Kate Leggett

VP, Principal Analyst Serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals

Read Kate's blog posts

Kate serves Application Development & Delivery Professionals. She is a leading expert on customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service strategies, maturity, benchmarking, governance, and ROI. She is an accomplished public speaker and frequently presents at industry events such as CRM Evolution. She has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes magazine, and industry publications such as CRM Magazine, KM World, and Destination CRM.

Previous Work Experience

Kate has extensive industry experience, with more than 10 years of leadership at CRM and customer service software companies, where she held senior product marketing and product management roles. She is also a published author on customer service trends and best practices.

Education

Kate earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Print Bio

Kate Leggett

VP, Principal Analyst Serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals

Read Kate's blog posts

Previous Work Experience

Education

Kate earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Research Coverage

Kate Leggett's Research

Most RecentMost Popular

For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Gauge Your CRM Maturity

Assessment: The CRM Playbook

December 10, 2018Kate Leggett

An explosion of channels, new technologies like artificial intelligence, and demanding consumers challenge organizations to reshape the way that they target, acquire, retain, understand, and collaborate with customers. CRM success is a journey, not a destination. Every journey has a starting point. This report guides application development and delivery (AD&D) pros supporting CRM through Forrester's CRM assessment so that they can gauge where their organizations are on their journeys and discover which core competencies they need to strengthen or develop.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Vendors Battle For The Heart Of The Contact Center

Landscape: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook

November 28, 2018Kate Leggett, Art Schoeller, Ian Jacobs, Laura Naparstek

The heart of the contact center comprises a set of complex, unintegrated technologies, which firms must leverage to deliver quality service. But application development and delivery (AD&D) pros supporting customer service operations need cloud-ready, deeply integrated technology suites. This report examines the market dynamics and buyer requirements for contact center technologies. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Predictions 2019: Customer Service And Sales

Invest In Humans In 2019, As Chatbot Backlash Will Emerge

November 8, 2018 Daniel Hong, Tom Kaneshige, Ian Jacobs, Kate Leggett, Art Schoeller

The promises of AI have yet to make a material impact in customer service and sales. Companies cannot simply replace employees with AI-driven software, as customers and markets are becoming far more complex. Application development and delivery (AD&D) pros should read this report for Forrester's predictions in the customer service and sales software space, including changes to technology, customer backlash against chatbots, and more. Prepare for a new playing field for customer service and sales in 2019.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites, Q4 2018

The 11 Providers That Matter Most And How They Stack Up

October 22, 2018Kate Leggett

In our 33-criterion evaluation of CRM suite providers, we identified the 11 most significant ones — Aptean, bpm'online, CRMNEXT, Infor, Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle, Pegasystems, Salesforce, SAP, and SugarCRM — and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals select the right CRM provider for their needs.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Define The Right Metrics For Tracking CRM Success

Performance Management: The CRM Playbook

October 12, 2018Kate Leggett

Defining the right metrics to track success and prompt corrective action is a critical best practice for getting more value out of CRM initiatives. This report describes a five-step process for application development and delivery (AD&D) pros to define the right CRM metrics and provides more than 70 examples of specific measures to help you track success. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.

For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Trends 2016: The Future Of Customer Service

January 5, 2016Kate Leggett

In the age of the customer, executives don't decide how customer-centric their companies are — customers do. Changing customer expectations for easy and effective service that is deeply personal are shaping customer service technology priorities. This report summarizes the top 10 customer service trends for 2016 that application development and delivery (AD&D) pros supporting customer service operations must pay attention to in order to deliver customer service excellence. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Transform The Contact Center For Customer Service Excellence

Executive Overview: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook

February 23, 2018Kate Leggett

Customer service is at a tipping point. Customers contact enterprises more often and in more channels; they shift between channels seamlessly and even use multiple channels simultaneously. Enterprises react by adding headcount, but that's not sustainable. They must transform operations by developing strength in automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and knowledge. Forrester's contact centers for customer service playbook provides steps for application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals to innovate and manage customer service operations. This is an update to a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Transform Customer Processes And Systems To Improve Experiences

Executive Overview: The CRM Playbook

February 16, 2018Kate Leggett

The age of the customer means that a focus on the customer now matters more than any other strategic imperative. Forrester's CRM playbook outlines four steps that application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals should follow to transform customer-facing business processes to deliver differentiated customer experiences: 1) discover the value of CRM; 2) plan the right strategy; 3) act to execute the strategy with precision; and 4) optimize your results. This report is an update to a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Assess CRM Capabilities To Pinpoint Opportunities

Use Forrester's Best Practices Framework For CRM Success

September 12, 2017Kate Leggett

This report helps application development and delivery (AD&D) pros who are looking to implement customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and solutions. The effects of automation and mobility are challenging how organizations manage their customer interactions. Use Forrester's framework for CRM to understand how your organization compares to more than 150 best practices and identify where you can achieve quick wins. Apply the framework and the self-assessment tool to improve your CRM initiative or to start new projects. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Choose The Right CRM Solutions For Your Organization

Tools And Technology: The CRM Playbook

September 21, 2018 Tom Kaneshige, Kate Leggett

The CRM technology landscape is changing with the commoditization of core features, the rise of point solutions, the shift to software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, and the need to provide industry-specific capabilities. Vendor consolidation further complicates the marketplace. This report describes best practices that application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals should follow to select the best-fit solution and provides an overview of top solution offerings to support your CRM strategy. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.