Articles from Forrester

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today opened the call for nominations for its 2025 Customer-Obsessed Enterprise Awards. Open to organizations headquartered in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America with 1,000 or more employees, these awards recognize companies that prioritize customers in their leadership, strategy, and operations to drive successful business outcomes. Applications for Forrester’s Customer-Obsessed Leadership Award are also open to senior B2C marketing, customer experience (CX), and digital business leaders at organizations headquartered in North America with 1,000 or more employees.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) Brand And Customer Experience Together Power Growth research report, a strong brand experience (BX) and customer experience (CX) are crucial drivers to long-term revenue growth. Despite this, many companies continue to evaluate these two elements separately, missing the opportunity to unlock compounded revenue growth from improving both in tandem. By aligning these two critical dimensions, companies create a seamless, cohesive experience for customers, which fosters stronger loyalty, higher lifetime value, and increased revenue over time. This integrated approach also helps brands differentiate themselves in competitive markets, strengthen customer relationships, and ultimately attract and retain a broader customer base.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced key enhancements to the Forrester Wave™, a comprehensive guide for buyers evaluating technologies and services in the marketplace. Available to Forrester Decisions and Forrester Market Insights clients, the updates simplify the process of buyer selection through a new interactive experience that enables clients to shortlist vendors, conduct a side-by-side comparison of their solutions, and make purchasing decisions based on specific needs, preferences, and priorities. Additional enhancements include a simplified Wave graphic as well as greater emphasis on customer feedback.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for B2B Summit North America, being held in Phoenix and digitally, March 31–April 3, 2025. Today, trends including changing generational buying behaviors, AI’s influence in buying and selling, waning trust, and preference toward self-guided interactions are forcing organizations to reevaluate how they interact with buyers and customers. Forrester predicts that as Millennials and Gen Z buyers drive purchasing decisions, more than half of large B2B transactions ($1 million or greater) will be processed through digital self-serve channels in 2025. To adapt to these changes, organizations need to fundamentally shift their approach to engaging with buyers, harness new technologies, and implement strategies and frameworks that put customers’ interests above their own.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2025 technology and security predictions, 75% of technology decision-makers will see their technical debt rise to a moderate or high level of severity by 2026. This will be due to the rapid development of AI solutions, which are adding complexity to IT landscapes.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2025 B2C marketing and customer experience (CX) predictions, rising prices will prompt brand loyalty to decline by 25% in 2025. But while brand loyalty falters, loyalty programs will gain in popularity as consumers look for brands that provide value and give them a reprieve from indiscriminate price shopping.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2025 B2B marketing and sales predictions, as Millennials and Gen Z buyers drive purchasing decisions, more than half of large B2B transactions (US$1 million or greater) will be processed through digital self-serve channels, including the vendor’s website or marketplace. As a result, providers will need to shift their focus from spending time on processing transactions to delivering impactful interactions that create a positive buying experience.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for Security & Risk Summit 2024, being held in Baltimore and digitally, December 9–11, 2024. In the next few years, AI will revolutionize every aspect of life, disrupt the tech ecosystem, upend knowledge work, and trigger a new wave of unconventional threats. As a result, security, privacy, and risk leaders need to rethink their existing approach to managing security operations.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2025 artificial intelligence predictions, nearly a third of chief information officers at large enterprises will seek chief data officers as partners to fuel AI-powered business growth in the year ahead. Additionally, 40% of regulated companies will combine their data and AI governance programs to ensure that their AI models are aligned with business goals and legal regulations. Yet only 22% of global data and analytics decision-makers identify data integrity and quality as among the top challenges in executing their vision for data-related initiatives. To empower data and technology leaders to make strategic decisions rooted in data and analytics and build the foundation to scale AI, Forrester has unveiled a new research service, Forrester Decisions for Data, AI & Analytics.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2025 Budget Planning Guides, leaders intend to spend more in 2025 after a year of restrained budget expectations. Despite high interest rates, tight labor markets, and the uncertainty of US elections, 91% of global tech decision-makers and 87% of global marketing decision-makers are planning for budget increases in the year ahead. Pressure to optimize spending and drive efficiencies remains a focus for organizations, however. As a result, to derive the most value from increased budgets, leaders must invest in cross-functional efforts that have an outsized impact on their firm’s growth.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2025 tech leadership and artificial intelligence predictions, which will be unveiled this week at Technology & Innovation Summit North America, enterprises will achieve longer-term success with AI when their data and AI strategy is in lockstep with their business strategy. For tech leaders, a key focus in 2025 will be prioritizing stronger alignment with chief data officers to ensure that AI becomes a business strategy, not just a technology strategy. Join this keynote to discover which strategies and innovations will help tech leaders navigate the AI landscape in the year ahead.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the appointment of Bob Bennett, a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in leading profitable high-growth technology companies, to its board, effective immediately. Bob joins the board following the appointment of Cory Munchbach, a marketing strategy and technology expert. These additions bring Forrester’s board of directors to nine members, with incumbent member Gretchen Teichgraeber retiring in May.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that First Student and Best Buy are the 2024 winners of its Technology Strategy Impact Award for North America and that Scotiabank is the North American winner of its Enterprise Architecture (EA) Award. These awards, which will be presented at Technology & Innovation Summit North America, recognize these organizations for aligning their technology strategies to accelerate business outcomes and improve customer experience.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for Technology & Innovation Summit North America 2024, being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally, September 9–12, 2024. The Summit merges two Forrester events — Data Strategy & Insights and Technology & Innovation Summit — to bring leaders from these functions together to leverage data-driven insights that accelerate business outcomes. While tech and data leaders remain firm believers in the transformative potential of AI, they face challenges when attempting to bring these capabilities together to deliver business results, such as internal skills gaps and talent availability, outdated processes, and resistance to technology adoption and change. This year’s Summit theme, “Unleash The Power Of Tech, Talent, And AI,” will help leaders understand the foundations they need to build for success today and into a future dominated by AI.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) The Top 10 Emerging Technologies In 2024 report, generative AI (genAI) for visual content, genAI for language, TuringBots, and IoT security are the top emerging technologies that will deliver the most immediate ROI for businesses in 2024 and beyond.

Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) Canada Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) rankings reveal that the average CX quality among Canadian brands has fallen to its lowest point following a second consecutive year of decline. In addition to nearly 60% of brands and eight industry averages decreasing in CX quality over the past 12 months, brands in Canada are struggling to connect with customers emotionally. One of the main contributors to this declining trend is brands neglecting to prioritize employees’ well-being and needs, which in turn leads to poor customer experiences. Additionally, inept conversational interfaces and chatbots are resulting in poor digital CX.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) US Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) rankings, CX quality among brands in the US sits at an all-time low after declining for an unprecedented third year in a row. Several factors, including brands’ inability to provide seamless customer and employee experiences; underwhelming digital experiences using chatbots; and consumers’ concerns about their personal financial situations, society, and the economy at large, contributed to the decline.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the appointment of BlueConic CEO Cory Munchbach to its board, effective June 1, 2024. At BlueConic, a leading customer data platform, Cory works with Fortune 500 companies to help them navigate the ongoing challenges of the post-cookie, privacy-first era.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) forecasts that total global online retail sales will grow from $4.4 trillion in 2023 to $6.8 trillion by 2028 at an 8.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). According to the report Global Retail E-Commerce Forecast, 2024 To 2028, which provides a five-year forecast for total, online, and offline retail sales for 40 countries globally, despite the growth in e-commerce, 76% (or $21.9 trillion) of global retail sales will still occur offline in 2028. As a result, retailers must continue to invest in omnichannel strategies that provide a seamless shopping experience, both online and offline.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that Prudential, as well as leaders from Albertsons Companies and T-Mobile, are the North American winners of its 2024 Customer Obsession Awards. Forrester’s Customer-Obsessed Enterprise Award and Customer-Obsessed Leadership Award recognize organizations and senior executives, respectively, that are putting customers at the center of their leadership, strategy, and operations to deliver outstanding customer experience (CX) and accelerate business outcomes. Award recipients will be honored at CX Summit North America, being held in Nashville, Tennessee, and digitally, June 17–20, 2024.

New research unveiled at Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) B2B Summit North America, which kicked off today, asserts that changing buyer behaviors and expectations require a complete revenue process transformation for B2B firms to drive long-term, sustainable growth.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today opened calls for nominations for its Security & Risk Enterprise Leadership Award, which recognizes an organization for successfully implementing a security, privacy, and risk strategy that builds trust with customers, employees, and partners. Organizations will be judged on two key parameters: providing trusted customer offerings and experiences that are secure, private, and resilient; and how their security, privacy, and risk practices are providing quantifiably better outcomes for customers, employees, and the enterprise.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) will recognize Verizon Business, DDI, and ADP as the 2024 recipients of its B2B Return On Integration (ROI) Honors at B2B Summit North America, taking place May 5–8, 2024, in Austin, Texas. These organizations will be recognized for delivering impactful customer experiences (CX) and driving company performance through cross-functional alignment across marketing, sales, and product. Forrester will also honor this year’s B2B Program Of The Year (POY) Award winners for implementing customer-focused strategies within specific marketing, sales, and product functions.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the availability of its generative AI tool, Izola, for all Forrester Decisions clients. As genAI fundamentally reshapes the way individuals interact with information, Izola is designed to help Forrester’s clients accelerate progress on their top initiatives through a rapid synthesis of Forrester’s research, data, and insights.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for its CX Summit North America event being held in Nashville, Tennessee, and digitally on June 17–20, 2024. According to Forrester, 40% of B2C marketing executives in the US were already exploring generative AI (genAI) use cases at the end of last year, but as business leaders use this technology to improve customer experiences, amplify marketing efforts, and enhance digital properties, they must strike the right balance between uniquely human capabilities, such as empathy, trust, and emotion, and deploying genAI tools.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that award-winning R&B musician Gary Clark Jr. will perform live at Forrester’s B2B Summit North America, taking place in Austin, Texas, on May 5–8, 2024. B2B Summit North America will present the latest research, best practices, and client stories to help B2B marketing, sales, and product leaders and their teams accelerate growth through cross-functional alignment.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for its B2B Summit North America event being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally on May 5–8, 2024. In 2024, B2B marketing, sales, product leaders and their teams are navigating several headwinds, including shifting buying behaviors, evolving customer expectations, and understanding how to best harness data, technology, and generative AI to drive business outcomes. To succeed in this complex environment, B2B leaders must evolve their go-to-market strategies and revenue processes to align around delivering customer value.

As economic conditions improve, Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) estimates that global tech spending will increase at a faster rate and will reach $4.7 trillion in 2024. This increased spending, combined with highly competitive markets, will put even more pressure on technology leaders to provide IT capabilities that help drive their firm’s growth agenda while managing costs and increasing efficiencies. Unfortunately, disconnected IT strategies often jeopardize the positive impact that IT teams can have on revenue, profit, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today opened calls for nominations for its 2024 global Technology Awards in two categories: Technology Strategy Impact and Enterprise Architecture. These awards recognize organizations that align their technology strategies to their business goals, are quick to adapt to changing market conditions, and focus on building customer trust. Strong alignment is critical to business results: According to Forrester, firms with strong alignment grow 2.4 times faster than peers and have twice the profitability.

According to Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR), firms that actively harness generative AI (genAI) to enhance experiences, offerings, and productivity will realize outsized growth and will outpace their competition. Between July and September 2023, the number of enterprises that are in the experimentation and expansion stages of implementing genAI jumped from 62% to 71%, representing one of the fastest mass adoption rates of a new technology in the enterprise.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today opened the call for nominations for its 2024 Customer-Obsessed Enterprise Awards. Open to organizations across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, these awards recognize firms that put customers at the center of their leadership, strategy, and operations to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Senior B2C marketing, customer experience (CX), and digital business leaders at firms headquartered in North America are also eligible to apply for Forrester’s Customer-Obsessed Leadership Award.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that Barclays has been named the recipient of its Security & Risk Enterprise Leadership Award. Barclays is honored for excellence in designing and executing a security, privacy, and risk behavior framework that places employees and organizational culture at the center of its strategy to build trust with customers and clients. Barclays will be recognized at Forrester’s Security & Risk Forum, taking place in Washington, D.C., and digitally, November 14–15, 2023.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today opened calls for nominations for its 2024 B2B Return On Integration Honors and B2B Programs Of The Year Awards. These awards will recognize B2B organizations for functional excellence and outstanding achievements in aligning marketing, sales, and product — the B2B growth engine — to improve the customer’s experience and drive revenue growth.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2024 predictions, released today, 60% of generative AI skeptics will use and value the emerging technology in 2024, whether they realize it or not. Consumers who are genAI skeptics will embrace the technology for tasks that enhance creativity and productivity, including seeking support from conversational assistants and translating and summarizing content. Additionally, business, technology, and marketing leaders’ investment in genAI in the year ahead will augment employees’ creative problem-solving time by up to 50% — driving customer-centric innovation and creating greater business value.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced Izola, a new generative AI tool that allows users to query Forrester’s wealth of research and get a clear, synthesized answer via a simple chat interface. Currently available to a select group of Forrester clients, Izola will be made available to all Forrester Decisions and Forrester Market Insights clients in upcoming weeks. According to Forrester, 72% of global AI decision-makers believe that productivity is one of the greatest potential benefits of generative AI for their organizations — and Izola is designed to help clients improve productivity while accelerating outcomes.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for Security & Risk 2023, being held in Washington, D.C., and digitally, November 14–15, 2023. With emerging technologies like generative AI and the regulatory environment in a constant state of flux, organizations need to mitigate risk proactively. According to Forrester, organizations that build and maintain trust with their key stakeholders enhance loyalty, deliver increased value, and accelerate growth. For example, nearly 75% of US online adults who trust a company say that they are likely to purchase from them again.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) The State Of Business Buying, 2023 report, buyers across the globe are overwhelmingly price-sensitive as they navigate macroeconomic headwinds: At least a third of B2B business buyers in North America and Europe, and more than a quarter in Asia Pacific, are primarily influenced by price when making purchasing decisions. Additionally, the buying process has become more complex than ever, with purchase delays becoming the norm. To help expedite decision-making, providers need to offer price transparency up front and showcase their offerings’ ROI to buyers throughout the buying journey.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2024 Tech Leadership Predictions, which will be unveiled at Technology & Innovation North America next week, 87% of US enterprise technology leaders anticipate increasing their organizations’ technology investment over the next 12 months — with nearly 50% increasing their investments in AI capabilities. While generative AI is expected to deliver greater productivity and efficiency, 50% of technology leaders will fail to master the AI skills gap. Join this keynote to discover what the future holds for tech leaders in 2024 and how they can achieve growth with continuous improvement from insights and AI.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that Falabella and U.S. Bank are the winners of its Technology Strategy Impact and Enterprise Architecture Awards for the Americas, respectively. These awards, which will be presented at Technology & Innovation North America, recognize both organizations for executing technology strategies that enable their business to be more adaptive, creative, and resilient — accelerating business growth and driving customer outcomes.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for Data Strategy & Insights 2023, being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally, September 13–14, 2023. As generative AI rapidly permeates every business domain, organizations are quickly working to unlock the technology’s creative and development potential — nearly half of US generative AI users say that generative AI tools will make them more productive at their job. While generative AI will create significant return on investment for organizations in the next two to four years, it also brings several challenges — trustworthiness, regulatory and governance issues, and a risk of harmful content creation included.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2024 Planning Guides, more realistic budget expectations will serve leaders well as they enter 2024, but now is not the time to hunker down, as stakeholder expectations for growth remain steadfast. Additionally, to accelerate growth and keep pace with the evolving expectations of empowered digital customers, leaders should consider investing in and experimenting with AI. A versatile AI approach can deliver a broad range of solutions across operations that create customer value, cut inefficient complexity, and drive innovation.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for Technology & Innovation North America 2023, being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally, September 10–12, 2023. According to Forrester, companies grow faster when their technology strategy fully aligns with the business priorities that drive customer value and capture market share. However, many technology leaders are still innovating and planning in silos — missing these opportunities. As emerging technologies like generative AI, TuringBots, and conversational AI take center stage, technology leaders must act fast to assess whether these technologies can deliver value and if their businesses can navigate the associated risks.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) The Top 10 Emerging Technologies In 2023 report, generative AI will begin to deliver significant return on investment for most enterprises in the next two to four years. To fully benefit from generative AI’s applications, firms will need to navigate its risks, including trustworthiness, evolving regulations, and potential intellectual property complications. Despite these risks, generative AI remains a top emerging technology to invest in due to its breadth of impact and ability to accelerate many other top emerging technologies, including autonomous workplace assistants (AWAs) and conversational AI.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) opened calls today for nominations for its Security & Risk Enterprise Leadership Award, which recognizes an organization’s excellence in designing and executing a security, privacy, and risk strategy that drives trusted relationships with key stakeholders. The winning organization will be celebrated for how it has transformed security, privacy, and risk from obstructionist cost and compliance centers to business functions that drive trusted relationships with customers, employees, and partners and fuel the organization’s long-term growth and success.

Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) Canada Customer Experience Index Rankings (CX Index™) reveal that the average CX quality among Canadian brands fell for an unprecedented second year in a row as brands struggled to deliver on customer needs. Average CX scores fell in six of the nine industries surveyed, including luxury and mass market automakers, multichannel banks, credit card issuers, investment firms, and utilities. Additionally, 21% of brands saw significant drops in CX quality in 2023, with declines being more severe on average compared to 2022. CX quality in Canada is now at its lowest point since 2016.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) US Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) rankings, CX quality among brands in the US declined for an unprecedented second year in a row. Despite more than 80% of business leaders indicating that improving CX is a high priority, just 6% of brands saw a significant increase in 2023, compared to 10% the year prior.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) will recognize Cart.com, Cisco, and IBM as this year’s B2B Return On Integration (ROI) Honors winners at its B2B Summit North America, held June 5–7, 2023, in Austin, Texas, and digitally. These organizations are being showcased for aligning marketing, sales, and product functions to fast-track growth by maximizing customer value. Additionally, Forrester will celebrate B2B Program Of The Year (POY) Award winners for outstanding achievements within specific functions of marketing, sales, and product.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today introduced two new research services, Forrester Decisions for Revenue Operations and Forrester Decisions for B2B Sales, at B2B Summit North America. Forrester Decisions for Revenue Operations is designed to help B2B leaders align internal operations that maximize customer value and drive higher revenue and profitability. This Forrester Decisions service will help leaders across marketing operations, sales operations, and revenue operations strengthen their focus on customer value creation through the integration of effective operating models across the revenue ecosystem.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today opened calls for nominations for its global technology awards for two categories: Technology Strategy Impact and Enterprise Architecture. These awards will recognize organizations that have executed technology strategies that enable their business to be more adaptive, creative, and resilient — accelerating both business growth and customer success.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that Best Buy, as well as leaders from NRG, M&T Bank, and Labcorp, are the North American winners of its inaugural Customer Obsession Awards. Forrester’s Customer-Obsessed Enterprise Award and Customer-Obsessed Leadership Award recognize organizations and senior executives, respectively, that are putting customers at the center of everything they do to accelerate business growth, retain customers, and enable greater employee engagement. Award recipients will be honored at CX North America, being held in Nashville, Tennessee, and digitally, June 13–15, 2023.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for its CX North America event being held in Nashville, Tennessee, and digitally, June 13–15, 2023. Digital consumers are dictating the pace of business. To accelerate digital innovation to better meet customers’ evolving expectations, B2C organizations must align key functions — including customer experience (CX), marketing, and digital — around customer value. According to Forrester, firms with high levels of alignment across these customer-facing functions report 2.4x higher revenue growth and 2x higher growth in profitability than those with some or no alignment.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agenda for its B2B Summit North America event being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally on June 5–7, 2023. The B2B buying landscape is changing rapidly: Routes to market are diversifying; generational shifts are disrupting buying experiences; and buying motions are becoming difficult to predict. To drive profitable and sustainable business growth in this uncertain environment, aligning teams around internal constructs is not enough. Instead, organizations need to align key functions around driving customer and buyer value.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) customer-obsessed growth engine research​, outdated short-term growth strategies that focus on extracting value from customers no longer work. Dramatic changes in buyers’ behavior, evolving business models, and technology advances mandate a shift in how companies design their strategies and operate their organizations. To drive profitable and sustainable business growth in this environment, alignment across sales, marketing, and product in B2B firms and across marketing, customer experience (CX), and digital in B2C firms is critical to powering a customer-obsessed growth engine. Additionally, technology teams need to be in lockstep to quickly address changing customer needs and market realities.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) Younger Buyers Have Changed The Business Buying Landscape report​, Millennials and Gen Z constitute 64% of business buyers, with Millennials making up more than half of all business buyers. These younger buyers are more demanding, engaging in more buying activities, and more willing to express their dissatisfaction with the buying process. These changing buying behaviors, combined with continued economic uncertainty and tighter budgets, necessitate that sales and marketing leaders adapt their go-to-market strategies.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) Global Tech Market Forecast, 2022 To 2027, in 2023, global tech spend will grow 4.7% to reach $4.4 trillion. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) will experience the fastest regional tech spend growth, despite macroeconomic challenges of slowing liquidity, tight labor markets, and geopolitical turmoil. By 2027, tech software and IT services will capture 66% of global tech spend — up from 60% pre-pandemic. A boost in cloud application and platform services will aid this growth. Forrester forecasts that the public cloud market will reach $1 trillion by 2026, capturing nearly a quarter of global tech spend.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced that popular rock and soul band Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats will perform live at Forrester’s B2B Summit North America, taking place in Austin, Texas, and digitally, June 5–7, 2023. For more than a decade, B2B Summit has served as the premier destination for B2B leaders to access Forrester’s forward-thinking research and insights to better align their marketing, sales, and product functions and accelerate business growth.

According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) “Navigating The 2023 Downturn” research, the current global downturn will unfold in ways unlike any economic decline previously experienced. While prior recessions have followed a boom-bust cycle, the 2023 downturn immediately follows a pandemic that has already disrupted business models and forced organizations to pivot their business strategy. Additionally, multiple factors contribute to the complexity of this downturn, including inflation, energy costs, supply chain challenges, regional conflicts, and changing worker demographics. These factors will uniquely combine across regions and industries, ensuring that each country will experience it differently.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today introduced Forrester Decisions for Partner Ecosystem Marketing, the next generation of its Forrester Decisions for Channel Marketing service. The enhanced service is designed to help marketing leaders modernize their existing partner programs as partner ecosystems further evolve and expand. Forrester data shows that in 2022, nearly half of B2B channel and ecosystem leaders expected annual growth in the number of partners they engaged with. This year, the formation of partner ecosystems will continue to rise and extend beyond transactional or resell motions. These partner ecosystems will also include non-transacting partners that play a vital role in actualizing value across the entire customer lifecycle.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announces its global Customer Obsession Awards for two categories: Customer-Obsessed Enterprise and Customer-Obsessed Leadership. These awards will recognize organizations and senior executives, respectively, who put customers at the center of everything they do to accelerate business growth, retain customers, and enable greater employee engagement.

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) is opening calls for nominations for its B2B Return On Integration Honors and B2B Programs Of The Year Awards to recognize B2B organizations that have had outstanding achievements in marketing, sales, and product functions to drive revenue growth. The honorees will be recognized at Forrester’s B2B Summit North America, being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally, June 5–7, 2023.