For Security & Risk Professionals

Topic Overview: Identity And Access Management

by Andras Cser, April 14, 2008

Identity and access management (IAM) is the entire aspect of maintaining a person's complete set of information, spanning multiple identities and establishing the relationship among these various identities with the goal of improving data consistency, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Topic Overview: Customer Relationship Management 2008

by William Band, March 25, 2008

Forrester's customer relationship management (CRM) research helps CRM professionals embrace best practices — from process optimization to technology implementation — to improve the customer experience and drive top-line growth. Our research spans marketing, . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Best Practices: B2B Marketing Measurement

Measure Marketing's Impact Across The Customer Life Cycle

by Laura Ramos, September 26, 2007

Business-to-business (B2B) marketers who measure marketing impact across the customer life cycle best capture marketing's whole strategic value to the business. B2B marketers hungry to complete this picture can learn from the best practices we identified . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Forecast: Global Enterprise Marketing Platforms: 2007 To 2013

Software-As-A-Service Solutions Must Mature To Drive Widespread Adoption

by Suresh Vittal, August 27, 2007

Today, marketers must work with many disparate applications to analyze, plan, execute, and measure their activities. This web of applications creates silos of information that decrease marketing efficiency and make it difficult for marketing leaders to . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Topic Overview: Enterprise Marketing Software

by Suresh Vittal, August 26, 2007

...Marketing Suresh Vittal Marketing Optimization Defined Suresh Vittal The Marketing Technology Backbone Elana Anderson Optimizing Your Customer Contact Strategy Elana Anderson Web Analytics Finally Meets...

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Best Practices: Socializing The Customer Database

How Leading Firms Leverage Customer Insight Across The Business

by Dave Frankland, July 23, 2007

Marketing leaders working to drive customer centricity within their firms recognize that left-brained, quantitative skills are crucial for success. These marketing execs often spend millions building the technology infrastructure required to create a . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: Wachovia Embraces Scientific Measurement

by Christine Spivey Overby, July 17, 2007

Wachovia has built a culture of accountability by nurturing an expertise in statistical analysis and predictive modeling. Marketing leadership professionals can glean a host of measurement best practices from Wachovia including how to make the models . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Turns Customer Knowledge Into A Corporate Asset

by Dave Frankland, July 13, 2007

1-800-FLOWERS.COM uses insight derived by its customer knowledge group in many ways across its business. But that wasn't always the case. In the past five years, the group has grown from a couple of statisticians taking requests to a team that the president . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: Yahoo! Grows With Customer-Centric Metrics

by Peter Kim, June 28, 2007

Yahoo! has diversified far beyond its origins as a Web directory offering dozens of online products and services — from A to Y. To keep the company focused on customers, the marketing organization championed a shared metrics platform built in collaboration . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

B2B Marketers: Align Technology Adoption Plans With Business Goals

by Laura Ramos, June 22, 2007

We recently surveyed 160 business-to-business (B2B) marketers about their technology priorities and adoption plans. Which technologies top planning agendas? Customer information systems, lead management software, and campaign management applications. . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: USAA Drives Fierce Loyalty With Its Customer-Centric Culture

by Peter Kim, June 22, 2007

USAA consistently wins accolades for superior customer service. The insurer was founded by members for their own mutual benefit, which has engendered a best practice customer-centric culture. While competitors look to cut costs by reducing direct customer . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: JetBlue Fuels Growth With Customer-Centric Culture

by Peter Kim, June 19, 2007

JetBlue Airways stands out in the turbulent airline industry, relying on its customer-centric culture to drive business results. Key customer-centric best practices that JetBlue employs include positioning marketing to own the customer experience and . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: Del Monte Listens With Customer-Centric Technology

by Peter Kim, June 19, 2007

An obvious, but often overlooked, tenet of customer centricity is listening to customers. Del Monte leverages technology to listen to a wider range of customers and uses customer input to influence product development and drive more customer-focused marketing . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Eight Marketing Technologies That Enable Customer Centricity

by Suresh Vittal, June 5, 2007

Many marketers are abandoning their traditional product focus and trying to adopt a more customer-centric one. But doing so requires the use of numerous technologies that facilitate deep customer understanding and better targeting of offers. To help, . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Case Study: Allstate Masters Marketing Measurement

by Christine Spivey Overby, June 4, 2007

At the US insurance giant Allstate, senior marketers have created a world-class measurement approach by focusing on both scientific methods and effective communication of measurement outcomes. But the secret to Allstate's measurement success lies in the . . .

For Customer Intelligence Professionals

Forget About Loyalty, Focus On "Ophelimity"

Lester Wunderman Shares Words Of Wisdom On Relationship Marketing

by Lisa Bradner, June 4, 2007

At the recent Forrester's Marketing Forum 2007 in Miami, we were honored to have Lester Wunderman, the father of direct marketing, as a keynote speaker. Mr. Wunderman coined the phrases "direct marketing" and "relationship marketing" and applied the principles . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Online Advertising Is Poised To Boom — Again

by Shar VanBoskirk, May 22, 2007

Recent major acquisitions in the online advertising space — like Microsoft's $6 billion purchase of online marketing firm aQuantive — signal the renaissance of online advertising. Improved technology and the increased appeal of display ads vis-à-vis search . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Reinventing Marketing For Customer Centricity

Insights from CMO Keynotes At Forrester's Marketing Forum 2007

by Elana Anderson, May 17, 2007

Many firms aspire to be customer-centric, yet few have figured out the recipe for successfully transforming their business. At this year's Marketing Forum, top marketing executives from leading companies spoke about their efforts to put the customer at . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

The Direct Marketing Services Ecosystem

by Dave Frankland, May 16, 2007

Most marketers who outsource tasks to support their direct marketing efforts work with several service providers. Unfortunately for marketers, there are a multitude of vendor options across many overlapping submarkets. The result? Confusion, frustration, . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Topic Overview: B2B Marketing

by Laura Ramos, Elana Anderson, May 16, 2007

B2B marketers face two primary challenges: reaching key decision-makers and demonstrating marketing results. Unfortunately, outdated marketing tactics, immature lead management processes, and metrics focused on pipeline inputs — not sales results — keep . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

The Enterprise Marketing Software Landscape

by Suresh Vittal, May 7, 2007

Marketers agree that they need a more comprehensive marketing suite to increase their effectiveness. And why not? A suite that integrates activities across the full marketing life cycle would help increase relevance, improve customer experiences, increase . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Maturing Your Interactive Marketing Organization

Start With The Organizational Model That Fits Your Business

by Shar VanBoskirk, May 1, 2007

Interactive marketing is finally gaining executive attention. But, while budgets and expectations for interactive marketing programs are on the rise, supporting organizational structures are ad hoc at best. Forrester recommends that firms align their . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

B2B Marketers Must Measure Lead Gen Costs

Benchmarks Don't Help Close The Measurement Loop

by Laura Ramos, April 18, 2007

Executive demand for marketing accountability increases every year. But firms that sell considered products with long sales cycles struggle to quantify how their marketing efforts contribute to sales success. Nearly one-quarter of business-to-business . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

What Marketers Need To Know About MRM

Marketing Resource Management Improves Efficiency, Not Effectiveness

by Suresh Vittal, March 8, 2007

Over the past few years, marketing resource management (MRM) has generated significant industry buzz and interest from marketers. The functionality MRM software delivers helps to automate the workflow for marketing planning, budgeting, and asset creation. . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Help Wanted: 21st Century Agency

Firms With A Vested Interest In Traditional Media Models Need Not Apply

by Peter Kim, February 23, 2007

As chief marketers reinvent their organizations to become truly customer-centric, they need help from their trusted advisors — the advertising agency. Agencies continue to influence the marketing function; however, they struggle to help clients capitalize . . .