Join us on November 9 to learn how to successfully innovate and achieve efficiency by upskilling and scaling citizen developers at the Low-Code/No-Code Summit. Forrester Research's recently-released predictions report for artificial intelligence highlights what most have already observed: AI adoption has evolved from an emerging, nice-to-have trend to experiment with to a legitimate, must-do priority for enterprises. Basically, get on board the AI train or be left behind. The "get on board with AI now" message has been hammered home for several years, but this year's stats do seem to point to a significant evolution: According to Forrester's Data and Analytics Survey, 2022 [subscription required], 73% of data and analytics decision-makers are building AI technologies and 74% see a positive impact on their organizations from the use of AI. No vertical industry is failing to find opportunities to implement AI, and companies at all maturity levels are transforming fundamental functions in the organization, the predictions report found, while in 2023 AI adoption will "continue to expand and be more creative, trustworthy and optimized."

I have a colleague who was refinancing his house a couple months ago. He was working with one of the top five U.S. banks that he's been banking with for his entire adult life. The mortgage branch of the bank required him to send documentation confirming that he was a customer of the bank. After decades of being a loyal customer, being asked to prove that you've been a loyal customer is frustrating enough to go bank elsewhere. If you define customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) as two distinct entities, you may think that the "mobile form downloads" that were available to my colleague was a great customer experience because he didn't have to go into the branch to submit the documents.

Every ad tech vendor claims they have built Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their solution. Machine learning holds incredible promise, but how much do you really know about it? Get clarity on some of AI's most misunderstood terms like unsupervised learning, deep learning, and neural networks. Learn from the experts at Forrester so you can more accurately assess the AI expertise of vendors and their solutions, and avoid pitfalls that have befallen other companies.

Every financial marketer enjoys access to a free source of consumer input that can help guide their decisions -- their own judgment. And sometimes it takes guts to listen to one's instincts when the prevailing "wisdom" says otherwise. "Remember that you're a consumer as well as a marketer. Have you been annoyed or put off by an ad? Conversely, have you experienced something excellent? Bring your experiences as a consumer into the conversation and encourage others to do the same," comments Forrester in a thematic report "The Self-Defeating Marketer: How to Put an End to Marketing Dissonance."

Enterprise-wide deployments of AI are constrained by the requirements of scaling any new system or technology: transparency, security, and the application's ability to work across many systems. But solving for these challenges is not enough. Every organization that develops or uses AI, or hosts or processes data, must do so in ways that allow them to rationalize the decisions or recommendations in a way that is easily consumable. Much like an impressionable child, new technologies like AI are prone to influence by the nature of the information and data sets with which they are presented. Or, AI models could be unknowingly fed biased data that affects their output.

As the new technology keeps booming, innovation in customer service follows. Many of us take the time to reflect on the milestones achieved in the past, and also look ahead to what the future has in store. How many changes will it bring about for those in customer service? Are chatbots and virtual agents likely to replace humans any time soon? And if so, what does the future hold for human CSRs and what will be the role of AI in customer service then?

Here are Forrester's predictions, recommendations, competitive opportunities, organizational shortcomings, and suggested strategic action plans for the year ahead. While 2018 will undoubtedly bring more digital developments, few financial institutions will do enough to truly differentiate their brands and remain relevant to customers. That's the dire warning Forrester issues to banking provider who aren't prepared for the changes occurring in the marketplace. In the report, "Predictions 2018: Financial Services Companies Get Serious About Digital Transformation," Forrester says financial services firms must make the internal adjustments needed to differentiate their organization. In their forecast of the financial services environment for 2018, Forrester shares 16 predictions and recommendations regarding external threats, competitive opportunities and organizational shortcomings, as well as recommended strategic action plans for each prediction.

According to Forrester, 2018 will be a challenge for most financial services organizations, with external forces and internal stagnation impacting profits and the ability to remain competitive. In the report, "Predictions 2018: Financial Services Companies Get Serious About Digital Transformation," Forrester issues a dire warning to organizations not prepared for the external changes occurring in the marketplace, or not willing to make internal adjustments that will differentiate their organization. According to Forrester, "Most companies will spend 2018 working on new initiatives to better win, serve, and engage customers, as regulators continue to promote competition. But while 2018 will bring many digital upgrades, few financial services companies will do enough to truly differentiate their brands and remain relevant to customers." In this early forecast of the financial services environment for 2018, Forrester shares 16 predictions and recommendations regarding external threats, competitive opportunities and organizational shortcomings, as well as recommended strategic action plans for each prediction.

Move over desktop: Mobile is the future of online purchases and commerce, thanks to its ability to connect with location-based and personalized data. Forrester's new report "Predictions 2017: Mobile is the Face of Digital," scheduled to be publicly released Tuesday, explains that mobile has become the new pathway for consumers find brands -- and it is moving past the traditional social media app. Advertisers will increasingly use mobile to connect next year using chatbots, other artificial intelligence-enabled platforms like Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa and messaging apps, the report said. The company previously said that people spend more than two hours a day on mobile, and that by 2019 the majority of our billion websites will be on mobile. "The magic of mobile is the immediacy," said Julie Ask, principal analyst at Forrester and co-author of the report.