Forrester’s 2019 CIO Predictions Redux

They say the best thing about being an economist is making your next prediction and not telling people why your last prediction may have been wrong. Well, we aren’t economists, so we are going to revisit Forrester’s 2019 CIO predictions to see if they have come to fruition. Here is a sample of our thinking. Go here to see the full blog.

Things We Feel Really Good About

After all these years of digital transformation, we are wondering if companies realize the benefits that were promised. Consider the following: First, productivityis stubbornly low, meaning that our healthy investments in tech may not be moving the needle. Second, customer experience scores are stagnating, meaning we are not improving the experiences we deliver. Third, there is a creeping feeling of “digital sameness” as our mobile (check out how similar airline apps are), web (look at the big consultancies’ sites), and physical (how about beauty stores?) experiences are converging. This is what happens when everyone is trying to solve the same problem using comparable methods with the same partners leveraging similar tech stacks and rendering them using common form factors.

To win today, firms need to differentiate and disrupt — and Forrester’s research shows that the most successful companies are using tech-driven innovation (TDI) to do just that. Yes, they flip the equation on its head and rapidly experiment with technology, then use this knowledge to innovate. Does it work? How does a return of 3–4x sound? That is what our data tells us. To learn more, join us in Chicago or London for our Digital Transformation & Innovation Forums, where tech-driven innovation will be the central theme. And keep an eye out for our upcoming report on TDI that will be released the week of May 13.

Things We Would Like To Reposition

Going back to the innovation theme, we talk about companies focusing on delivering real-world solutions. But here is the rub: This approach to innovation is not likely to make or keep you a leader in your market. Too many other companies — from traditional companies to startups that you don’t even know about yet — are ready to disrupt, and one day they will get to your market. We believe that the leaders in 2019 will get to those real-world solutions today and start to build the organizational muscle to deliver disruptive innovation that establishes your market dominance for years to come.