Mark Grannan

Senior Analyst Serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals

Mark serves Application Development & Delivery (AD&D) Professionals and helps Forrester clients understand digital experience solutions to drive better engagement with their customers and partners. His research focuses on the architectural evolution of digital experience (DX) platforms, including web content management (web CMS), digital self-service scenarios and portal technologies, responsive web design (RWD), and digital performance.

Previous Work Experience

Prior to his current role as an analyst, Mark was a researcher on the AD&D team and senior research associate on the Sourcing & Vendor Management (SVM) team. In that role, he focused on SVM organizational structure, business case strategy, and automation tools while continuing to stay abreast of the dynamics of global IT services relationships. He interviewed hundreds of IT professionals and technology vendors while conducting primary and secondary research for research reports and consulting engagements, including pricing and licensing agreements, sourcing global telecom services, and defining innovation in outsourcing relationships. Before joining Forrester, Mark served in marketing and operational roles at Tappé Associates, an architecture and planning firm, and MDT Advisers, a quantitative investment management firm.

Education

Mark graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in international relations with a concentration in economics.

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Mark Grannan

Senior Analyst Serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals

Previous Work Experience

Education

Mark graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in international relations with a concentration in economics.

Research Coverage

Mark Grannan's Research

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For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Assess Your Digital Experience Delivery Maturity

Assessment: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook

March 6, 2019Mark Grannan, Nick Barber

Application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals should assess their maturity in delivering customer-obsessed digital experience (DX) initiatives. But how? Forrester's self-assessment helps AD&D pros identify gaps in the essential competencies and activities they need to support all phases of these programs. Use this report's maturity assessment to evaluate your current state and identify key areas for improvement. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. We're updating it now to include our DX delivery maturity assessment.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Rethink Metrics To Gain DX Traction

Performance Management: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook

December 6, 2018Mark Grannan, Danielle Jessee

Traditional, centralized application development and delivery (AD&D) teams often measure only two things: time and budget. Without the right metrics, AD&D doesn't have clarity about digital experience (DX) priorities, and marketing and the business won't see AD&D's value. To gain a seat at the DX strategy table, AD&D must align its metrics with those of marketing and business groups. This report outlines best practices to help centralized AD&D professionals pivot to a DX strategy. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy. We revised this edition to factor in the latest research on DX delivery performance management.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Coming Soon: Agile Content Curation And Orchestration Will Redefine CMS

It's The End Of Web CMS As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

November 15, 2018Mark Grannan

Web content management systems (CMSes) are evolving as channel-centric technologies give way to omnichannel digital efforts, boosting the value of content in all formats delivered to all users. As a result, application development and delivery (AD&D) pros and vendors should not stretch the category of web CMS any further beyond the current generation of solutions. We need a new container to meet tomorrow's challenges: Agile CMS.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Forrester Analytics: Web Content Management Systems Forecast, 2017 To 2023 (Global)

ForecastView Document

November 15, 2018 Jennifer Adams, Mark Grannan

The digital channel is increasingly the primary — and often the only — way companies interact with their customers. As such, it's critical to provide customers with an attractive and seamless digital experience. Forrester believes a better digital customer experience can drive faster revenue growth and profitability. Web content management systems (CMSes) are a key piece of the digital experience platform ecosystem, supporting digital customer experience across a customer's journey. In this data-driven report, we examine growth in spending on web CMSes.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: The Forrester Wave™: Web Content Management Systems, Q4 2018

The 15 Providers That Matter Most And How They Stack Up

November 15, 2018Mark Grannan

In our 26-criterion evaluation of web content management system (web CMS) providers, we identified the 15 most significant ones — Acquia, Adobe, Amplience, Automattic, BloomReach, Contentful, CoreMedia, Crownpeak, Episerver, Kentico Software, Magnolia, OpenText, Progress, SDL, and Sitecore — and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps digital experience (DX) and strategy professionals make the right choice.

For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Drive Unified Digital Customer Experiences With Better Technology Strategies

Executive Overview: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook

August 28, 2018Mark Grannan, Stephen Powers

Digital customer experience (CX) is a key business differentiator, so application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals must step up to support their firms' initiatives. To partner with marketing and business leaders, AD&D pros must transform their organizations, platforms, and processes. This executive overview describes the opportunity for AD&D — and how to create a digital customer experience delivery strategy that supports your marketing and business peers — from vision to implementation to ongoing optimization. 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: Digital Experience Technology Integration: Go Beyond Just A Basket Of Solutions

Tools And Technology: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook

September 7, 2018Mark Grannan

Technical integration is a major pain point for application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals supporting digital experience (DX). While vendors increasingly want to tell an end-to-end story to support unified experiences, organizations often don't adopt a single-vendor solution set and must own their DX architecture and strategy. AD&D professionals should embrace innovation mindsets to connect content, data, and systems to unify workflows that drive unified experiences over time and across touchpoints. 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: Vendor Landscape: Digital Experience Platforms

Three Classes Of Vendors Tackle The Multichannel Experience Mandate

May 16, 2016Mark Grannan, Danielle Jessee

Application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals need an array of software to create and manage the digital experience (DX). They must evaluate, implement, integrate, and build front-end experiences from a fragmented product landscape. Tech vendors try to help by bringing more complete digital experience portfolios to the market. In this report, we define the components of a digital experience platform, explore the vendors delivering these solutions, and provide insight into the approaches they take to enable the delivery of digital experiences. This report 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: How Federated Digital Teams Drive Pace At Scale

Organization: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook

August 27, 2018 Martin Gill, Mark Grannan

The explosion of devices, platforms, and channels means digital experience leaders face unprecedented complexity. And in a multibrand, multiregion, multiproduct business, it's easy to see why the question — "How do I organize my digital team?" — is top of mind. There's no one answer, but there are three common patterns, two of which break at scale. This report covers how to organize your team to manage a multidimensional digital experience challenge.
For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

REPORT: Five Essential Digital Experience Governance Practices

Processes: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook

July 20, 2018Mark Grannan

Governance is the dreaded "G-word" for many organizations: It paints a picture of archaic rules, ineffective bureaucracy, and outdated processes that stifle innovation. But given the cross-organizational nature of delivering digital experiences, governance is essential. This report provides a governance framework for application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and revises it periodically for continued relevance. We're now updating it to factor in new ideas and interviews.