Social media is an amazing way to follow the real-time thoughts from some of the best CX leaders. Here are 16 great influences you should start following!

1. Top Analysts
Covering the
Customer Experience
for 2018
Sponsored by:
Call-Back Solutions for the Call Center
Learn More at www.fonolo.com

2. “These analysts are able to find and evaluate customer experience solutions
for every industry, and deliver them to businesses in ways that actually
make sense.
SHAI BERGER
Co-Founder & CEO, Fonolo

3. CONGRATULATIONS!
1. Bruce Temkin
2. Ed Thompson
3. Elizabeth Herrell
4. Esteban Kolsky
5. Harley Manning
6. Jim Davies
7. Kate Leggett
8. Megan Burns
9. Natalie Petouhoff
10. Omer Minkara
11. Paul Hagen
12. Peter Ryan
13. Richard Snow
14. Sheryl Kingstone
15. Steve Blood
16. Sumair Dutta
* Listed in alphabetical order

4. BRUCE TEMKIN
“Don’t waste customers’ time asking them questions unless you are
prepared to act on what they say.
Managing Partner, Temkin Group
Focus: Customer Experience
Web: http://temkingroup.com/

5. ED THOMPSON
“A superior customer experience is one of the few remaining means
of sustainable competitive differentiation as the effects of
globalization take their toll.
VP and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner
Focus: CRM strategy & CX management
Web: https://www.gartner.com/analyst/7089/Ed-
Thompson

6. ELIZABETH HERRELL
“Despite the growing complexity of channels, customers demand
simplicity in their experiences. This customer-centric cohesion
requires a new paradigm in user experience. Get ready to make
the shift as the front office comes to the back office to form a new
engagement strategy.
President, Communication Initiatives
Focus: Unified and social communications, contact
centers, customer experience.
Web: https://constellationr.com/users/eherrell

7. 9 Critical Contact Center
Trends for 2018
Download Your Copy

8. ESTEBAN KOLSKY
“The bottom line is most people cannot make customers happy
because they’re not really trying to make them happy. You have to
get to the point where you have balance. It’s got to be a win-win
situation. Customer’s need to get what they want. But you also
need to keep your business sustainable.
Principal & Founder, ThinkJar LLC
Focus: Customer experience and customer strategies
Web: http://estebankolsky.com/

9. HARLEY MANNING
“Superior CX drives superior revenue growth in industries where
customers are free to switch business and competitors deliver a
differentiated customer experience.
VP, Research Director, Forrester Research
Focus: Customer experience practice
Web: https://www.forrester.com/Harley-Manning

10. JIM DAVIES
“VoC is now being viewed as a must-have strategy… the focus on
understanding customers by listening to them and using that
understanding to market differently, sell differently, support
differently… a lot of companies are now realizing they can’t really
differentiate by traditional means, but really understanding the
customer can help them to do that.
Research Director, Gartner
Focus: CRM
Web: https://www.gartner.com/analyst/16473/Jim-
Davies

11. CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS ARE
VERY HIGH

12. KATE LEGGETT
“Customer service leaders know that the right knowledge, right
answers, delivered at the right time is critical to a successful
interaction. When done correctly, knowledge- curated or tribal –
can be used to personalize an interaction, reduce handle time,
increase customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, customer
engagement, and ultimately drive conversion and revenue.
VP, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
Focus: Customer service research
Web: https://www.forrester.com/kate-leggett

13. MEGAN BURNS
“I think of CX as the 'eat healthy and exercise' of the business
world. Everyone buys-in to the idea of treating customers well, at
least in public. What they don’t do is change their behavior or
encourage change in the people who work for them.
Customer & Employee Experience Expert
Focus: Customer experience and human behavior
Web: http://www.mburnsenterprises.com/

14. NATALIE PETOUHOFF
“Brands must recognize that the hardwiring of customers’ brains
and their neurological desire for flow and ease of use are part of
their expectations. Companies must come to terms with the
economic imperative of the customer experience or risk losing
customers to the competition.
Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation
Research, Inc.
Focus: Customer service, CRM, contact centers
Web: http://www.drnatalienews.com/

15. Say companies need to put
more work into providing a
seamless experience.
Source: Zendesk
87%

16. OMER MINKARA
“Messaging in customer service has evolved from a nice-to-have
into a must-have capability. When incorporated seamlessly within
omni-channel programs messaging helps firms retain more
consumers and grow client spend.
Vice President & Principal Analyst at Aberdeen Group
Focus: Customer experience across multiple channels
Web: http://www.aberdeen.com/_aberdeen/app/analysts/Omer-
Minkara/165/bio.aspx

17. PAUL HAGEN
“An effective way to ensure that experiences meet customers'
needs is to bring customers and frontline employees into the
design process through co-creation. When they are face-to-face
with a design team, customers can provide … firsthand accounts of
what they want and seeds of ideas to build upon...
Senior Principal; Head of Customer Experience &
Innovation Strategy, West Monroe Partners
Focus: Customer experience strategy
Web: http://blog.westmonroepartners.com/author/phagen/

18. PETER RYAN
“Contact center outsourcers interested in targeting laggard e-
commerce markets such as Canada should look at the evolution of
countries in which online shopping and associated multichannel
consumer support are more common (such as the UK or the US).
Principal at Ryan Strategic Advisory
Focus: Business process outsourcing and CRM technology
Web: http://ryanadvisory.com/

19. 63% OF
CUSTOMERS
PREFER
GETTING A
CALL-BACK
TO WAITING
ON HOLD

20. RICHARD SNOW
“Organizations must consider systems that help them build smart
mobile apps that can automatically connect to a contact center
agent at the click of a button without losing the context of what the
customers was doing in the app.
VP and Research Director, Ventana Research
Focus: Business process outsourcing and CRM technology
Web: https://blog.ventanaresearch.com/author/richard-snow

21. SHERYL KINGSTONE
“It's about the interaction, not just the next best offer. With
technologies like Bluetooth Smart, entire shopping lists can be
delivered on-demand based on a particular grocery store and lists
can be dynamically organized based on in-store location.
Director, 451 Research
Focus: Customer experience strategies, cross-channel
communications, mobile experiences
Web: https://451research.com/analyst-team/analyst/Sheryl+Kingstone

22. SUMAIR DUTTA
“The traditional driver for self-service investments was cost
elimination and the reduction of the burden on the service
organization. Now, there is the realization that customers often
resort to self-service channels as a first attempt.
Research Analyst Covering Customer Service and
Customer Experience, The Service Council
Focus: WFM, contact centers, multi-channel support
Web: http://servicecouncil.com/

23. STEVE BLOOD
“The UC market continues to consolidate as digital workplace
employees look for new and different ways of working.
Research VP at Gartner
Unified communications, collaboration, contact center
Web: https://www.gartner.com/analyst/18762/Steve-Blood

24. CALL-BACK SOLUTIONS FOR THE CALL CENTER