Kate Leggett

VP, Principal Analyst Serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals

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.

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Kate Leggett

VP, Principal Analyst Serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals

Read 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

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For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Better Governance Leads To Better Customer Service — Yes, Really!

Processes: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook

September 11, 2020 Ian Jacobs, Kate Leggett

Companies struggle to deliver reproducible, effective, personalized customer service that's in line with customers' expectations and within cost constraints. Siloed governance processes are a consistent root cause of poor customer service, and application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals have an opportunity to help unify these processes across business units, channels, and technology applications. This report provides a framework for transforming your firm's customer service governance program to optimize your customer service delivery. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. This edition includes new data and customer examples.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Map The Way To Your CRM Business Outcomes

Roadmap: The CRM Playbook

September 4, 2020Kate Leggett

When application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals create a CRM roadmap, they need to evaluate alternative CRM tactics, leverage synergies between initiatives, slot each new initiative into a schedule, and dedicate resources to the highest-value opportunities. This report describes how to build a roadmap that will allow you to realize economic value from your CRM implementation more quickly and with less risk. 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: Define Your CRM Plan

Strategic Plan: The CRM Playbook

August 28, 2020Kate Leggett

To avoid wasting time and effort on ill-conceived CRM initiatives, organizations should keep a laser focus on creating business value. Sound planning for CRM requires application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals to do three things: 1) Put delivering a differentiated customer experience at the heart of the plan; 2) use quicker planning cycles and Agile processes; and 3) make increased collaboration between the business and the technology organization mandatory. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Win Funding For Your Customer Service Project

Business Case: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook

August 14, 2020 Ian Jacobs, Kate Leggett

In the age of the customer, customer service must be a cornerstone of a company's customer experience (CX) strategy. Customer service leaders must invest in modernizing their technology. Doing so requires a sound business case. This report, part of Forrester's contact centers for customer service playbook, addresses the four questions that every business case must answer: What are the business benefits? What are the costs? What future flexibility does the initiative create or decrease? And what are the risks and uncertainties? This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. For this version, we've added new data and examples.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Now Tech: Knowledge Management Solutions For Customer Service, Q3 2020

Forrester's Overview Of 22 Knowledge Management Providers

July 23, 2020Kate Leggett

You can use knowledge management (KM) solutions to empower customers and front-office workers with curated answers to common questions, drive customer satisfaction, and create lasting customer success. To realize these benefits, you'll first have to select from a diverse set of vendors that vary by size, functionality, geography, and vertical market focus. Application development & delivery (AD&D) professionals should use this report to understand the value they can expect from a KM solution provider and to select one based on size and functionality.

For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Transform The Contact Center For Customer Service Excellence

Executive Overview: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook

March 19, 2019Kate Leggett

Customer service is at a tipping point. Customers contact enterprises more often and via more channels; they shift between channels seamlessly and even use multiple channels simultaneously. Enterprises must transform operations with automation, AI, and knowledge — and transform their workforce to work side by side with AI. Forrester's contact centers for customer service playbook provides steps for application development and delivery (AD&D) pros to innovate and manage customer service operations. 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 Customer Processes And Systems To Improve Experiences

Executive Overview: The CRM Playbook

April 15, 2019Kate 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 (CXes): 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 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: Choose The Right CRM Solutions For Your Organization

Tools And Technology: The CRM Playbook

July 5, 2019Kate Leggett

The CRM technology landscape is changing with the commoditization of core features, the fragmentation of CRM, the rise of platforms and ecosystems of value, 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 revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Choose The Right Customer Service Solution For Your Business

Tools And Technology: The Contact Centers For Customer Service Playbook

July 9, 2020 Ian Jacobs, Kate Leggett

Delivering a differentiated customer experience (CX) requires the right technologies, processes, and organizational structures. Therefore, application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals should move away from a build-first mentality and instead consider whether those customer service technologies already exist within the enterprise. This report provides an overview of options to consider when sourcing these technologies. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.