Forrester senior analyst Cinny Little said companies have to think differently to succeed in a digital era.  

But it's easier said than done. In an interview at CMSWire's second annual DX Summit in Chicago, Little said companies "have a hard time getting out of their own way and getting out of the silos that have been built over time."

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"Let's take digital analytics as one example. Companies tend to spend money on digital analytics within channel silos — web, mobile. And that has a self-propelling propensity in that the budget stays in that silo, the people stay in that silo and it can be very difficult for customers to do what they need to be doing which is looking across those channels the way customers do."

Little helps firms strategize, organize, and optimize how they use customer data to derive actionable insights that improve business results. Her research focuses on using customer insights to attract and serve customers, increase customer profitability, and inform product and service development.