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: Gauge Your CRM Maturity

Assessment: The CRM Playbook

March 4, 2021Kate Leggett

An explosion of channels, new technologies like artificial intelligence, and demanding consumers challenges 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: Quantify The Business Value Of CRM

Business Case: The CRM Playbook

March 3, 2021Kate Leggett

CRM initiatives must not only be technically sound but must also answer the question, "What will we get for our money?" This report describes how application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals can apply Forrester's Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) methodology to address four critical questions in their CRM plans: What are the business benefits? What will it cost? Will it increase future flexibility? How will we mitigate risks? Start by comparing your project against Forrester's benefit and cost benchmarks. 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 The Right Metrics For Tracking CRM Success

Performance Management: The CRM Playbook

March 1, 2021Kate 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: CRM Goes Vertical In The Age Of The Customer

Landscape: The CRM Playbook

February 25, 2021Kate Leggett

Application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals who support CRM cannot afford failed technology initiatives. They increasingly deploy CRM solutions that are verticalized to leverage industry-specific best practices, focus scarce technology organization resources on innovation and differentiation, and decrease time-to-value. This report showcases vertical CRM solutions across six industries and offers a decision framework for choosing the right type. 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: Mitigate CRM Risks With Sound Deployment Practices

Processes: The CRM Playbook

February 24, 2021Kate Leggett

To succeed in the age of the customer, application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals who support front-office business processes cannot afford failed technology projects. Customer relationship management (CRM) projects can be costly, affect many employees, and suffer from a lack of vendor support. Based on a survey of 160 business and tech organization professionals, this report helps AD&D professionals determine how to organize their solution deployment, recognize the risks they face, and avoid pitfalls. 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

January 15, 2021Kate 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 workforces 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 revises 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 22, 2021Kate 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 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

February 12, 2021Kate 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.