It’s easy to conflate real-time interaction management (RTIM) with personalization tactics, but it goes far deeper. Forrester defines RTIM as:

Enterprise marketing technology that delivers contextually relevant experiences, value, and utility at the appropriate moment in the customer lifecycle via preferred customer touchpoints.

RTIM enables next best experience (NBX) decision-making in the face of changing customer needs and behaviors. It focuses on delivering successful customer outcomes to achieve business objectives. It’s not just about acquisition and conversion. RTIM supports digital self-service and human-assisted channels across all customer-facing roles.

There has never been a greater need for RTIM investments. As my colleague Sucharita Kodali advises in Vast, Fast, And Relentless: Consumer Buying Enters A New Era (2022), today’s pandemic is tomorrow’s climate change, supply chain, or geopolitical situation. You need a long-term strategy that enables you to adjust nimbly to ever-changing consumer demands against the backdrop of shifting economies, climate change, and natural and human-caused catastrophes.

RTIM enables agile approaches to meet rapidly changing customer expectations. But RTIM is more than a single platform. It’s an enterprisewide challenge involving significant investments in both technology and people. Successful RTIM environments evolve over many years and require multiple integrations. But those who brave the journey cite substantial long-term ROI that can exceed half a billion dollars.

Announcing The Forrester Wave™: Real-Time Interaction Management, Q2 2022

To help you traverse the RTIM landscape, The Forrester Wave™: Real-Time Interaction Management, Q2 2022 is now live. It identifies the 14 most significant RTIM vendors — ActionIQ, Adobe, CSG, HCL Software, Microsoft, NGDATA, Pegasystems, Precisely, Qualtrics, Salesforce, Redpoint Global, SAS, Thunderhead, and Treasure Data — and scores them across 28 criteria. You can use this report to identify the RTIM capabilities that matter most when it comes to elevating your approach to real-time, personalized customer experiences.

For a deeper dive into our evaluation, please register and join our Forrester RTIM webinar on July 14. Our webinar will also feature insights from RTIM users — real-world customer references for vendors participating in the study. Nearly half are financial services firms, but customer references span multiple vertical sectors. Look for a follow-up report this summer that will detail RTIM customer feedback, challenges, and trends. And stay tuned for an additional report dedicated to RTIM in the financial services sector.

If you want a broader view of the RTIM space, our Now Tech: Real-Time Interaction Management, Q4 2021 features 42 vendors. It covers five RTIM segments:

  1. NBX decision engines
  2. Customer journey orchestration
  3. Cross-channel marketing hubs
  4. Customer data platforms
  5. Personalization engines

And as always, feel free to schedule an inquiry if you’d like to talk in depth about our research findings or the various vendors in the RTIM space.