About Forrester
Forrester Research, Inc. is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology.

Sarah Rotman Epps is a Senior Analyst serving marketing leadership professionals, based in San Francisco. She studies the evolution of personal computing: how devices are changing, the new consumer behaviors they produce, and the industries they disrupt. She advises marketing and strategy leaders on how to capitalize on these trends through Forrester’s syndicated research, consulting, public speaking, and blogging.
Sarah's research is quoted frequently in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, BusinessWeek, The Economist, and other leading publications. She has appeared as an expert on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and NPR. She is a guest blogger on Forbes.com, ReadWrite.com, Ars Technica, PaidContent.org, AdAge, and All Things D. Sarah is a sought-after speaker at industry events.
Sarah joined Forrester in 2004. Prior to her current role, Sarah was an analyst covering media and content, helping publishers optimize their digital content and monetization strategies. Before joining Forrester, Sarah was the publishing director at Let's Go Publications, where she oversaw the publication of the annually updated series of 40 travel guides.
Sarah graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in visual and environmental studies. She cross-registered at MIT and wrote her thesis on tangible interfaces and alternatives to keyboard and mouse computing.
I go to many industry events in my job, and as the fall event season passes its peak, there is one event that has stayed with me a month after it was hosted. It's Dreamforce –...
Twenty Solutions For Delivering Differentiated Experiences
Customers demand superior service and support as the price for their ongoing loyalty and patronage, and they are increasingly leveraging the chat channel for customer service. The chat vendor...
Businesses, in 2011, are refocusing on strategies that differentiate them from their competitors. One way to do this is by focusing on customer service. We see that organizations are ramping up their...

NetSuite was kind enough to invite me to the analyst day at its SuiteWorld 2011 user conference — an event packed with product, strategy, customer, and partner information. The focus was...
We know that consumer preferences for customer service channels are rapidly changing. And it’s not just the younger generation of consumers — there’s disruption and change across...
Business process professionals supporting customer service operations understand the need for data but do little to take responsibility for its quality. Data management professionals, on the other...

Today, the gap between a customer’s expectations and the customer experience they receive is huge. In our latest customer experience survey, we found that just over one-third of US brands...
The contact center solution ecosystem that customer service organizations use has grown more complex over time, as highlighted in our latest TechRadar™ on these solutions. Customer service...
We believe we can increase sales with our call centers in our direct marketing organization if we can figure out how to transform our phone interactions into selling activities instead of...
This post originally appeared on destinationCRM. Customers want efficient, effortless service from the touchpoint and communication channel of their choice. They want to receive accurate,...
Oracle, at Oracle Open World, has released their 18th version of CRM On Demand. This product integrates their Market2Lead acquisition, made in May of this year. It closes the gap between...
There is an explosion of customer service products and services, and companies are turning to customer service as a way to differentiate themselves: 90% of customer service decision-makers tell...
Upon reading Forrester's January 28, 2010, "Rating Customer Service Experiences, 2010" report by Bruce D. Temkin, I utilized the customer service experiences article to identify companies that had...
Consumers’ preferences for customer service channels are rapidly changing. And it’s not just the younger generation of consumers — there’s disruption and change across all...
The anniversary of my two-year tenure at Forrester quietly snuck by me last week, and when I remembered about the milestone, it gave me pause to think about how much the customer service landscape...
2012 is still a vivid memory for most of us. But it’s time to look ahead to 2013 and focus on the key trends that customer service professionals need to pay attention to as they plan for...
To help business process professionals supporting customer service make smart decisions and navigate the complex contact center technology landscape, Forrester surveyed 75 companies to understand the...

In a conversation with Alex Bard, CEO of Assistly (now desk.com, part of salesforce.com), I learned a few interesting things about customer service solutions for small to medium-size businesses...
With 2011 still bright and full of hope for most of us, what are the key trends that customer service professionals need to pay attention to as you plan for success this year? Here are the top trends...
Business Case: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook
Customer service is a cornerstone of a company's customer experience strategy. Delivering good customer service has quantifiable benefits measured in decreased operational costs, increased repurchase...

Landscape: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook
Locking in customer loyalty via deeper engagement and differentiated experiences will continue to be critical priorities for organizations in all sectors in the decade ahead. But navigating the...
We see a number of enterprises needing contact center transformations; these include upgrading their technology, such as switches, network, telephony, IVR, etc. We have the following questions: 1)...
Assurant Solutions, a leading provider of specialty insurance, was considering novel ways to increase customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty and at the same time control operational costs. The...
We’ve all heard about ideal customer service — the mantra of customer service vendors as they tout their wares. But what does this actually mean? Service at all costs (ideal for the...