Forrester Names 2016 Top 10 Success Factors

Successful businessman on the finishing line of a track
Kathryn Hempstead
By Kathryn Hempstead



Forrester has released its top 10 factors to determine who wins and who fails in the age of the customer.

“In 2016, the gap between customer-obsessed leaders and laggards will widen,” Forrester said in its report revealing its opinion on what sets the leaders apart from the rest.

“Leaders will take on the hard work of shifting to a customer-obsessed operating model; laggards will aimlessly push forward with flawed digital priorities and disjointed operations.”

Top 10 critical success factors in 2016:

  1. Personalisation

Leaders will understand and anticipate individual needs to deliver personal experiences, sharply increasing their lead in the market. Forrester warns that laggards struggle to unleash the power of customer intelligence.

  1. Customer Service

Leaders will execute multidiscipline customer service strategies to change internal operations to deliver high value, personalised experiences. The majority of firms, however, will continue to think small and be left behind with out-dated customer service tactics.

  1. Consumer Lead Market

In 2016 there will be an extraordinary leadership disruption as companies adapt to a consumer lead market. Leading companies will have CEOs who drive change and take on a rapidly changing market. Laggards will try to maintain old and unworkable leadership structures.

  1. Culture

Leaders will invest in culture to accelerate both the pace of changes and the speed of business. They are quickly initiating culture efforts that transform operations and gain new levels of business agility.

  1. Disruption

Leaders will fundamentally change the pace of their business, shredding cumbersome annual processes for agile ones that work at the pace of dynamic customers and disruptors. Laggards will respond poorly to market threats and witness a dangerous gap between themselves and their customers.

  1. Loyalty

Leaders will evoke loyalty programs to work with their customers, fundamentally changing the meaning and strength of affinity. They are putting in place programs that allow customers to be a part of their business while laggards are trying to optimise aged loyalty programs that have minimal impact on affinity or spend.

  1. Analytics

Cutting edge algorithms will give leaders a leg up over competitors drowning in data and using run-of-the-mill analytics. Leaders will be able to anticipate and deliver customer value. Laggards will be unable to unite data with customer operations.

  1. Digital

Innovation spend is on the rise, digital skills are in hot demand, and a new breed of digital savvy senior leaders is emerging. Leaders will master digital to drive growth and share. Laggards will become digital dinosaurs and face the risk of extinction.

  1. Privacy

Privacy will move from a niche consideration to a value to which customers will respond. Leaders are asserting and providing differentiated privacy protection. Laggards will continue to treat privacy as a niche issue, losing both wallet share and customers.

  1. Operations

Leadership teams responding to a customer-led market are asking a simple yet profound question: How do we operate to win? In 2016 leaders will put in place customer-obsessed operating models; laggards will merely market themselves as customer-obsessed.




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