-
Forrester presents 2024 Planning Guides, showcasing more realistic budget expectations for investors and stakeholders.
-
The company’s Planning Guides help leaders across digital, marketing, technology, and customer experience (CX) functions during annual budgeting and prioritization cycles.
-
The key areas of investments in 2024 as per the guide are: AI tools and strategies that deliver customer value and digital B2B buyer interactions and self-serve routes to market.
Forrester, one of the world's most influential research and advisory organizations, announced the release of its 2024 Planning Guides, providing more realistic budget expectations to leaders as they enter the year 2024. The guide states that leaders should invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and their digital capabilities, rather than relying on service providers, to accelerate growth and keep up with the changing demands of empowered digital consumers. A versatile AI approach can provide a vast array of solutions across operations that reduce inefficient complexity, create customer value, and drive innovation.
According to Forrester's 2024 Planning Guides, European digital leaders expect their companies to spend a staggering average of 28% of their organization's digital budget on services in the next year.
Forrester's Planning Guides serve as valuable resources, offering relevant benchmark operational data and providing recommendations for strategically reallocating budget resources in the area to experiment, deepen, or divest in the upcoming year.
The following are notable insights garnered from Forrester's 2024 Planning Guides.
-
B2B customer composition and practices have evolved. Consequently, go-to-market strategies must also evolve. In 2024, businesses should develop intuitive online experiences that enable consumers to purchase products independently via marketplaces, websites, and app stores. They should also consider recruiting a revenue operations leader to promote tighter alignment between organizational functions in order to maximize customer value.
-
Leaders must use AI to improve efficiency and effectiveness to deliver increased consumer value. This includes the use of synthetic data for training and refining AI models, as well as AI-powered TuringBots for developing and providing higher-quality client software more quickly and affordably. Thus, AI strategies and tools delivering customer value are one area to increase investment in 2024.
-
The accelerated development of generative AI in business will compel organizations to experiment with autonomous workplace assistants (AWAs) in order to boost workplace productivity and innovation.
-
Security leaders should investigate new AI and machine learning security frameworks and vendors in order to both maximize generative AI's potential and mitigate its risks.
European economic indicators are pointing in ambiguous, counterintuitive, and contradictory directions — making it difficult for business leaders to plan their budget investments for the year ahead.
- Laura Koetzle, VP and Group Research Director at Forrester
Despite the ongoing economic turbulence, Koetzle stated, European executives who prioritize investments that boost efficiency, differentiate themselves from the competition, and generate value for customers would benefit greatly. She mentioned that Forrester's Planning Guides give business executives thorough advice on where to put money into, hold back on, and strategically try new things in order to expand and prosper in the upcoming year.