Forrester

Earlier this year, I published a report exploring the decline of global brands in China’s consumer market, and the concurrent rise of domestic ones. In my latest report, Midyear Review 2024: Global Brands’ Performance In China, our analysis from global brands’ earnings reports reveals that competing in China’s consumer market remains an uphill battle. Five brands in three industries, including Apple, Starbucks, and Tesla, reported negative growth in China due to slower economic growth and intense local competition (see Figure 1).   Despite these challenges, most global brands are optimistic about long-term growth in China: Starbucks believes there’s “abundant white space ahead”, and Nike remains “confident in its competitive position in China in the long term”. Apple shares similar sentiments, citing its confidence in its long-term opportunity in China.   Global Brands Can Learn From Peers’ Positive Measures  Despite shrinking performance for most brands we analyzed, there were still some effective strategies, including:   Localizing strategy. We found that global brands with deep localization strategies performed best in the last quarter. For example, Adidas deepens connections with local consumers through tailored products and experiences in a local-for-local approach. Tesla and Volkswagen outperformed other global automotive brands with their localization efforts – Telsa has a wholly foreign-owned car plant in China, and Volkswagen adopts an “in China, for China” approach.   Retaining core brand value. Starbucks struggles with economic value against cheaper competitors like Luckin Coffee. Despite avoiding a price war, it uses limited discounts to maintain its premium positioning, focusing on experiential value. Initiatives like a tiered rewards scheme and partnerships with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors boosted Starbucks Rewards members from 1.6 million to 22 million.  Leveraging local partners’ cost advantages. Global brands in the electric vehicle sector face intense price competition due to heavy price pressures and consumers’ price sensitivity. It’s crucial for global brands to remain cost-competitive with local firms; they can seek to do so by deepening local partnerships to improve cost efficiency.  Surviving Fierce Local Competition Requires More Than Brand Salience Or Winning Price Wars  Many global brands are losing in China because local competitors are more effective at capturing market share. While almost every global brand we tracked cited intense price pressure from local competitors, only a few, like Volkswagen, recognized local players’ high level of innovation. Domestic brands excel in the Chinese consumer market because of their localized offerings, level and speed of innovation, as well as aggressive marketing. Global brands wishing to succeed in China must keep pace with an offensive localized strategy and have greater ambitions for product innovation and bold marketing.   Forrester clients can access the full report or schedule an inquiry or guidance session for a deeper dive into examples and insights on how global brands can succeed in China.    source

2024 beherrschten KI-Fehler die Schlagzeilen, da weltweit ihre Nachteile offenbart wurden – von wettbewerbswidrigen Fällen in der Big-Tech-Branche bis hin zu Wahlmanipulation und Desinformation in sozialen Medien. Während die Mängel von KI und Emerging Technologies Schlagzeilen machten und Unternehmen vor sich hertrieben, wurden weiter die Weichen für die Zukunft gestellt. Führungskräfte lernen täglich neue Lektionen über KI und technologische Verantwortung – alles, um das Vertrauen der Verbraucher und Kunden zu gewinnen. Aber nicht alle Länder haben die gleichen (oder überhaupt) Vorschriften für KI. Das heißt, dass nicht für alle Unternehmen dieselben Spielregeln gelten. Die weltweit uneinheitlichen KI-Standards und -Vorschriften werden dazu führen, dass es einigen Unternehmen besser gelingt als anderen, Vertrauen aufzubauen und zu bewahren. Während Führungskräfte nach dem richtigen Umgang mit diesem ungleich verteilten Vertrauen suchen, prognostiziert Forrester für das Jahr 2025 Folgendes: Das Vertrauen in Regierungen wird nach den Wahlen 2024 um 10 % steigen – kurzfristig. 2024 stehen verschiedene wichtige politische Entscheidungen an: Fast die Hälfte der Weltbevölkerung ist zu nationalen Wahlen aufgerufen. Desinformation und soziale Manipulation durch ausländische staatliche Akteure haben das Misstrauen gegenüber demokratischen Institutionen geschürt. In neun der elf von uns untersuchten G20-Länder gab die Mehrheit der erwachsenen Online-Nutzer an, nicht auf eine Einlösung von Regierungsversprechen zu vertrauen. Nach einem Wahljahr, das von politischer Unsicherheit und heftigen Kontroversen geprägt ist, werden 2025 verschiedene Machtwechsel das Vertrauen in die Regierungen weltweit wiederherstellen. Dieser Vertrauenszuwachs wird jedoch nur von kurzer Dauer sein. Der Glanz des vermeintlichen Aufbruchs wird schnell verblassen, sobald sich die neu gewählten Regierungen mit ernsthafteren Problemen auseinandersetzen müssen, für die es keine schnellen Lösungen gibt. Das Vertrauen in regulierte und unregulierte Branchen variiert stark. Es werden sich zwei Arten von Vertrauen herauskristallisieren: erzwungenes Vertrauen und erarbeitetes Vertrauen. Regulierte Branchen wie Finanzdienstleistungen und das Gesundheitswesen leben in einem Umfeld erzwungenen Vertrauens, in dem staatliche Vorschriften und Aufsichtsbehörden die Standards für Transparenz und Rechenschaftspflicht setzen. Dagegen operieren unregulierte Branchen in einem Umfeld, in dem sie sich Vertrauen durch ihre Leistung erarbeiten müssen, da sie gesetzlich nicht zu vertrauensbildendem Handeln verpflichtet sind. Ihre Motivation beruht allein darauf, dass sie Markenschädigung, eine Verurteilung durch die Öffentlichkeit und andere potenzielle finanzielle Verluste fürchten. Für das Jahr 2025 prognostiziert Forrester starke Unterschiede bei dem Vertrauen, das den beiden Arten von Branchen entgegengebracht wird: Während die regulierten Branchen das derzeitige Vertrauensniveau beibehalten, werden die unregulierten Branchen ein sinkendes Vertrauensniveau verzeichnen. KI-gestützte Skill Intelligence und Karrieretools werden das Vertrauen der Mitarbeiter in KI stärken. Eine Erkenntnis, die Unternehmen im Zuge des KI-Hypes gewonnen haben, ist, dass ein großer Teil ihrer Mitarbeiter eine Umschulung (das Erlernen völlig neuer Fähigkeiten für neu entstehende Arbeitsplätze) oder eine Weiterbildung (das Erlernen zusätzlicher Fähigkeiten für ihre bestehenden Arbeitsplätze) benötigt. Die Daten von Forrester aus dem Jahr 2024 zeigen, dass Fähigkeiten im Bereich Daten und Analytik zu den Fähigkeiten gehören, die Business- und Tech-Fachkräfte weltweit am meisten benötigen, um die Modernisierung ihres Unternehmens in den nächsten 12 Monaten zu unterstützen. Fortschrittliche Unternehmen werden KI nutzen, um Daten zu den Fähigkeiten ihrer Mitarbeiter zu analysieren und mithilfe dieser Erkenntnisse komplexe Herausforderungen zu lösen, wie z. B. der Einsatz von Talenten für andere Aufgaben oder Weiterbildungs- bzw. Umschulungsmaßnahmen. KI wird auch Initiativen zur Verbesserung der Mitarbeitererfahrung unterstützen, die derzeit einen hohen manuellen Aufwand erfordern. So wird durch Vertrautheit Vertrauen entstehen. Wenn Sie Kunde von Forrester sind, steht der Report Predictions 2025: Trust (auf Englisch) für Sie bereit. Dort können Sie unsere fünf Prognosen für das Jahr 2025 vollständig lesen und erfahren, was sie für Sie und Ihr Unternehmen im kommenden Jahr bedeuten. Vereinbaren Sie ein Beratungsgespräch mit Forrester, um mit uns zu besprechen, wie Sie diese Prognosen und Best Practices anwenden können, damit Sie auch im Jahr 2025 in puncto Vertrauen die Nase vorn haben. Wenn Sie noch kein Forrester-Kunde sind, besuchen Sie unseren Hub für Prognosen 2025, um sich für Webinare anzumelden und einen unserer kostenlosen Guides zu Prognosen herunterzuladen. NB: Dieser Blog wurde aus dem Englischen übersetzt. source

Forrester has just released its inaugural evaluation, The Forrester Wave™: Vector Databases, Q3 2024, marking a significant milestone in this rapidly evolving category. The vector database market is buzzing, and nearly all other database vendors are racing to offer vector support. While native vector databases have had a head start over the past few years, traditional database vendors are now setting aggressive timelines to catch up. We haven’t witnessed this level of excitement in the database landscape in decades. Vector databases are becoming essential for businesses, and Forrester anticipates that most organizations will have them in production by 2026. Vector databases are attracting significant attention thanks to the rise of generative AI (genAI), resulting in a surge of new use cases. They play a vital role in delivering reliable and enriched data to support genAI applications, enhancing the accuracy and contextual relevance of responses from large language models. Additionally, vector databases provide an effective means of detecting data anomalies by analyzing deviations from expected norms and generating valuable insights. Forrester expects widespread growth in vector database initiatives across diverse industries, including financial services, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy in the coming years. Choosing A Vector Database Requires Looking Beyond Basic Capabilities There are two main types of vector databases: native and multimodel. Native vector databases are purpose-built to excel at managing complex, multidimensional vector data at scale. In contrast, multimodel databases were not originally designed for vectors but are now increasingly integrating vector capabilities, such as vector storage, indexing, and querying. In our recently released Forrester Wave evaluation, we closely examined 14 leading vector databases from over 100 available in the market. While we currently have two vendors recognized as Leaders, we anticipate that more will emerge next year as their solutions mature. Organizations should also consider other vendors in the Strong Performers category that align with their specific requirements, particularly regarding performance, scale, hybrid search, and integration with non-vector data. To meet current and future needs, organizations should focus on three key differentiators of vector databases — specifically, their ability to: Ensure comprehensive core vector capabilities. Look for vector database vendors that provide advanced indexing, diverse distance metrics, real-time vector updates and deletion, extensive dimensionality support, flexible metadata storage, and hybrid search functionality. Streamline data management for vectors. Look for vector vendors with extensive data management capabilities that accommodate both vector and non-vector data. Additionally, prioritize those that provide a user-friendly, persona-based interface to simplify deployments, along with robust APIs for agile development. Deliver performance and scale at the speed of your business. Look for vendors offering a range of indexing algorithms, including hierarchical navigable small world (HNSW), IVF, and DiskANN, tailored to your specific workload. Additionally, consider those that provide GPU integration, which can deliver significant performance improvements over regular CPUs. Since many vector databases are still evolving their ability to scale, speak to customers or conduct benchmarks if your use cases require 100 million vectors or more. Vector capabilities are coming to a database near you. Kick off 2025 with a pilot project that leverages retrieval-augmented generation use cases to enhance conversational AI, customer service applications, content creation and summarization, enterprise search, and personalized recommendations. The Forrester Wave evaluation will provide insights into how 14 vector database vendors compare across 25 criteria, including functionality, strategy, and market presence. Readers can also customize the Wave scorecard to align with their specific priorities. Forrester clients can schedule a guidance session or inquiry with us to discuss vendor selection and trends in this market. source

Every year for the last 26 years, Forrester has convened its Board of Clients — a group of clients (pic to the left) who advise us on our strategy, new products, and research agenda. These meetings have had extraordinary impact on our voyage, helping us to continually improve and to meet the high standards of the companies we serve. The current board includes executives from CITGO, Prudential, NOAA, Bank of America, SAP, and other longtime clients — a fantastic group! One of our traditions is to share books and other media recommendations. Here are this year’s “picks” from the Board: Books: Slow Productivity, Cal Newport Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin Outlive, Peter Attia Build the Life You Want, Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey My Beloved Monster, Caleb Carr A Soldier of the Great War, Mark Helprin The Future and Its Enemies, Virginia Postrel   Podcasts: Acquired Business Wars Dolly Parton’s America 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s SmartLess The Moth   TV series: Bad Monkey The Repair Shop Drops of God Only Murders in the Building source

As an analyst closely observing the martech landscape, I’ve seen customer data platforms (CDPs) become indispensable for marketers in APAC. My latest report, The State Of Customer Data Platforms In Asia Pacific, 2024, uncovers the following insights: The popularity of CDPs continues to grow in APAC. Rising consumer awareness around data privacy and tighter regulations is pushing marketers to invest in first-party data, yet customer data concerns still pose challenges. In 2024, 23% of B2C marketing decision-makers in APAC are using CDPs, with 26% planning to adopt them within a year. A diverse CDP market has evolved in the region. The APAC CDP market is diverse due to varying vendor maturity and marketer interest (see figure below). Greater China, Australia, and India lead the market, with homegrown CDPs thriving in China and India and Western CDPs growing in Australia. Retail, financial services, and consumer goods are at the forefront of CDP adoption, excelling in first-party data use and industry-specific applications. In addition, customer analytics has become a CDP staple, driven by the need for deeper insights and predictive analytics.   Adjacent Functionalities Maximize CDP Value Given the smaller teams and tighter budgets in APAC, marketers prefer versatile tools. To maximize value, they are incorporating a range of adjacent functionalities and use cases for CDP, such as: Consent management. Before CDPs can make customer data platforms actionable, proper consent is needed. By adding consent management features, some CDPs allow APAC marketers to comply with the region’s emerging privacy regulations. Identity resolution. CDP vendors may offer this as a differentiator, allowing marketers to integrate identifiers with behavioral, transactional, and contextual information, but note that the ease of configuring and customizing resolution logic varies across platforms, so marketers should evaluate this before buying. Advertising use cases. Since much of marketing and customer engagement takes place on third-party platforms, it is important to optimize ad targeting. Marketers can incorporate third-party data into CDPs to enrich first-party profiles and create precise microsegments that boost advertising effectiveness. Marketer friendliness. Marketing teams seeking to reduce reliance on IT and external vendors will gravitate toward CDPs that offer a user-friendly interface. As CDP vendors adopt advanced technologies like generative AI, we expect that marketers will be able to use conversational means to interact with CDPs. Refine Your CDP Strategy To Accelerate Value Realization Many CDP customers find value realization slow, limited, or challenging. To overcome this, marketers should recognize that CDPs benefit the entire organization, requiring a companywide strategy to coordinate skills and resources. Prioritizing scalable and value-demonstrating use cases, establishing cost management practices, and effectively tracking metrics and ROI helps marketers break through barriers and make progress. For an in-depth exploration of the recent growth, emerging trends, and common challenges facing CDPs in APAC, read my latest report (client access only) and schedule a guidance session with me. source

One year ago today, we launched our generative AI tool, Izola. Our goal in introducing Izola was to help clients make faster progress on their top initiatives with answers from trusted Forrester research and data. Thanks to client feedback and continual refinement, Izola does just that — and more. Our clients have told us that Izola is a “time-saver,” “my go-to,” “a life-saver,” and “a friendly companion to guide me through all of Forrester’s exceptional content.” Izola has matured tremendously in the past year. It is now able to answer more questions and help with more types of use cases than it was just a few months ago. As clients get to know Izola, it increases and accelerates the value of research and continuous guidance. Along with unlocking immediate insights, it advances deeper, more informed conversations with Forrester experts as they apply our research to clients’ unique situations. To honor Izola today, we wanted to highlight a few of the ways our clients are using it. (If you are a Forrester client and haven’t tried Izola yet, you can try it here.) An anonymous letter of admiration for Izola from a B2B Summit North America attendee Home in on key Forrester research Clients tell us that they love our research but that digging through it can be overwhelming. Izola provides an expressway to the information they need. “There’s so much out there from Forrester — so much research and assets and goodness — that it’s really helping just kind of carve through that,” says Jodi Lebow, VP, global demand center at Hexagon. She adds that Izola also helps her gain more value from our reports. “What’s really unique is [that Izola is] not just presenting back a response to your question, but I love how it serves up other Forrester research that I can dig into to get more on the topic.” Discover what “good” looks like Clients look to Forrester to help them improve — so it’s no surprise that best-practice and how-to questions (e.g., “What are CX measurement best practices?” or “How should I build a business case for AI?”) are the most common types of queries Izola gets. Knowing that Forrester’s research and data back the answer gives clients confidence that they can start putting the responses into action. Some of our clients have used Izola’s answers as a basis for articulating important initiatives. “Izola helped me frame up our CX measurement strategy goals, objectives, vision, guiding principles, and key deliverables, which saved me so much time,” a client told us. “I was able to populate everything in about 15–20 minutes and then refine it to fit our business needs within the working team.” Get a clutch assist in presentation prep Izola has come up big for clients in critical moments. “Oftentimes, we can be in fire-drill situations where you have a presentation in an hour, which doesn’t allow you to get that analyst feedback,” says Susan Roberts, senior revenue marketing leader at Veolia Water Technologies. “Being able to have control and have speed at your fingertips has really been a great asset to me.” A recently added citations feature lets clients easily see the Forrester sources for bullet points or sentences included in Izola’s answers. That makes it easier to substantiate data, and it gives users added confidence. Find insights on markets and providers Izola gets a lot of queries related to vendors and solutions in specific markets. We’ve recently bolstered Izola’s ability to answer those questions so that clients can choose the right provider for their needs. Ask a question such as “Which vendors offer Zero Trust solutions?” and you’ll get a synthesized answer from the relevant Forrester Wave™, breaking out companies into our Wave’s “Leaders,” “Strong Performers,” “Contenders,” and “Challengers” categories. You can then click through to the Wave report for more context. Strengthen strategy with trends and insights Clients tell us that they use Izola to strengthen strategic decisions with trends (e.g., “What are trends in consumer e-commerce and digital retail?”) and insights (e.g., “How do CIOs make purchase decisions?”). We also see clients use Izola to answer strategic questions: “Should I pay employees based on Net Promoter Score℠ (NPS)?” “Should CMOs change their marketing organization based on genAI? If so, how?” “How should I adjust my IT budget in 2025?” What’s Next For Izola? We couldn’t be more excited about Izola’s journey so far — and we see its second year as being even more impactful. Expect Izola to get even smarter and more powerful as we keep expanding its capabilities to better serve clients. One of the coming features that we’re most excited about is the ability to summarize and “converse” with a specific report. From a dialogue box inside a report, a user will be able to ask Izola to summarize the report, get key actions to undertake, or ask specific questions about its content. We are also working to make Izola responses more visual by displaying relevant charts, graphs, and figures from reports alongside Izola’s text-based answers, as well as information on the relevant analysts to follow and engage with. We’ll also be working to integrate Izola into clients’ search experience, similar to what Google does today. Want to get to know Izola? Forrester clients, check it out here if you haven’t already done so. If you’re not yet a Forrester client, learn more about what Izola can do and what clients are saying about it. source

Every year for the last 26 years, Forrester has convened its Board of Clients — a group of clients (pic to the left) who advise us on our strategy, new products, and research agenda. These meetings have had extraordinary impact on our voyage, helping us to continually improve and to meet the high standards of the companies we serve. The current board includes executives from CITGO, Prudential, NOAA, Bank of America, SAP, and other longtime clients — a fantastic group! One of our traditions is to share books and other media recommendations. Here are this year’s “picks” from the Board: Books: Slow Productivity, Cal Newport Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin Outlive, Peter Attia Build the Life You Want, Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey My Beloved Monster, Caleb Carr A Soldier of the Great War, Mark Helprin The Future and Its Enemies, Virginia Postrel   Podcasts: Acquired Business Wars Dolly Parton’s America 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s SmartLess The Moth   TV series: Bad Monkey The Repair Shop Drops of God Only Murders in the Building source

David Bowie’s classic song “Golden Years” tells us to “look at that sky, life’s begun.” But retirement’s “golden years” are looking less golden for Americans. Forrester data indicates that many Americans are willing to work past the age of retirement or even work a part-time job in retirement to supplement their income. Preparation for retirement is also greatly lacking. Many Americans don’t own retirement accounts and aren’t seeking retirement planning advice. Instead, they focus on more immediate financial concerns, impacting their ability to save and prepare for life after working.   Our data also shows that only half of Americans believe that they know how to save for retirement. Even worse, the majority of those with retirement accounts say that they are not getting the advice they need. All of this highlights an unmet need for retirement education that wealth management firms can address by driving more awareness among consumers and by training advisors to highlight planning’s importance with their clients. Bowie closes his song on an optimistic note: “Nothing’s gonna touch you in these golden years.” Financially savvy consumers and their advisors know the power of compound returns. They also know that an early start will help retirement savers build a financial buffer that will ease their anxieties about the future. Better to educate and prepare when people are young than to force them into a retirement that is inevitably insecure or, worse yet, isn’t really a retirement at all. Preparation will leave those golden years untouched. Forrester clients interested in discussing our latest retirement report or this interesting data can connect with me via inquiry or guidance session. source

Once again, the banking industry is on the cusp of transformative changes. AI and generative AI (genAI) technologies have the potential to enhance customer relationships, deliver personalized digital experiences, augment customer service, and combat fraud. But they also have the potential to shift the mindset of banking from a product-centric to a relationship-centric approach and earn greater customer trust. While AI and genAI are set to reshape banking, other drivers will ultimately differentiate banks in the future: Banks will be invisible, connected, insights-driven, and purposeful. Tomorrow’s customer will expect banking to be embedded at their point of need, and they will seek banks that are values-aligned and enhance financial well-being. To meet the needs of future customers, leading banks will use technology, capitalize on consumer trust, and leverage insights to deliver the connected products and services that customers value. Banks will expand their role as trusted advisor and harness innovation for sustainable growth. Customer obsession and collaboration will help banks stay relevant and build trust. To remain relevant in a rapidly changing industry, banks must create a culture of customer obsession and foster collaboration. This means using technology to anticipate customer needs and deliver proactive, relevant services, connecting with partners and ecosystems to deliver financial outcomes, leveraging data and insights to create value, and aligning with customer values in a purposeful way. By adopting these characteristics, banks can stay relevant and build trust. Innovation won’t be limited to AI. While AI and genAI hold immense potential, innovation in the banking industry extends beyond these technologies. Banks will design for integration, collaboration, and speed, with experiences that are assistive, agentive, personalized, and anticipatory. Modern tech architecture will allow digital and technology executives to design and deliver modular and composable products and services. Banks will blend traditional products with new solutions that meet customer needs, creating closer connections with customers. Successful banks will leverage trust intelligently and operate in multiple modes. They will curate and connect firms in constellations of value, power products and distribute them via others’ marketplaces, specialize in specific customer segments, make quick decisions, and become adaptive enterprises. By playing to their strengths and embracing change, banks can transform their business models and thrive in a world with blurred boundaries and increasing competition. Banks must prioritize customer obsession, transform their business models, and embrace innovation to build trust with and create meaningful experiences for their customers. By taking an invisible, connected, insights-driven, and purposeful approach, banks can navigate the future of banking and create value for both customers and the bank. To learn more about what leading banks are doing and how to prepare your firm for the future of banking: Clients with additional questions can book an inquiry or guidance session here. source

I have some exciting news for marketing leaders seeking to innovate on their marketing strategies. Forrester’s B2B Frontline Marketing Survey, 2024, found that frontline marketing teams with advanced lifecycle revenue marketing strategies are more likely to meet or exceed their revenue goals than frontline marketing teams with less mature strategies. Read on for the summary. Lifecycle Revenue Marketing Is Hitting More Revenue Plans I generally work with two types of clients: The first type of client wants Forrester to help them adopt marketing strategies that are already proven standards so that they don’t have to reinvent the wheel or take too many risks. The second type wants Forrester to help them innovate and test new marketing strategies that other organizations haven’t tried or proven yet so they can gain a competitive advantage if it works. I’ve been researching emerging B2B growth strategies for many years now, even before my time at Forrester began. And just a little over three years ago, I started working with progressive B2B marketing leaders who wanted me to help them think differently about their frontline growth strategies. The results led to the concept of frontline marketing and a new strategy called lifecycle revenue marketing (LRM). Both are relatively new B2B constructs: I coined these terms with my colleagues Lori Wizdo and Steve Casey in 2022. And now, using Forrester’s Lifecycle Revenue Marketing Maturity Assessment, we discovered that 22% of frontline B2B marketing leaders in the US (14% in Europe and 10% in Asia Pacific) already have advanced LRM strategies by Forrester’s definition. Those strategies are proving effective, as well. Eighty-seven percent of advanced B2B frontline marketing leaders reported that their team met or exceeded their revenue plans, compared to 77% of frontline marketing teams with beginner or intermediate strategies. Frontline Marketing Leaders Are Still Facing Challenges Despite the apparent extra boost in revenue plan attainment from lifecycle revenue marketing, my research uncovered more potential for frontline marketing to impact revenue. Our research found that frontline marketing leaders still say they need improvements in several areas to significantly boost their impact on revenue growth, including: Improving their relationship with sales. Participating more frequently in strategy formation and revenue planning. Increasing accountability for campaign planning and design. Leveraging revenue development reps to identify buying groups. Removing cross-functional dependencies, which are significant. Read The Report On The Global State Of Frontline Marketing As the B2B buying landscape continues to evolve, frontline marketing and lifecycle revenue marketing are becoming even more important strategic growth drivers for B2B organizations. Forrester clients can read all about the global state of frontline marketing in my new report: Frontline Marketing And Lifecycle Revenue Marketing Are B2B Game Changers. The report is full of data profiling and comparing frontline marketing teams from beginner to advanced. And if you’re a B2B CMO or frontline marketing leader looking to advance your frontline marketing maturity, schedule a guidance session and get started on the path to more achievable growth. source