Predictions

Research Directors Keith Johnston and Matt Guarini discuss the squeezes, shifts, and strategies for the CMO and CIO in 2018 — and how they can collectively lead change in today’s dynamic, consequence-heavy market.

The term IoT can be confusing, and depending on who you talk to they might choose to focus on one element like connectivity or another. At Forrester we believe IoT extends beyond devices and connectivity. At a technical level, IoT encompasses those two elements as well analytics, sophisticated management and monitoring, and of course pervasive […]

Around the world, CX quality has largely stalled. Why? Multiple data sources show that customer confidence is up, spending is up, and expectations are rising as consumers interact with brands more than ever before. But the data also shows that trust in companies has dropped precipitously. This crisis of trust is worsened by misleading and false […]

Digital business leaders know that customer obsession is the winning mantra, however meeting the needs of today’s empowered customer requires both laser focus and responsiveness. Experimentation, minimum viable products, and labs are so 2017. In 2018, digital business transformation will be played out at scale — in organization structure, in operating models, and in talk […]

Look right, look left, you’ll see a fellow CIO contemplating their AI move. Failing to act is not an option in most organizations. However, as enterprises are kicking off their AI pilots or seeing early results, the honeymoon is over as enterprises that naively celebrated the cure-all promises of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is over. Enterprises needed better data foundations. They underestimated the level of business expertise […]

The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated across the enterprise giving hopes of amping up automation, enriching insights, streamlining processes, augmenting workers, and in many ways making our lives as consumers, employees, and customers a whole lot better. Senior management salivates over the exponential gains AI is supposed to deliver to their business. Kumbayah […]

The visionaries will forge ahead, those hoping for immediate industry and process transformation will give up. This is the answer I usually give when asked for a one-sentence summary of how I see 2018 shaping up in the blockchain technology arena. Following blockchain technology feels a little like living in two parallel universes: One is […]

Until now, automation has gotten a bad rap. In 2013, Oxford professors Carl Frey and Michael Osborne analyzed 702 occupations and declared 69 million US jobs, or 47% of the workforce, would be lost. In 2017, CNBC reported that 65% of Americans believed other industries would suffer because of automation, but theirs would be unaffected. […]

Media, so vital to the wellbeing of the economy, has endured a turbulent year. Marketers questioned the quality of the supply chain. Agencies reorganized to reinforce their value proposition. Ad tech continued to consolidate. Publishers scrambled to make money and keep their two sets of customers – consumers and advertisers – happy. While that short […]

Forrester’s been writing about customer obsession for nearly half a decade, but until recently, most companies merely paid lip service to it. What’s changing? Marketers’ jobs security: CMOs have the shortest tenure in the C-suite and some companies like Coca-Cola are eliminating their CMO functions altogether in favor of chief growth or customers officers. We […]

Last year Forrester predicted that mobile would become the face of digital, with consumer app fatigue forcing digital business professionals to pursue a portfolio of mobile experiences. Since the beginning of 2017, 29% of firms Forrester surveyed have experimented with skills on Amazon Alexa and other voice-enabled assistants and 51% have started using, piloted or […]

These days every company is in the software business. Fast, iterative delivery of high-quality software means better customer engagement and higher satisfaction, so an effective development organization is more important than ever. But in 2018 software development leaders will face new opportunities and challenges as software technologies and platforms pivot into new areas where traditional […]

It’s already that time of year again: pumpkin spice and predictions for the New Year! Forrester’s Cloud team has been busy gathering, analyzing and prioritizing our predictions for what’s ahead in enterprise cloud computing for 2018. As our 2018 cloud predictions published today, here’s a sneak peek into what we see ahead for the most […]

With the waning days of 2017, a fresh start emerges. CMOs again begin to plan their personal affirmations to revitalize from a draining year. Headlines awash in ad fraud, brand safety concerns, data privacy debacles, and the threat of Amazon dropping into a market near you has caused tremors, shuddering your role. Numerous teachable, though […]

When I look back at my time as a CIO, I often say it was only half-Dickensian. I bet you can guess which half! Legacy was rampant. Ops models and operating frameworks were based on dated theories. Just as folks felt like they were getting a handle on things, what happens but this thing called […]

When we put together our 2018 predictions, four overarching themes caught my attention: separation, speed, money, and time. Separation. The uncertain fate of many companies seems at odds with the reality that most economies, labor markets, and industries are relatively healthy. But firms born with or driving customer-led, digitally centered strategies are separating themselves from […]