HfS Research believes that the marketing operations and digital CEM market will converge to focus on helping client organizations respond to the new consumer truths that ‘digital’ is spearheading. These truths include: the ways consumers learn about, experience and discuss brands; respond to promotions; make purchase decisions; and interact and engage with brands over their lifetimes. In the emerging “As-A-Service Economy,” HfS Research sees an increased convergence of the consumer-oriented business functions of marketing, sales, and customer care to serve the end customer.
- Organizations will accomplish this through enabling technologies and innovative service frameworks that create new opportunities for collaboration and redefine the omni-channel customer experience – from brand awareness, campaign personalization, lead nurturing, customer acquisition, and service support to long-term engagement and retention.
- All of these areas of activity are focused on the customer experience, and, in the digital world (instead of in the marketing, sales, and customer care departments / functions dictating the experience that they receive), customers are increasingly participating as leaders, either consciously or unconsciously, by their actions. This shift is compelling these departments to use data, analytics, and technology to work together in new ways and to treat the end consumer more consistently across all functions and channels.
