 12 days from now — Tuesday and Wednesday, […]

Context And Timing Is Critical For Robots And Humans To Work Well Together

It’s frustrating when a customer exhibits purchase intent but doesn’t buy because of friction in the customer journey. It’s worse when a store manager or contact center agent is unaware of a digital promotion. Nearly 40% of CMOs say that a lack of consistent customer experience (CX) prevents greater online sales revenue. Empowered customers now […]

It may not seem like it yet, but climate change is altering the world so drastically that all enterprises will need to undergo a transformation to avoid going extinct. Earlier this week, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported (with high confidence) that at the rate we’re going, global warming of 1.5°C is likely […]

Virtual care is about to radically change the way that healthcare organizations deliver care. The silver tsunami looms, and within the next decade, the number of adults age 65 and older will increase by 41%.* Chronic disease prevalence is set to rise 57% by 2020.** Patients need to be supported beyond traditional care settings to guide their […]

Nearly all CIO organizations struggle to optimize cloud consumption. It’s helpful that there is a growing set of tools to help you learn how to best leverage cloud platform services and how to identify when your use is suboptimal and overly costly. But this guidance would be far more effective if it could give you […]

Whose Customer Is This? All of us shop online and in stores. We are customers both of a retail brand’s eCommerce organization and of its store organization. Sometimes we buy online but, when we just can’t wait, collect in-store. Sometimes we return unwanted online purchases in the store, crossing an invisible border between the world […]

Nary a day goes by without someone talking about their efforts to build a platform. We cannot argue: Platforms can contribute massive value to customers, the ecosystem, and the company that creates the platform. More so, as a consumer, I rely on platforms for so much of my working life that I often don’t even […]

JPMorgan enters the retail investing price war.

As I’ve reported, the degree of tech-driven market disruption has never been a higher priority for every company, across every industry, than it is today. Thanks to rapidly evolving emerging technologies such as AI/ML, IoT, and blockchain, as well as the megacloud vendors who offer priced-per-hour access to tech innovation chains, everyone now has the ability to craft new […]

Financial services firms are on the hunt. They’re hunting unicorns. As firms like Revolut and TransferWise attain valuations of $1 billion or more, the pressure to find the Stripes of this world before their value skyrockets has never been stronger. But it’s not just the unicorns that firms are hunting. They’re also chasing the wolpertinger. […]

The 2018 Enterprise Service Management Wave is out! Take IT Service Management, add the Age of the Customer, stir in some Employee Experience and a healthy dose of low/no-code platform, and voilà! Enterprise Service Management! Or if you prefer a more traditional description, we define Enterprise Service Management (ESM) as: Extending IT service management capabilities […]

Jane Austen once said that her idea of good company is clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation. With this delightful idea in mind, I request the pleasure of your company at the second edition of Forrester’s Financial Services Summit in Mumbai on October 10. As the host, I promise you great […]

We encounter algorithms every day in many different experiences — from YouTube to Facebook to Uber. Personalization and individualization (impossible to do without algorithms) are hailed as keys to the experiences of the future and form the centerpiece of the very best and most seamless experiences. And computing capabilities and services make this more common and […]

We know it: Customers are increasingly demanding protection for and control over their data. Firms that meet and exceed these expectations are recognizing and treating privacy as a value; they’ve successfully created a business reputation for privacy and security and thus inspire customer trust. As a result, their customers are more likely to choose to […]

Seamlessness is quite the buzzword these days. It seems that brands of all shapes and sizes are vying to achieve it — from cars, to shopping, to payments, to even “co-living” communities, the storied “seamless” experience seems to be everywhere. But are the experiences that we think are seamless in fact delivering superior experiences? Many firms […]