What It Means: A Forrester Podcast
Each week, the What It Means podcast invites Forrester analysts to discuss the latest trends and challenges to help business and technology leaders make bold decisions and become truly customer-obsessed. Topics range from tech-driven innovation and CX design to B2B buying trends and marketing planning. Listen now and subscribe to get a new episode each week. Got a comment or question? Email our team at podcast@forrester.com.
Latest Episodes
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Is Your Organization Equipped To Handle Geopolitical Risks?
Is your security team effectively assessing your exposure to geopolitical risk? Principal Analyst Renee Murphy and Senior Analyst Allie Mellen provide some insights and next steps every security org will want to hear.
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Find The CX Collaboration Strategy That’s Right For Your Company
No customer experience team, no matter how mighty, can achieve its strategic vision alone. Fostering the necessary cross-functional collaboration requires a strategy that taps into your organization’s existing strengths and cultural norms, explain Senior Analysts Su Doyle and Angelina Gennis on this week’s What It Means.
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Where Did Gaia-X Go Wrong?
The Gaia-X initiative was launched in 2019 as a way for European governments to reclaim data sovereignty from non-European cloud hyperscalers. But it hasn’t lived up to its promise. In this episode, senior analysts Dario Maisto and Jeffrey Rajamani provide an update on the current state and future outlook for Gaia-X.
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Where Tech Leaders Should Focus Spend In 2023
Where should technology leaders focus their 2023 investments? In this episode, VP, Research Director Chris Gardner and Principal Analyst Chris Gilchrist review the recommendations in Forrester’s new planning guides for technology leaders.
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The Secrets To Becoming An Effective Change Catalyst
Meaningful change in a company doesn’t have to come from the top. Anyone — regardless of seniority or title — can bring it about, say Vice Presidents Meta Karagianni and Peter Ostrow. On this week’s What It Means, they discuss how B2B professionals can successfully initiate change and give a preview of their keynote session at Forrester’s B2B Summit EMEA.
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How B2B CMOs Can Spend To Succeed In 2023
B2B marketing leaders will face intense budget scrutiny as they plan for 2023. But making reactive, cost-saving decisions could undermine long-term gains, cautions VP and Principal Analyst Barbie Mattie. On this week’s What It Means, she discusses Forrester’s 2023 planning guide for B2B marketing executives and its spending recommendations.
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Succession Planning For The Security Org
Is overreliance on key security employees putting your entire organization at risk? Learn best practices for retention and succession planning in security from Senior Analyst Jess Burn.
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When Should Brands Take A Stand?
Consumers, employees, and shareholders increasingly expect companies to speak out on social and political issues. When should they, and how should they make the decision? On this week’s What It Means, Vice President, Research Director Mike Proulx and Vice President, Principal Analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee explain how brands can navigate these scenarios.
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How Does Automation Enable Human Innovation?
Fears that automation will replace human creativity with mindless robots are unwarranted. VP, Principal Analyst Paul Miller and Principal Analyst Dan Bieler explain why in this episode.
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Tackling Technology’s Trust Problem
What can be done to address a growing lack of trust in technology? Principal Analyst Sara Watson digs into the causes of this issue and provides some examples of firms taking proactive steps to minimize its impact.
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What COVID-Related Absenteeism Has Taught Us About Workforce Planning
COVID-related absenteeism continues to cause challenges across industries and business functions. In this episode, VP, Research Director James McQuivey and VP, Principal Analyst J. P. Gownder highlight some key learnings for workforce planning.
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The Case For Modernizing Your Operational Platforms
If aligning your operational platforms with your customer-facing platforms is way down on your IT roadmap, you might want to move it up. Hear VPs Linda Ivy-Rosser and Liz Herbert explain why in this episode.
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Why The CIO-CMO Partnership Matters More Than Ever
Technology and marketing leaders need each other, and companies need strong technology-marketing partnerships. On this week’s What It Means, VP, Senior Research Director Matt Guarini and VP, Principal Analyst Thomas Husson explain why the CIO-CMO relationship matters more than ever and the key benefits of effective CMO-CIO collaboration.
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Build A Successful Voice Of The Customer Program
Only 12% of CX pros rate their voice of the customer (VoC) program’s maturity as high or very high. In this episode of What It Means, Senior Analyst Colleen Fazio explains what’s blocking success with VoC and how CX professionals can derive value and get stakeholders excited.
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Is Employee Wellness Broken?
There’s a giant disconnect between how executives view employee wellness and how employees view it. Senior Analyst Jonathan Roberts digs into the causes and impacts of that disconnect in this week’s episode.
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It’s Time To Kick The Leads Habit
The traditional focus on individual, marketing-supplied leads is failing B2B companies and buyers. So why does it persist, and what’s a better alternative? VP, Principal Analyst Terry Flaherty and VP, Research Director Mike Pregler discuss on this week’s podcast.
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Encore Presentation — Avoid The Chatbot How-Can-I-Help-You Problem
The problem with chatbots can be summed up in one question: “How can I help you?” This question sets the expectation that a chatbot will be as helpful as a human agent, which isn’t true. But don’t scrap all your chatbots. Instead, invest in experience design, says VP, Principal Analyst David Truog on this episode of What It Means.
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The Trouble With Thought Leadership
Thought leadership content is everywhere. But, too often, it’s neither particularly thoughtful nor leading, say analysts Ian Bruce and Lisa Gately. On this week’s What It Means, they discuss what defines good thought leadership and how B2B firms can create it.
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Why Are Brands Funding Misinformation?
Marketers are accidentally funding misinformation and fueling the proliferation of dangerous falsehoods. In this episode of What It Means, Principal Analyst Kelsey Chickering discusses how marketers can protect their brand from this phenomenon.
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The Customer Obsession Balancing Act For B2B Firms
B2B companies that center their strategies and operations on customers far outperform their less customer-focused peers. Still, when it comes to customer obsession, more isn’t always better. Analysts Amy Bills and Nick Buck explain on this week’s podcast why customer obsession means finding a balance.