digital disruption

While every tech vendor seems to lay claim to being an expert in digital transformation, it stands to reason that not all can be. For sure, there are many vendors with experience helping clients create new customer or employee digital experiences, but this experience doesn’t make them experts in digital business transformation. For 20 years, […]

Mobile technologies, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics at firms such as Amazon, Netflix, and Pandora anticipate customer needs and improve customers’ daily lives. These firms are setting new standards for personalized experiences, creating the expectation that any information, product, or service will be available in context in their moment of need to manage their personal […]

Bankers around the world are rightly worried about the threats posed by digital disruptors getting in between them and their retail banking customers. But Forrester’s newest research reveals that executives should be just as worried — perhaps even more worried — about another market that is being upended: small business banking. Small- and medium-sized businesses […]

Lessons From Toy Land: Digital Strategy Beats Digital Marketing Mattel and Hasbro announced earnings this week. Both saw sales decline from the collapse of Toys”R”Us. But Mattel’s sales declined only 5% while Hasbro’s declined 13%, and Wall Street applauded the difference. Why? Because Mattel has been aggressively pursuing a digital products and channels strategy, extending […]

If you were to ask me a year ago what I would point to as a best practice for data governance, my response would be to look at what financial services firms do to meet their regulatory requirements. Fast-forward to the age of GDPR and the new privacy mandates coming out of California (CCPA), and […]

CEOs want to understand how digital translates into revenue growth. They don’t just want to hear how similar companies have digitally transformed; they want to understand what the net result was on revenue and profitability. If you’re a technology sales professional working for one of the myriad companies delivering digital transformation, you’ve probably already honed […]

Games are a great teaching aid. The digital snakes and ladders game from Forrester helps teams identify and focus on best practices of digital transformation. Learn about it in an upcoming webinar.

Consumer-facing brands know that there is proverbial “gold” in generating direct sales through digital commerce — but the big question is the size of the prize. Where will brands place their digital commerce bets, and what will each yield in terms of digital sales, profitability, and customer relationships? The sales opportunity across different digital commerce touchpoints, […]

Retailers are slowly moving beyond omnichannel fulfillment capabilities in stores to invest in digital store technologies that empower store associates, improve customers’ engagement, and enhance store operations. There is no single formula for great execution on digital store technologies, and the varied performance of the retailers assessed shows that many are still figuring out the […]

Luxury brands have gone from relative inertia over digital strategies to a flurry of activity, including technology upgrades, partnerships, and even acquisitions. Back in the summer of 2017, we warned that luxury brands were out of time when it came to improving their digital customer experiences and internal operations. Digitally mature and savvy luxury consumers […]

The origin of the term “moonshot” — used to describe the most advanced, disruptive innovations — has returned again as an innovation focus of its own. Last week, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) disrupted its competitors, such as NASA, by landing its Chang’e-4 spacecraft on the dark side of the moon.   The CNSA’s own “moon shot” […]

Recently, Forrester published our CX predictions for 2019. Our first prediction was that stagnating CX quality will cause short, destructive price wars. We cited Fidelity’s two new zero-fee investment funds as an example of how this is already starting to play out. We also noted that Vanguard responded to Fidelity by highlighting its many funds […]

With GE establishing a new standalone software business, we examine what it means for existing and potential customers of GE Digital and for GE. What we know: On December 13, 2018, GE announced the formation of a new industrial IoT (or IIoT) software business, with $1.2 billion in revenue (based on GE Digital sales combined with sales […]

How will the “whats” of insurance — underwriting, claims, and compliance — translate into new “hows” in 2019? Watch the video below for more information on what’s driving changes in insurance business strategy and the tech that enables it. Do you need more help? Forrester clients can set up an inquiry with us.

In the spirit of Halloween, I’m going to write about the bogeyman of almost every industry out there: GAFA. In the last few years, I have answered many versions of the same question: what will Google (insert Apple/Facebook/Amazon) do to us (insert financial services/healthcare/retail/media)? This fear is grounded in some reality. All four firms are […]

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

When your CEO asks you for your digital strategy, you could go away and huddle up with your team for a month and produce some voluminous document full of TLAs, only to have it sit on the shelf for the next two years. Instead, simply give your CEO a copy of your business strategy. After […]

You’re an executive, an employer, or maybe an up-and-comer in your organization, but either way, you have surveyed the moment and you know that big things are poised to happen. Unlike the big things of the past — the internet or mobile — the change won’t be the result of consumers embracing a shiny new object or buying into a […]

Do you see the chief digital officer (CDO) as some kind of digital superhero, swooping in to rescue a dysfunctional business and transform it into a digital powerhouse? The truth is that chief digital officers can be very effective with strong CEO backing, but they are not always necessary. A business-savvy, customer-obsessed CIO can be […]