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Podcast
408: Practitioner Stories: The Epic Transformation Of Frontier Communications
Frontier Communications emerged from bankruptcy in 2021. That bankrupcy was the result of a broken customer experience sitting on terribly broken and outdated systems. It's new CEO launched four priorities to refocus the organization: Build fiber, sell fiber, improve customer service, become operationally efficient. Frontier's Chief Customer Operations officer, Charlon McIntosh tells the CX transformation story, with winning examples of stakeholder collaboration and guerilla CX.
Podcast
Perplexity’s Strategy, B2B Influencers, Salesforce Buys Informatica
If there’s one constant in business today, it’s change. New partnerships, new strategies, and new risks are popping up in all areas. In this episode, we look at three major changes taking place in the B2C, B2B, and enterprise application spaces and tap our analysts for their guidance on how to manage these changes.
Podcast
407: Why People Buy
Angelina and Martin are joined by returning guests Maxie Schmidt and Dipanjan Chatterjee to explore the fascinating psychology and data behind consumer purchasing decisions. Drawing from their latest Forrester research, we unpack why people say they buy versus why they actually do—and how brands can use this knowledge to better serve their customers. We discuss: Why traditional surveys fall […]
Podcast
CX Cast Replay: Paying Employees For CX Is A Bad Idea
Originally episode 147, this recording kicked off a theme we’ve continued to cover: employee CX. Show Notes: Originally episode 147, this recording kicked off a theme we’ve continued to cover: employee CX. VP, Principal Analyst Maxie Schmidt and former CX Cast host Sam Stern dive into how incentivizing better CX scores encourages unintended behaviors, stepping […]
Podcast
New AI Lessons In Coding, Marketing, And Product Design
In this episode, we look at how to avoid the risks of AI-enabled tools in three common business use cases: coding, marketing, and product design. The key takeaway from all three areas: There’s still a strong need to have a human in the loop to review your AI outputs.
Podcast
406: Is AI Revolutionizing The Contact Center?
This week, Principal Analyst Max Ball joins to explain the history and current state of AI in the contact center. Max highlights the immediate improvements brought on by AI and outlines areas where AI still has far to go. We also touch on the challenges faced by human agents and the confusion around terminology like "agentic" and "agents."
Podcast
405: High-Tech Industry CX Strategies
High-Tech firms operate in fiercely competitive and price-sensitive industries, making CX a potentially transformative differentiator — if implemented effectively. Principal Analyst Su Doyle joins us to share practical CX strategies tailored for high-tech firms, emphasizing the importance of aligning CX with business objectives, leveraging customer success programs, and adopting performance-focused approaches to drive growth and improve customer relationships.
Podcast
Temu On Tariffs, RSAC Review, SaaS Pricing Trends
In this episode, we look at how one online retailer is working to minimize the impact of tariffs on its business, provide a review of a major cybersecurity conference, and highlight a new trend in software-as-a-service (SaaS) pricing.
Podcast
404: No More Excuses: Practice Customer Obsession The Right Way
All those reasons why customer obsession is too hard don’t matter. Customer experience wins business. VP, Principal Analyst Shar VanBoskirk explains how customer obsession is not just a goal, but a continuous practice that can lead to significant improvements in customer experience and business efficiency. She shares real world examples, challenges in measuring customer obsession, and […]
Podcast
403: Where Should Your CX Function Sit?
Does a CX team’s position in the organization affect its influence? Principal Analyst Judy Weader shares insights from recent survey data and qualitative research, revealing that there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. The placement of CX teams varies widely across different companies and industries, but organizational dynamics go beyond the org chart. The burden is on the CX leader to drive influence and flex with the nonlinear nature of CX maturity. Judy offers a decision-making framework to help organizations determine the best placement for their CX functions, emphasizing the role of executive sponsorship and the necessity for CX leaders to be proactive in their roles.
Podcast
Google’s Monopolies, Microsoft’s AI Agents, Intel’s Latest Deal
In this episode, we look at a major legal ruling that could shake up the adtech market, some new capabilities to make AI agents even smarter, and a tech industry deal that could breathe new life into a struggling giant.
Podcast
402: Develop Your CX Leadership
You don’t just manage, you lead. Managing the details of CX – execution, measurement, strategy – is crucial, but for you to truly succeed, you must lead your people to become customer-obsessed, empowered workers who understand and care about your customer’s outcomes.
Podcast
401: How To Drive Growth By Aligning Your Brand Promise With CX
Why should CX professionals care about brand experience (BX)? Forrester VP, Principal Analysts Dipanjan Chatterjee and Thomas Husson join the podcast to discuss the challenges organizations face in delivering a total experience and shed light on how BX can help drive growth.
Podcast
Oracle’s Data Breach Silence, Tariff Impacts, Homegrown Social Influencers
In this episode, we look at the ongoing fallout from two healthcare data breaches involving Oracle servers and what the on-again, off-again tariffs could mean for CIOs. Then we discuss the rising prominence of social media influencers in the B2B space — and why tapping your own employees could be a smart move.
Podcast
400: The CX Culture Change Blueprint
CX transformation requires leaders to determine the specific employee behaviors that drive customer loyalty and shape the conditions that enable them to activate the entire workforce to demonstrate customer focus. In this episode, Angelina introduces a blueprint consisting of three key steps: 1) describing current and ideal culture; 2) assessing the current culture; and 3) leading culture change.
Podcast
Coming Next Week: What It Means, 2.0
There are some exciting changes coming to Forrester’s What It Means podcast. Get a sneak preview this week and tune in next week to hear a full episode.
Podcast
399: Build Your EX-To-CX Strategy Now
Employee feedback is part of a virtuous cycle of improving customer experience (CX) through employee empowerment and enablement that builds customer trust. But if you’re not building your CX strategy using this loop, you’re in a reactive cycle of EX-blind customer focus instead. Breaking the cycle begins with an effective employee listening strategy, followed by accountability at the leadership level to ensure that employee voice leads to appropriate action. Forrester Principal Analyst David Brodeur-Johnson joins us to discuss.
Podcast
398: Advanced Analytics Will Transform Your CX Practice
Most CX teams are too reliant on feedback (survey) data, leading to limited insights and even misinformed action. Forrester senior analyst Rich Saunders joins us to make the case for advanced analytics. He outlines the path forward – even for those intimidated by advanced analytics.
Podcast
Put Employees At The Center Of Your AI Strategy
What does it take to make the most of AI in the enterprise? Hint: It’s not the tools. VP and Principal Analyst J. P. Gownder shares insights on the value of putting humans at the center of your AI strategy.
Podcast
397: Generative AI: Lessons Learned
How should CX professionals use generative AI? Forrester VP, Principal Analyst Martha Bennett joins for a follow-up discussion to chat about the evolution and current state of genAI, busting myths and addressing real-world CX applications.
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