Forrester: Slower Overall Spending Mixed With A Turbulent Economy Will Make 2023 Planning Difficult To Navigate

Rhea-AI Summary

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) has released its 2023 Planning Guides, emphasizing that businesses anticipating modest spending increases may not succeed amidst economic turbulence. The Guides assist executives in making informed budget decisions by highlighting areas for increased investment, including customer insights and cost-reducing technologies. They also address necessary cuts, particularly in technical debt and low-quality data partners. Notably, the Guides encourage experimentation with emerging technologies like the metaverse and intelligent agents to enhance customer experiences.

Positive

• Provides actionable insights for efficient budget allocation.
• Identifies specific investment areas for growth in customer insights and engagement.
• Encourages experimentation with innovative technologies, promoting potential new avenues for revenue.

Negative

• Suggests potential challenges in achieving business goals due to economic instability.
• Recommends cutting back on technical debt, which may signal inefficiencies in current operations.

Forrester's Planning Guides provide benchmark data and insights to help technology, marketing, digital, CX, product and sales leaders prioritize 2023 budget investments  

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Forrester's (Nasdaq: FORR) 2023 Planning Guides, released today, business leaders who plan for "business as usual" modest spending increases in the year ahead will fall short. Indeed, due to an unpredictable and turbulent economy, leaders will need to tackle planning with discipline and precision in order to trim waste, experiment, and make bold, smart investments. 

Designed to help technology, marketing, digital, customer experience (CX), product, and sales executives prioritize their resources and investments for the year ahead, Planning Guides will be available for all 15 services included in the Forrester Decisions portfolio. Using data-driven insights, Planning Guides will enable functional leaders to prioritize spending that maximizes revenue growth, profitability, and resilience. 

The reports highlight where to increase investment and cut spending, as well as which emerging technologies to experiment with in 2023. Key insights from Forrester's 2023 Planning Guides include: 

Areas to increase investment in 2023: 

• Customer insights and engagement. With 2023 unlikely to look like any past recession, many assumptions about customers and their behavior will be rendered useless. Leaders should invest in new customer data and analytics tools, such as experience research platforms (XPRs), to sharpen audience targeting strategies. 
• Technologies that improve CX and reduce costs. Current economic headwinds will require focusing on technology tuned for optimization and resilience. Leaders should invest in tools that drive loyalty and reduce operational costs, such as robotic process automation (RPA) and agent-assist apps.

Areas to decrease investment in 2023:  

• Technical debt — including cloud. Many thought the cloud would be the antidote to technical debt, but yesterday's lifted-and-shifted workloads are now debt themselves given how inefficient to operate and difficult to upgrade they are. In 2023, leaders should consider early cloud deployments as candidates for technical debt reductions.  
• Low-quality data partners and innovation outsourcing. Partners will continue to play an important role in growth, but two key areas are ripe for cuts. As the quality of third-party data continues to drop, leaders should streamline these partnerships to only those that add value to customer relationships. Second, firms that relied too heavily on partners for digital innovation during the pandemic-induced digital sprint should bring more innovation in house. 

Areas for experimentation in 2023: 

• Extended reality, the metaverse, and Web3 that offer immersive experiences. These interlinked — and arguably overhyped — technologies hold the promise of immersive experiences linked to token-based ecosystems that use cryptocurrencies and public blockchains. Leaders in consumer industries should experiment with metaverse precursor platforms such as Roblox and Decentral to open doors to new audiences.  
• Intelligent agents that make experiences more human. An intelligent agent (IA) can make decisions or perform a service based on its environment, user input, and experiences. Leaders should plan to experiment with IAs on an ongoing basis to utilize their full potential.

"Leaders are faced with navigating a tumultuous business landscape defined by global unrest, supply chain instability and soaring inflation, as well as the ongoing aftermath of the pandemic," said Sharyn Leaver, chief research officer at Forrester. "Tackling 2023 budget planning is a daunting task, but Forrester's Planning Guides will help leaders make more strategic and disciplined decisions to drive business growth at a time of such uncertainty." 

Resources:  

• Download Forrester's overarching 2023 Planning Guide here. 
• Explore the 2023 Planning Guides hub here. 
• Read about 2023 budgeting trends across functions in this blog. 

About Forrester  
Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We help leaders across technology, customer experience, digital, marketing, sales, and product functions use customer obsession to accelerate growth. Through Forrester's proprietary research, consulting, and events, leaders from around the globe are empowered to be bold at work — to navigate change and put their customers at the center of their leadership, strategy, and operations. Our unique insights are grounded in annual surveys of more than 700,000 consumers, business leaders, and technology leaders worldwide; rigorous and objective research methodologies, including Forrester Wave™ evaluations; 70 million real-time feedback votes; and the shared wisdom of our clients. To learn more, visit Forrester.com.  

Press contact 
Hannah Segvich hsegvich@forrester.com  

  

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SOURCE Forrester

FAQ

What are Forrester's 2023 Planning Guides?

Forrester's 2023 Planning Guides offer benchmark data and insights for budget prioritization in technology, marketing, and sales.

What investment areas does Forrester recommend for 2023?

Forrester recommends increasing investments in customer insights, engagement, and technologies that enhance customer experience.

What areas should executives reduce spending in 2023 according to Forrester?

Forrester advises cutting investments in technical debt, including cloud services, and low-quality data partnerships.

What technologies should businesses experiment with in 2023?

Forrester suggests experimenting with extended reality, the metaverse, and intelligent agents to enhance customer interactions.

How does Forrester view the economic climate for 2023?

Forrester suggests that leaders will face challenges due to global unrest, supply chain issues, and inflation, complicating budget planning.