http://www.forrester.com/ Forrester is an independent technology research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about technology's impact on business. en-us 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 120 http://www.forrester.com/imagesV2/affiliates/logos/forrester.gif http://www.forrester.com/ http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60345&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-15 Large consumer-facing companies often have some mix of multiple layers of marketing: corporate, divisional, brand, regional, country . . . These layers are configured in different ways in different companies, and within the same company, the structure and roles fluctuate over time. While there is no single right way to organize marketing, this report will help delineate the role of the corporate CMO as a driver of business growth. Marketing & Advertising Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Mary Beth Kemp" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60345&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-15 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61349&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 Results, not products, differentiate vendors in the eyes of executives. Executives assign strategic supplier status to vendors that are willing and able to align in substantial, not superficial, ways. Executives include getting paid for results, sharing knowledge, and helping them bridge the IT to business gap at their company as attributes of their most trusted partners. Not only do strategic suppliers earn more of executives' business, they are given the opportunity to influence -- and even define -- how their clients will realize value in the future. IT Spending & Budgeting Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Sourcing & Procurement Telecommunications Services Energy & Utilities Financial Services Government High-Tech Manufacturing Media & Entertainment Professional Services Retail Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Scott Santucci" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61349&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61350&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 Your strategy for growth -- by cross- or upselling your portfolio to new buyers at existing accounts -- is likely suffering because the executives your sales teams manage to engage are underwhelmed by that critical first meeting when you win the right to move forward or not. While there are a number of attributes that executives ascribe to a valuable sales meeting, number one is structure, followed closely by addressing their business problems. Executives marvel at how unprepared most sales teams are, and the major gap is a failure to read up in advance on the company or the executives and their challenges and instead falling back on talking about your products and capabilities. Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Sourcing & Procurement Telecommunications Services Energy & Utilities Financial Services Government High-Tech Manufacturing Media & Entertainment Professional Services Retail Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Scott Santucci" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61350&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61351&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 Your company is likely losing a sizable number of opportunities in your pipeline because your sales teams have not successfully communicated a clear road map for executives on how they will realize ongoing value from the investment you are suggesting they make. While there are clear common attributes executives think are important to creating a vision of success, few technology vendors today coordinate their resources around delivering those attributes. Executives have a strong bias toward vendors that can work with them to develop a shared vision of success, yet pulling all of those pieces together falls most often on the backs of sales teams. Forrester has observed that about 20% of a sales force is able to consistently put all of the puzzle pieces together to create that road map for success with the client. Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Sourcing & Procurement Telecommunications Services Energy & Utilities Financial Services Government High-Tech Manufacturing Media & Entertainment Professional Services Retail Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Scott Santucci" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61351&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61352&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 Executive buyers respond well to clear, personalized, easily scannable emails as a way to raise their interest in taking a meeting. The things that motivate executives to take a meeting fall into two categories: Either you can solve a problem within an initiative already in motion, or you can help them think through an overall approach to meeting a goal of theirs, or solve a new problem. In both cases, being timely in your approach, and concise in how you have helped others, is critical to securing a meeting. Referrals can be effective in gaining access to executives, but you raise the bar on expectations so be prepared to share stories of both success and failure and keep the conversation lingo free to earn the right to move ahead. Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Sourcing & Procurement Telecommunications Services Energy & Utilities Financial Services Government High-Tech Manufacturing Media & Entertainment Professional Services Retail Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Scott Santucci" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61352&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-25 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60883&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-23 Consumer electronics retailers in Australia face many challenges, but online retail is booming despite the relatively modest feature set provided by most Australian sites. To dig deeper, Forrester applied its Website Functionality Benchmark methodology to the transactional sites provided by five Australian companies: Dick Smith, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Kogan, and The Good Guys. The testing showed that these sites have considerable room for improvement, though Dick Smith, Harvey Norman, and The Good Guys deserve recognition for covering core search and navigation tactics; Dick Smith had the best checkout process in the review set; and all retailers stood out for best practice in at least one area. To move forward, each retailer should settle on a clear vision for the future that is well differentiated and creates value for its most profitable customers. From there, the company should test continuously while deploying key features to support that vision. Customer Experience Packaged Applications eBusiness/eCommerce Consumer Technology Retail Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Steven Noble" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60883&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-23 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59695&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-19 Tech marketers at top-performing tech companies demonstrate similar go-to-market strategies that set them apart from their peers at companies with average performance. The strategic mix leverages traditional techniques and emerging digital and social tactics to optimize execution across all stages of the lead-to-revenue management process. While there is no "paint by numbers" formula for the perfect marketing mix, tech marketers can leverage the proven practice of top-performing marketing organizations to inform their own tech marketing mix decisions. IT Spending & Budgeting Marketing & Advertising Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy High-Tech Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Lori Wizdo" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59695&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-19 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61032&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 Forrester recently surveyed 81 loyalty program marketers about their loyalty programs and strategies in an effort to understand the size, structure, and performance of customer loyalty programs. Companies continue to look to loyalty programs to drive customer retention, profitability, and customer engagement in an uncertain economy. But they face challenges when it comes to creating and supporting differentiated programs that leverage intelligent offer management. Customer Intelligence Marketing & Advertising Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Suresh Vittal, Emily Murphy" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61032&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=57261&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-17 Telcos can grow their revenue base beyond access and transport to offer a range of wholesale services that many cloud service providers (CSPs) may lack the ability or skills to build themselves. Telcos must tread cautiously into the cloud market, seeking to serve this rapidly growing market with reliable and scalable infrastructure tuned to meet CSPs' specific requirements. Positioned as wholesalers of enabling infrastructure (i.e., not selling directly to enterprise or individual end users), telcos will augment CSPs' service differentiation with capabilities ranging from naked colocation space and managed network capacity to fully managed and secured platforms. This path to incremental revenue for telcos leverages their network heritage, but it also requires them to stay in the background — as wholesalers — rather than attempt to own the end customer service relationship. Application Development IT Infrastructure & Operations IT Services Networking Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Telecommunications Services High-Tech Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Henry Dewing" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=57261&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-17 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61335&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-23 Rocketing adoption — by financial advisors and agents as well as investors — is driving five digital trends that will change the wealth management industry. Smart eBusiness managers will follow the example of early leaders, including E-Trade Financial and Generali in mobile Internet, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) and Ameriprise Financial in social media, Vanguard and Jackson National Life Insurance in online video, Nationwide Mutual Insurance and Charles Schwab in online advice, and Fidelity in usability. Customer Experience eBusiness/eCommerce Consumer Technology Financial Services Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Bill Doyle" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61335&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-23 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=58187&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 Although more and more businesses are adopting social intelligence strategies, regulated companies — such as those in the insurance, finance, pharmaceutical, and healthcare space — remain cautious with social media. But the increasing number of regulations around social media isn't always an excuse for abstaining from it. In fact, some of the regulations may force customer intelligence (CI) teams into monitoring social media. Regardless of how you get there, the key to addressing the frequently changing regulations is to balance the risk and reward of potential strategies, all while relying on tried-and-true CI practices for handling customer data. Customer Experience Customer Intelligence Security & Risk Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Zach Hofer-Shall" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=58187&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61317&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-23 As commerce programs that reach across customer touchpoints get more complex and risky, the process of selecting a services provider has become increasingly critical to businesses' success or failure. Yesterday's relatively simple eCommerce projects have become today's customer experience, business, and technology transformation programs. Companies now require a multidisciplined vendor partner to guide decisions upon which rest millions of dollars of revenue, brand differentiation, customer satisfaction, and careers. It is no longer a matter of selecting an eCommerce platform and hiring a firm to support systems integration: Today's commerce services firms support a range of problems and questions, providing channel strategy, technology strategy, customer experience design, systems integration, and managed services. Selecting your services provider may be the most important decision you make as an eBusiness leader. This report acts as a guide to help you consider the most critical elements throughout that process. Sourcing & Procurement eBusiness/eCommerce Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Brian K. Walker" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61317&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-23 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59007&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-24 Talk of "the year of mobile" is not only passé but also irrelevant. The disruptive forces of mobile arrived more than two years ago and will fundamentally change businesses in the decades to come. That's why — when we revisited 2011 mobile trends — we found that many, if not all of them, are still evolving and relevant. Mobile is generating both substantial web traffic and revenue for consumer-facing companies. While mobile is maturing as a technology, touchpoint, and medium, it is far from mature. The speed of change is challenging companies to rethink resource allocation, organizational structures, and internal processes ranging from development methodologies to key performance metrics. This report helps consumer product strategy professionals understand the most important trends that will affect their businesses this year. Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy eBusiness/eCommerce Financial Services Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Thomas Husson, Julie A. Ask" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59007&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-24 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59280&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-13 Faced with regulatory reform, changing demographics, transparency initiatives, and competitive forces from within and outside of the industry, hospitals will have to innovate to provide cost-effective quality care that meets regulatory mandates and engages diverse staff members. Patient experience leaders such as The Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research), and Partners HealthCare Center for Connected Health provide examples of the shifts that need to occur to meet increased patient and regulatory demands across the industry. This report profiles the patient experience innovation efforts of these three leading health systems — with lessons that apply across a range of industries. Customer Experience Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Healthcare & Life Sciences Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Elizabeth Boehm" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59280&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-13 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61148&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 Since 2008, consumer attitudes toward loyalty programs have declined across every indicator that Forrester tracks. Consumers join programs of brands they like, but they limit their participation to only a few programs and are motivated by the desire to seek out discounts. However, members who participate regularly in loyalty programs are more likely to interact with brands online than those who don't. To differentiate their programs in a crowded marketplace, loyalty marketers should focus on driving deeper engagement and weaning customers from their discount addiction. Marketing & Advertising Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Suresh Vittal, Emily Murphy" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61148&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61103&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 Forrester's Customer Loyalty Program Review Scorecard evaluates internal loyalty program business processes and member experiences with a given program. The business process review evaluates a marketer's loyalty program strategy, governance, Customer Intelligence, execution, and data. The member experience review considers a loyalty program's enrollment and rewards process, communications value, presentation, and privacy. The business process evaluation includes 16 criteria, and the member experience evaluation includes 10 criteria, evaluated on a -2 to +2 scale, where a -2 is a strong fail and a +2 is a strong pass. To pass, programs must score a total of 26 points or higher. Customer Intelligence Marketing & Advertising Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Suresh Vittal, Emily Murphy" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61103&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60935&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 Forrester applied its new Customer Loyalty Program Review methodology to five popular loyalty programs from the retail, travel, and financial services industries. The results of the evaluation — which assesses program enrollment and rewards processes, communications value, presentation, and privacy — show that these programs generally understand basic, but not advanced, loyalty program practices. While none of the programs we reviewed earned a total passing score, they received more positive points in the presentation category than in any other category. To improve the member experience, firms should evaluate their own programs against the Customer Loyalty Program Review criteria. Customer Intelligence Marketing & Advertising Financial Services Retail Travel Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Suresh Vittal, Emily Murphy" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60935&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60810&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 Loyalty programs promise to increase retention and satisfaction, but they often fall short of delivering results because they lack an innovative strategy to set them apart from the competition. The Customer Loyalty Program Review provides marketers a business process and member interaction assessment to help them evaluate the efficiency and relevance of their loyalty programs and identify areas for improvement. Customer Experience Customer Intelligence Marketing & Advertising Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Suresh Vittal, Emily Murphy" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60810&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-5 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61126&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-17 Tech companies once thought they could export channel models like they do products — that what worked in North America would work just fine globally. Today, the realities of diverse cultural and market dynamics in fast-growth locations like China, India, and Southeast Asia are upending channel models in Asia Pacific. The challenge facing tech companies is to replace homogenous global channel models exported from the West with something that blends the need for global marketing efficiency with local execution effectiveness. It is a challenge that cannot wait, as 75% to 85% of tech industry sales in Asia flow through channels. Tech companies that don't find innovative ways to adapt their Asia Pacific go-to-market models at the regional and country levels will fail to gain market traction as more of the global tech industry's action moves to Asia. IT Spending & Budgeting Sales, Marketing, & Product Strategy Sourcing & Procurement High-Tech Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Tirthankar Sen" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61126&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-17 http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61243&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-4 Interactive marketing often takes a back seat in emerging markets, a victim of the low online penetration in these countries and of local marketing teams who lack experience with interactive tools. But that's shortsighted. You should put more of your budget online in these countries, not less, because the minority of the population that is online is both highly attractive and much easier to reach online than through traditional channels. This brief report helps marketers make the case for increasing their interactive budgets in emerging countries, and advises them on how to get the best out of that budget. Marketing & Advertising Consumer Technology Media & Entertainment Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT "Nate Elliott" <resourcecenter@forrester.com> http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61243&src=RSS_CustomFeed&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-RSS-_-Document-_-4