ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

The 2024 Market Agenda for Marketing: Digital Experiences with AI

Posted by Keith Dawson on 05 February 2024

Ventana Research recently announced its 2024 Market Agenda in the expertise area of Marketing, continuing the guidance we have offered for nearly two decades to help enterprises derive optimal value from business technology and improve outcomes. Through 2027, the category of marketing applications will transform to become more intelligent through the infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Marketing Performance Management, Digital Marketing, intelligent marketing, product experience management, Digital Experience Platform

The 2023 Market Agenda for Marketing: Data Takes Center Stage

Posted by Keith Dawson on 24 January 2023

Ventana Research recently announced its 2023 Market Agenda in the expertise area of Marketing, continuing the guidance we have offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value from business technology and improve outcomes. By 2025, one-half of CMOs will realize the essential requirement to market their customer experience (CX) as part of the brand values that contribute... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, intelligent marketing

Why We Need a New Definition for CX Software Platforms

Posted by Keith Dawson on 18 March 2022

The technology underpinning customer experience (CX) is a hodgepodge of tools that have been developed for niche use cases and then expanded to fill broader roles. Examples include the old (CRM, help desk software and speech analytics) and the new (customer data platforms and conversational AI). This is because CX is a set of very specialized processes that happen in different parts of the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing, Marketing Performance Management, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, agent management, intelligent marketing, Digital Experience Platform

Top Trends in VoC Analytics

Posted by Keith Dawson on 16 February 2022

A formal Voice of the Customer (VoC) program is a necessity for any organization that wants to grow its customer base and differentiate from its competitors. Unfortunately, many organizations have not updated their notion of “formal” in quite a few years. VoC has a contact center component and an enterprise component. They are related, hopefully connected, but not the same. Contact centers are... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Digital Marketing, agent management

The 2022 Market Agenda for Marketing: A Digital Experience Revolution

Posted by Keith Dawson on 04 February 2022

Ventana Research recently announced its 2022 Market Agenda in the expertise area of Marketing, continuing the guidance we have offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value from business technology and improve outcomes. Marketing technology has enabled chief marketing officers to oversee teams that orchestrate more effective and sophisticated communication and customer... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Marketing Performance Management, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, intelligent marketing, Digital Experience Platform

The Transformation of Account-Based Marketing for Revenue Optimization

Posted by Keith Dawson on 29 September 2021

Account-based marketing (ABM) serves as a model for how a complex manual activity can be improved and automated. That does not mean it always goes well. ABM is a practice that many B2B marketers swear by, but it can be very difficult to get a technology-enhanced ABM program up and running. ABM is a method of identifying B2B targets for marketing communications and outreach based on specific... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Marketing Performance Management, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, intelligent marketing, Digital Experience Platform

Reltio Earns Marketing Digital Innovation Award for 2021

Posted by Keith Dawson on 12 August 2021

The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization. Our goal is to recognize technology and vendors that have introduced noteworthy digital innovations to advance business and IT. Ventana Research has... Read More

Topics: Voice of the Customer, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, blockchain, data lakes, intelligent marketing

Palantir Earns Overall Digital Innovation Award for 2021

Posted by Mark Smith on 04 August 2021

The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization. Our goal is to recognize technology and vendors that have introduced noteworthy digital innovations to advance business and IT. Ventana Research has... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Human Capital Management, Marketing, Office of Finance, Voice of the Customer, Continuous Planning, embedded analytics, Learning Management, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Internet of Things, Business Planning, Contact Center, Data, Product Information Management, Sales Performance Management, Workforce Management, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Technology, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Revenue, blockchain, natural language processing, data lakes, Total Compensation Management, robotic finance, Predictive Planning, employee experience, candidate engagement, Conversational Computing, Continuous Payroll, collaborative computing, mobile computing, continuous supply chain, Subscription Management, agent management, extended reality, intelligent marketing, sales enablement, work experience management, robotic automation, AI and Machine Learning, lease and tax accounting

Are DXPs Really Needed in a CX World?

Posted by Keith Dawson on 20 July 2021

Customer experience (CX) tools are going through a transition, from piecemeal applications designed to solve narrowly defined problems, to broader suites with integrated functionality. This is occurring along multiple fronts in CX. Software for managing inbound interactions and customer issues is being gathered into CX suites sometimes described as Customer Experience Management (CEM). On the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing, Voice of the Customer, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, intelligent marketing

CX Suites Focus on Managing Customer Experiences

Posted by Keith Dawson on 14 July 2021

When we speak of the “customer experience,” we are really referring to the results of a broad spectrum of activities that collectively we describe as a journey or a lifecycle. In the past, how we spoke about customers was largely determined by the limited view of what transpired during short, contact center interactions. Customer experience (CX) evolved as a way to incorporate more facets of... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, Subscription Management, agent management, intelligent marketing

The Potential of Marketing in 2021: The Market Agenda

Posted by Keith Dawson on 27 February 2021

Ventana Research recently announced its 2021 market agenda in the expertise area of Marketing, continuing the guidance we have offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value from business technology and improve outcomes. Chief Marketing Officers are under pressure to spearhead technology investments that better align marketing experiences with their brand and optimize... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Marketing Performance Management, Digital Marketing, intelligent marketing, Digital Experience Platform

The 2021 Market Agenda for Customer Experience: Achieving Excellence in Engagement

Posted by Keith Dawson on 24 February 2021

Ventana Research recently announced its 2021 market agenda in the expertise area of Customer Experience. Most organizations have some degree of focus on managing how they interact with their customers, but it is often a disjointed and constrained process. Developing an effective customer experience has become an investment priority in recent years as organizations increasingly recognize the... Read More

Topics: Sales, Customer Experience, Marketing, Voice of the Customer, Analytics, Customer Service, Contact Center, Workforce Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, agent management, AI and Machine Learning

Teradata Vantage CX: The Real Customer Data Platform

Posted by Keith Dawson on 08 December 2020

Teradata is not a name that is commonly associated with the customer experience marketplace, but that is likely to change as customer experience (CX) practitioners wrestle with the problems created by the multiple streams of data thrown off by the many applications and customer touchpoints they have to manage. Teradata’s Vantage CX is a tool for ingesting and managing customer information at... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Contact Center, Data, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, intelligent marketing, AI and Machine Learning

Reltio Connected Customer 360 earns our 13th Digital Innovation Award for Marketing

Posted by Mark Smith on 21 October 2020

The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcases advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to improved efficiency and productivity in the processes and the performance of an organization. Our goal is to recognize technology and vendors that have introduced noteworthy digital innovations that advance... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce

OneStream Wins Our Innovation Award in Office of Finance with Analytic Blend

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 August 2020

One of the challenges of being a practically minded technology analyst is squaring the importance of “the next big thing” with the reality of what most organizations are doing. For decades it’s been the case that “the next big thing” in the world of information technology is easily several years ahead of where most organizations are in their use of technology. And before most organizations can... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Marketing, Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Sales Performance Management, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Marketing, Work and Resource Management, Digital Commerce, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, robotic finance, Predictive Planning, revenue and lease accounting, Subscription Management, intelligent sales, AI and Machine Learning

The Business Continuity Imperative: The Work Experience and Workforce Engagement Agenda

Posted by Mark Smith on 24 May 2020

The workforce is the center of any organization, no matter if the workforce consists of employees, contractors or what we call gig workers. It stands to reason that a black-swan event has an immediate impact on a workforce and thus an organization’s overall business health. In challenging times, a “family-first” mentality tends to take hold — a reality that, far too often, business leaders and HR... Read More

Topics: Sales, Human Capital Management, Learning, Office of Finance, Voice of the Customer, Analytics, Digital Technology, Digital Marketing, Operations & Supply Chain, Workforce Optimization, AI and Machine Learning

Embrace Your Customers and Buyers with Digital Value

Posted by Mark Smith on 02 April 2020

I would like to share some of my thoughts on COVID-19 and the challenges organizations are facing as they strive for business continuity and digital engagement with customers and buyers. As the global and US numbers get worse by the day, the pandemic is impacting life as we knew it and also leaves people (many in new forms of isolation) yearning for a bit of normalcy during these strange times.... Read More

Topics: Sales, Marketing, Digital Technology, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce

The Potential of Marketing in 2020: Ventana Research Agenda

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 February 2020

Ventana Research recently announced its 2020 research agenda for marketing, continuing the guidance we’ve offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value from business technology and improve outcomes. Chief Marketing Officers are under pressure to spearhead technology investments that help better align marketing experiences with their brand and to optimize consumer... Read More

Topics: Marketing, Voice of the Customer, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, intelligent marketing

Dynamic Insights from Research on Finance Analytics

Posted by Robert Kugel on 19 September 2019

By itself, data isn’t useful for business; the application of analytics is necessary to transform data into actionable information. Data analysis of one sort or another has long been a core competence of finance departments, applied to balance sheets, income statements or cash flow statements. Today, however, Finance must go beyond these basics by expanding the scope of the data being examined to... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Human Capital Management, Voice of the Customer, embedded analytics, Learning Management, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Lake, Data Preparation, Information Management, Internet of Things, Contact Center, Data, Product Information Management, Sales Performance Management, Workforce Management, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Technology, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, ERP and Continuous Accounting, blockchain, natural language processing, robotic finance, Predictive Planning, candidate engagement, Intelligent CX, Conversational Computing, Continuous Payroll, revenue and lease accounting, collaborative computing, mobile computing, Subscription Management, total rewards management, intelligent marketing, intelligent sales, AI and Machine Learning

The Promise and Perils of a Platform Strategy

Posted by Robert Kugel on 06 August 2019

“Platform,” as used in the world of technology, originally referred to an operating system on which one could construct software applications. More recently, its usage has been expanded to apply to two types of business models. One enables third parties to create products and services that are complementary to a company’s core technology. For instance, both Apple and Salesforce have attracted a... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Marketing, Office of Finance, Voice of the Customer, Continuous Planning, Information Management, Internet of Things, Workforce Management, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, robotic finance, Predictive Planning, revenue and lease accounting, collaborative computing, mobile computing, Subscription Management