What It Means

As automation efforts continue to expand across the enterprise, one question looms large: Who should be overseeing the use of automation technologies in an organization? In this episode, Principal Analyst Leslie Joseph provides his perspective.

Is your security team effectively assessing your exposure to geopolitical risk? Principal Analyst Renee Murphy and Senior Analyst Allie Mellen provide some insights and next steps every security org will want to hear.

No customer experience team, no matter how mighty, can achieve its strategic vision alone. Fostering the necessary cross-functional collaboration requires a strategy that taps into your organization’s existing strengths and cultural norms, explain Senior Analysts Su Doyle and Angelina Gennis on this week’s What It Means.

The Gaia-X initiative was launched in 2019 as a way for European governments to reclaim data sovereignty from non-European cloud hyperscalers. But it hasn’t lived up to its promise. In this episode, senior analysts Dario Maisto and Jeffrey Rajamani provide an update on the current state and future outlook for Gaia-X.

Where should technology leaders focus their 2023 investments? In this episode, VP, Research Director Chris Gardner and Principal Analyst Chris Gilchrist review the recommendations in Forrester’s new planning guides for technology leaders.

Meaningful change in a company doesn’t have to come from the top. Anyone — regardless of seniority or title — can bring it about, say Vice Presidents Meta Karagianni and Peter Ostrow. On this week’s What It Means, they discuss how B2B professionals can successfully initiate change and give a preview of their keynote session at Forrester’s B2B Summit EMEA.

B2B marketing leaders will face intense budget scrutiny as they plan for 2023. But making reactive, cost-saving decisions could undermine long-term gains, cautions VP and Principal Analyst Barbie Mattie. On this week’s What It Means, she discusses Forrester’s 2023 planning guide for B2B marketing executives and its spending recommendations.

Is overreliance on key security employees putting your entire organization at risk? Learn best practices for retention and succession planning in security from Senior Analyst Jess Burn.

Consumers, employees, and shareholders increasingly expect companies to speak out on social and political issues. When should they, and how should they make the decision? On this week’s What It Means, Vice President, Research Director Mike Proulx and Vice President, Principal Analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee explain how brands can navigate these scenarios.

Fears that automation will replace human creativity with mindless robots are unwarranted. VP, Principal Analyst Paul Miller and Principal Analyst Dan Bieler explain why in this episode.

What can be done to address a growing lack of trust in technology? Principal Analyst Sara Watson digs into the causes of this issue and provides some examples of firms taking proactive steps to minimize its impact.

COVID-related absenteeism continues to cause challenges across industries and business functions. In this episode, VP, Research Director James McQuivey and VP, Principal Analyst J. P. Gownder highlight some key learnings for workforce planning.

If aligning your operational platforms with your customer-facing platforms is way down on your IT roadmap, you might want to move it up. Hear VPs Linda Ivy-Rosser and Liz Herbert explain why in this episode.

Technology and marketing leaders need each other, and companies need strong technology-marketing partnerships. On this week’s What It Means, VP, Senior Research Director Matt Guarini and VP, Principal Analyst Thomas Husson explain why the CIO-CMO relationship matters more than ever and the key benefits of effective CMO-CIO collaboration.

Only 12% of CX pros rate their voice of the customer (VoC) program’s maturity as high or very high. In this episode of What It Means, Senior Analyst Colleen Fazio explains what’s blocking success with VoC and how CX professionals can derive value and get stakeholders excited.

There’s a giant disconnect between how executives view employee wellness and how employees view it. Senior Analyst Jonathan Roberts digs into the causes and impacts of that disconnect in this week’s episode.

The traditional focus on individual, marketing-supplied leads is failing B2B companies and buyers. So why does it persist, and what’s a better alternative? VP, Principal Analyst Terry Flaherty and VP, Research Director Mike Pregler discuss on this week’s podcast.

The problem with chatbots can be summed up in one question: “How can I help you?” This question sets the expectation that a chatbot will be as helpful as a human agent, which isn’t true. But don’t scrap all your chatbots. Instead, invest in experience design, says VP, Principal Analyst David Truog on this episode of What It Means.

Thought leadership content is everywhere. But, too often, it’s neither particularly thoughtful nor leading, say analysts Ian Bruce and Lisa Gately. On this week’s What It Means, they discuss what defines good thought leadership and how B2B firms can create it.

Marketers are accidentally funding misinformation and fueling the proliferation of dangerous falsehoods. In this episode of What It Means, Principal Analyst Kelsey Chickering discusses how marketers can protect their brand from this phenomenon.