The Forrester Wave - Customer Analytics Solutions, Q1 2016

For Customer Insights Professionals
The Forrester Wave: Customer Analytics

Solutions, Q1 2016
The 11 Providers That Matter Most And How They Stack Up
by Brandon Purcell
March 7, 2016
Why Read This Report
Key Takeaways
In our 33-criteria evaluation of customer analytics

vendors, we identified the 11 most significant
software providers in this category Adobe,
AgilOne, Alteryx, Angoss, FICO, IBM, Manthan,
Pitney Bowes, SAP, SAS, and Teradata and
researched, analyzed, and scored them. This
evaluation details our findings about how well
each vendor fulfills our criteria and where
each vendor stands in relation to each other.
This report will help customer insights (CI)
professionals and marketers make the right
choice for their customer analytics needs.
CI Pros Rely On Customer Analytics Tools To

Understand Customer Behavior
CI pros use customer analytics solutions to derive
valuable insights from customer data. These tools
perform multiple activities: descriptive analytics
such as customer segmentation, predictive
analytics such as propensity modeling, and data
integration of different types of data.
Four Vendors Lead The Pack With
Comprehensive Offerings
Forresters research uncovered a market in which
SAS, IBM, Adobe, and Pitney Bowes lead the
pack. SAP, FICO, Teradata, Angoss, Alteryx, and
Manthan offer competitive options, and AgilOne
is close on the heels of these Strong Performers.
Leading Solutions Enable And Accelerate The
Insights Life Cycle
The goal of customer analytics is to turn data
into insight, insight into action, and also learn
and optimize the results. The ability to manage
and integrate data from multiple sources, quickly
uncover valuable insights, take action on those
insights, and measure success dictates which
providers lead the pack.
forrester.com
The Forrester Wave: Customer Analytics Solutions, Q1 2016

by Brandon Purcell
with Srividya Sridharan, Megan Doerr, and Tyler Thurston
March 7, 2016
Table Of Contents
2 You Dont Need A Ph.D. For Advanced
Customer Analytics
Dont Assume You Can Use Traditional
Analytics To Uncover Deep Customer Insights
4 Customer Analytics Solutions Evaluation
Overview
Evaluation Criteria Focus On The Breadth And
Depth Customer Analytics Use Cases
Included Vendors Cater To Business Users
And Data Scientists Alike
7 Approaches To The Insights Life Cycle Differ
Significantly
9 Vendor Profiles
Notes & Resources

Forrester conducted product evaluations in
November and December 2015 and evaluated
eleven vendor companies: Adobe, AgilOne,
Alteryx, Angoss, FICO, IBM, Manthan, Pitney
Bowes, SAP, SAS, and Teradata.
Related Research Documents

Deciphering A Fragmented Customer Analytics
Ecosystem
The Forrester Wave: Big Data Predictive
Analytics Solutions, Q2 2015
The Forrester Wave: Customer Analytics
Solutions, Q4 2012
TechRadar: Customer Analytics Methods, Q1
2014
Leaders
Strong Performers
Contenders
14 Supplemental Material
Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA

+1 617-613-6000 | Fax: +1 617-613-5000 | forrester.com
2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester,
Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester
Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Unauthorized copying or
distributing is a violation of copyright law. Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
March 7, 2016

You Dont Need A Ph.D. For Advanced Customer Analytics

In the age of the customer, understanding your customers to anticipate their needs, meet their
expectations, and address their pain points is critical.1 Whether CI pros sit in the marketing
organization, a line of business (LoB), or in a centralized customer intelligence team, it is their job to
employ advanced customer analytics to generate this insight.
But often data scientists and Ph.D.s with knowledge of advanced analytical algorithms and
programming languages such as R and Python are more adept at wrestling with mountains of messy
customer data. Since the demand for these data scientists far exceeds supply, this job is increasingly
the responsibility of marketers and CI pros who need marketer-friendly tools for data management
and analytics. In fact, our data shows that among North American marketing decision-makers, 44%
either agree or strongly agree with the statement I dont have the right set of customer and marketing
analytics tools to help me produce and execute insights. Another 28% responded neutrally to the
statement, leaving just over a quarter of marketers with the tools they need.2 This presents a big
market opportunity for analytics technology providers who must:
Power systems of insight. If data is the fuel for systems of insights, then customer analytics is the
engine, transforming data into insights that drive customer interactions. As customers interact with
brands online, on mobile, or in stores, customer analyses are occurring in real time to determine
the best messages, offers, and products to deliver to them. Systems of insight then automatically
recalibrate by learning from the success or failure of these interactions.3 To operate optimally,
customer analytics solutions should sit at the center of systems of insight and integrate seamlessly
with data warehouses and execution systems (see Figure 1).
Address the entire customer life cycle. Until recently, most firms focused their analytical efforts
on customer acquisition. In the age of the customer, however, marketers and CI pros need to focus
on all phases of the customer life cycle. This means that in addition to offering acquisition analytics
like lookalike targeting, customer analytics solutions providers need to offer analytical methods
that help improve the customer experience, drive retention and loyalty, enable personalization, and
deliver contextual marketing as well.4
Focus on the business user. Because most marketers and CI pros are not familiar with
programming languages, customer analytics vendors offer graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that
provide a visual, intuitive analytical process. Marketers can now perform tasks that historically
demanded specialized skill sets, such as data preparation or predictive modeling using automated
or wizard-based functionality. Even the process of data preparation, where data scientists typically
spend up to 80% of their time and effort, is now accessible to marketers and CI pros.5
2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law.
Citations@forrester.com or +1 866-367-7378
March 7, 2016

Dont Assume You Can Use Traditional Analytics To Uncover Deep Customer Insights
Advanced customer analytics needs a new, different breed of analytical methods that leverages
machine learning and other advanced analytical techniques to find valuable patterns and anomalies
in customer data.6 Statisticians used to have to rely on a statistically representative sample of a
population to test hypotheses and draw conclusions about the entire population. Thanks to significant
advancements in computer storage and processing capabilities, CI pros can now analyze an entire
population at once.7 Additionally, customer analytics differs from traditional analytics by:
Delivering output at the customer level. While traditional analytics deliver aggregated results in
the form of dashboards and reports, the outputs of customer analytics are typically individual scores
or segments for each customer. This difference requires a mind shift in terms of where to store these
insights in a data warehouse, and how to operationalize them at an individual customer level.8 For
instance, brands such as McCormick & Company, MiniUSA, and Nike are using contextual
marketing engines to drive real-time personalized interactions with individual customers.9
Predicting the future. Traditionally, analysts looked at data about the past to better understand
the past. Today, analysts are finding patterns in data about the past to predict and anticipate the
future. For instance, many telecoms have mature customer attrition models that assign customers
a propensity to churn and dictate which incentives to give customers to stay.10 Similarly, predictive
models can also determine the content and distribution lists of cross-sell and upsell email
campaigns. Analytics-savvy marketers are using customer lookalike modeling to target prospects
with high predicted lifetime values. Customer experience pros are joining the predictive party as
well, attempting to anticipate and optimize key CX metrics like engagement and satisfaction.11
Leveraging new data types and sources. In addition to operating on traditional structured CRM
data, customer analytics also leverages semi structured and unstructured data from transactional
systems, digital properties, Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices, customer feedback
channels, social media and other emerging sources. Including these new data types and sources
in analyses is essential for producing a 360-degree view of the customer. Unfortunately, most
companies only use 27% of their semi structured data and 31% of their unstructured data for
business insights and decision-making.12
March 7, 2016

FIGURE 1 Customer Analytics Is The Engine Driving Systems Of Insight
Customer analytics
Insights team
All data
Possible
actions
Insights-to-execution
Right
data
process
Effective
actions
Digital insights
architecture
Customer Analytics Solutions Evaluation Overview

To assess the state of the customer analytics solutions market and see how the vendors stack up against
each other, Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of top customer analytics vendors.
Evaluation Criteria Focus On The Breadth And Depth Customer Analytics Use Cases
After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we
developed a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria. We evaluated vendors against 33 criteria, which
we grouped into three high-level buckets:
Current offering. Each vendors position on the vertical axis of the Forrester Wave graphic
indicates the strength of its current customer analytics offering. We looked at the strength of each
vendors functionality, analytics production (data to insights), analytics activation (insights to action
and decisions), customer analytics use cases, delivery methods, and professional services.
Strategy. A vendors position on the horizontal axis indicates Forresters assessment of its strategy
and approach to the market. We compared the product and corporate strategies of each vendor in
the context of Forresters vision for the customer analytics market to assess how well each vendor
is serving the current needs of the customer analytics market, as well as anticipating future needs
through product investments and partnership strategies.
March 7, 2016

Market presence. To determine the size of each vendors customer analytics business, we
evaluated the vendors target market, total revenue for the product(s), the size of each vendors
current customer base, new customer growth, and the number of employees devoted to its
customer analytics product(s).
Included Vendors Cater To Business Users And Data Scientists Alike
Forrester included 11 vendors in the assessment: Adobe, AgilOne, Alteryx, Angoss, FICO, IBM,
Manthan, Pitney Bowes, SAP, SAS, and Teradata. Each of these vendors (see Figure 2):
Provides a comprehensive customer analytics software solution. Each vendor included in this
Forrester Wave evaluation has a branded proprietary technology platform or product that enables
customer insights professionals and marketers to perform key customer analytics methods such as
customer segmentation, customer lifetime value analysis, churn and attrition analysis etc.
Turn customer data into insights and insights into action. The customer analytics solutions
included in this evaluation are able to ingest customer data from a wide variety of disparate
sources, enable data preparation and visualization, possess a user interface that is intuitive for the
business user as well as the data scientist, and facilitate effective distribution of insights across
the organization.
Empowers the business user with advanced customer analytics. The vendors we included offer
a solution that delivers customer analytics to the marketing and customer insights organization with
buyers and users supporting a customer or marketing insights type of role.
Serves large enterprises in multiple verticals. Each vendor included in this Forrester Wave
evaluation possesses a significant base of enterprise-class clients across at least three different
industry verticals.
March 7, 2016

FIGURE 2 Evaluated Vendors: Product Information And Selection Criteria

Version
release date
Vendor
Product evaluated
Adobe
Adobe Analytics Premium Complete

And suite of complementary analytics solutions
AgilOne
AgilOne Predictive Marketing Cloud
Alteryx
Alteryx Analytics which includes Alteryx Designer, Alteryx

Analytics Gallery, Alteryx Server
Q4 2015
Angoss
KnowledgeStudio Version 9.5

KnowledgeSeeker Version 9.5
Q4 2015
FICO
FICO Model Builder 7.5

FICO Analytic Modeler Scorecard 3.0
FICO Analytic Modeler Scorecard Professional 6.0
IBM
IBM Predictive Customer Intelligence 1.1.2

Q4 2015
Manthan
Customer360
TargetOne
Q4 2015
Pitney Bowes
Spectrum Technology Platform V10.1

Portrait Miner
Uplift and Explorer V6.1
Q4 2015
SAP
SAP Predictive Analytics 2.3

SAP Hana (SPS 10) In-Memory Analytics Platform
SAP Hybris Marketing version 1511
Q4 2015
SAS
SAS Customer Intelligence

SAS Customer Intelligence 360
SAS Analytics Pro Package
SAS Enterprise Miner
Q4 2015
Teradata Aster Analytics including Aster Analytic Portfolio

6.20
Teradata Customer Interaction Manager (CIM)
Q4 2015
Teradata
Q4 2015
Q4 2015
Q4 2015
March 7, 2016

FIGURE 2 Evaluated Vendors: Product Information And Selection Criteria (Cont.)

Vendor selection criteria
1. The vendor provides a comprehensive customer analytics solution that enables customer insights
professionals and marketers to perform key customer analytics methods such as customer
segmentation, customer lifetime value analysis, churn and attrition analysis etc.
2. The vendor has a solution that ingests customer data from a wide variety of disparate sources,
enables data preparation and visualization, possesses a user interface that is intuitive for the business
user as well as the data scientist, and facilitates distribution of insights across the organization.
3. The vendor focuses on delivering customer analytics to the marketing and customer insights
organization with buyers and users supporting a customer or marketing insights type of role.
4. The vendor possesses a significant base of enterprise-class clients across at least three different
industry verticals.
Approaches To The Insights Life Cycle Differ Significantly

Forresters evaluation of customer analytics solutions uncovered a market with four Leaders, six Strong
Performers, and one Contender (see Figure 3):
SAS, IBM, Adobe, and Pitney Bowes lead the pack. Its not surprising that SAS, IBM, and Pitney
Bowes are Leaders in this evaluation. They have continued to enhance their solutions since our
last evaluation in 2012.13 They demonstrate their commitment to customer analytics by adapting
their solutions to meet clients ever-changing data, business, and deployment needs. Adobe is the
newest member of this group, and its appearance here is largely due to adapting its successful
digital analytics capabilities to cross-channel customer analytics, as well as its singular focus on
user experience.14
SAP, FICO, Teradata, Angoss, Alteryx, and Manthan offer competitive options. It would be
highly misleading to assume all six vendors in this category offer similar solutions. SAP and FICO
are focused on large enterprise and offer dual interfaces an intuitive one for the marketer, and
another for the advanced user of data scientist. Angoss and Alteryx offer analytics workbenches
that firms often deploy in conjunction with larger scale tools. Teradata scored high because of its
robust functionality, big data capabilities, and Aster AppCenter for sharing analytical processes.
Manthan, a relatively new solution, impressed with its business user-friendly interface and out-ofthe-box metrics.
AgilOne vies for customer attention. AgilOne barely missed the cut to be a Strong Performer,
but dont be fooled. Its commitment to providing users with a prescribed set of analytical results
resonates with marketers who would rather focus on insight activation than insight generation.
March 7, 2016

This evaluation of the customer analytics solutions market is intended to be a starting point only.
We encourage clients to view detailed product evaluations and adapt criteria weightings to fit their
individual needs through the Forrester Wave Excel-based vendor comparison tool.
FIGURE 3 Forrester Wave: Customer Analytics Solutions, Q1 16
Challengers Contenders
Strong
Strong
Performers
Leaders
IBM
SAP
SAS
Pitney Bowes
Teradata
Angoss
FICO
Adobe
Go to Forrester.com to
download the Forrester
Wave tool for more
detailed product
evaluations, feature
comparisons, and
customizable rankings.
Alteryx
Manthan
AgilOne
Current
offering
Market presence
Weak
Weak
Strategy
Strong
March 7, 2016

Forresters
Weighting
Adobe
AgilOne
Alteryx
Angoss
FICO
IBM
Manthan
Pitney Bowes
SAP
SAS
Teradata
FIGURE 3 Forrester Wave: Customer Analytics Solutions, Q1 16 (Cont.)
CURRENT OFFERING
Products included
Functionality
Analytics production
(data to insights)
Analytics activation
(insights to action and decisions)
Customer analytics use cases
Delivery methods
Professional services
50%
0%
40%
20%
3.04
0.00
3.00
2.80
2.23
0.00
2.80
1.00
2.69
0.00
2.52
3.20
3.11
0.00
3.38
2.40
3.19
0.00
3.52
3.20
4.08
0.00
4.58
4.40
2.45
0.00
3.24
1.60
3.73
0.00
3.82
3.60
3.93
0.00
4.40
3.80
4.11
0.00
4.36
5.00
3.12
0.00
3.08
3.00
10%
5.00 3.70 3.00 5.00 3.60 4.30 2.30 5.00 4.30 4.30 3.70
25%
3%
2%
2.20 1.80 2.60 2.20 2.20 3.00 1.80 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00
5.00 1.00 1.00 5.00 5.00 3.00 3.00 5.00 5.00 3.00 3.00
4.00 3.00 3.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 3.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 4.00
STRATEGY
Corporate strategy & vision
Product strategy
Partner ecosystem
50%
50%
40%
10%
4.28
4.00
4.70
4.00
2.96
3.00
2.90
3.00
3.10
3.00
3.00
4.00
2.78
3.00
2.70
2.00
3.76
4.00
3.40
4.00
4.10
4.00
4.00
5.00
3.14
3.00
3.60
2.00
3.52
4.00
3.30
2.00
3.04
3.00
2.60
5.00
4.72
5.00
4.30
5.00
3.08
3.00
2.70
5.00
MARKET PRESENCE
Target market
Revenues for this product(s)
Customers
Employees
0%
10%
20%
50%
20%
4.02
5.00
3.00
4.24
4.00
1.88
3.00
1.00
1.96
2.00
3.06
3.00
2.00
3.92
2.00
1.20
3.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
4.04
5.00
5.00
3.08
5.00
4.76
5.00
5.00
4.52
5.00
1.40
3.00
1.00
1.00
2.00
2.46
5.00
2.00
2.72
1.00
4.18
5.00
3.00
4.16
5.00
4.40
5.00
4.00
4.20
5.00
3.84
5.00
4.00
3.08
5.00
All scores are based on a scale of 0 (weak) to 5 (strong).
Vendor Profiles
Leaders
Consider SAS if you are looking to drive innovation in customer analytics. As the only company
in this evaluation whose sole focus is on analytics, SAS excels at analytics production that is,
turning data into insights. It invests heavily in its customer intelligence suite to ensure that its
solutions anticipate and even drive innovation in this space for marketers. With real-time data
ingestion and integration, regular addition of new algorithms, and a robust selection of model
management and deployment options, the limitations you will encounter with using SAS for customer
analytics are less likely to be with the core functionality than with your teams ability to use them.
Some clients we spoke with did cite issues with usability, saying that at first the user interface
is not a joy ride, but that once it is up and running, its smooth sailing. A few clients also
noted issues integrating with existing marketing technologies, with one client experiencing
March 7, 2016

SAS and Google Analytics fighting each other. On the whole, however, client feedback was
overwhelmingly positive, with clients noting SAS thought leadership in customer analytics and
detailing quantifiable ROI. One client said they attribute profitability increases of up to 30% in some
customer segments to SAS. Brands that view customer analytics as essential to their competitive
strategy should partner with SAS to help them realize this vision.
Consider IBM if your enterprise has diverse data, use cases, and deployment needs. IBM has
a customer analytics solution for everyone. If you are looking for a tool to sort through mountains
of messy customer data, IBM has it. If you are looking for predictive dashboarding, IBM has it. If
you are looking for industry-specific solutions to industry-specific problems using industry-specific
data, IBM has it. If you want to speak to your customer analytics solution like its R2D2 (or BB8 for
fans of Star Wars: The Force Awakens), IBM will likely have it soon (in the form of Watson, which
was not part of this evaluation).15 The challenge with IBM is identifying which solution best meets
your enterprise needs.
According to client references, this confusion in the sheer breadth of analytics-related offerings
is reflected in pricing. Predictive Customer Intelligence (PCI), for instance, is priced based on the
number of customer records, and one client reference found IBMs way of defining a customer
record needlessly painful. Another client reference said he wished IBM would listen to client
feedback more often since it recently deprecated a functionality that (we) were using. IBM
undoubtedly has a strong suite of offerings its challenge going forward will be to effectively
communicate and differentiate those offerings in the market.
Consider Adobe for a sleek marketer-friendly user experience to tie results to action. Adobe
Analytics sits within the Adobe Marketing Cloud, giving marketers and CI pros a one-stop shop for
data management, analysis, and deployment of insights.16 With its origins in web analytics (Adobe
acquired Omniture in 2009), the solution is particularly strong when analyzing data from digital
channels and operationalizing insights through those channels. The tool is specifically designed for
marketers who lack a technical background but would like to surface actionable insights in their
customer data. There is also an interface for data scientists who wish to build custom models then
deploy them to the business user. While Adobe doesnt offer the full array of algorithms the other
Leaders in this evaluation do, its strong performance is due its fluent integration of data, analytics,
and action for digital marketers.
Pricing was the biggest source of frustration in among the clients we spoke with. Client references
unanimously agreed Adobe should simplify its pricing structure. In addition, clients said that
Adobes services were still relatively siloed due to its aggressive acquisition strategy. On the
product side, however, clients complimented Adobes commitment to continual advancement
and were surprised by the companys ability to integrate platforms from many acquisitions.
Several clients noted that Adobe is highly responsive to client feedback when it comes to product
enhancements. Adobe is a good fit for brands looking to use customer analytics in real time to
drive digital marketing.
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March 7, 2016

Consider Pitney Bowes for customer centricity and smooth marketing integration. Pitney
Bowes Portrait Explorer interface, which displays each customer record as a small baseball card
highlighting key attributes of the customer profile, is highly differentiated and puts the customer
literally and visually at the center of all analyses. Pitney Bowes facilitates difficult analytical
processes like data preparation for the less technically savvy marketer or customer insights. With
firm roots in location analytics (due to the acquisition of MapInfo in 2007), Pitney Bowes is wellpositioned to leverage the growing volumes of contextual mobile and IoT data. It also offers a variety
of industry-specific, demographic, and firmographic, data products for further data enrichment.
Client references cited the ability to analyze data from emerging channels and touchpoints as
a key area for improvement. Pitney Bowes does not currently offer text analytics, but it plans
to add that capability. Pitney Bowes more technical clients would like them to add additional
modeling techniques to their offerings, while less technical clients say their training materials
need improvement. All client references were highly satisfied with analytics activation how the
tool integrates with existing marketing applications to execute on insights which is of primary
importance for many brands.
Strong Performers
Consider SAP for either automated modeling or analytics-driven marketing. SAP is a tale of
two products. On the one hand, there is SAP Predictive Analytics, an analytical workbench for
business analysts and data scientists that came from the 2013 KXEN acquisition. Its link analysis
functionality visualizes the correlation between variables, simplifying data exploration. On the
other hand, there is SAP Hybris Marketing, which has modeling functionality of its own, as well as
model management and deployment capabilities. Its strength is in operationalizing models created
within the solution or elsewhere. As a result of these two similar products, SAP faces a significant
strategic challenge they either must clarify the differences between the two or integrate them.
From a functionality perspective, client references bemoaned SAPs lack of ETL abilities, citing
data management as the largest area in need of improvement. Also, while SAPs breadth of
different algorithms is a strength, it is also drawback since clients would like more guidance on
when to employ them. Despite this, all SAPs client references we surveyed said they would not
switch to another vendor for the same or lower price. If SAP clarifies and streamlines its product
strategy, they may very well join the ranks of the customer analytics leaders.
Consider FICO for robust modeling and dual interfaces. FICO Analytic Modeler Scorecard
broadens the accessibility of customer analytics by allowing marketers and CI pros to develop
models using a logical step-by-step approach that overlays business requirements on top of
mathematics. The resulting models appear with explanatory text describing how the model was
built, detailing how it works, and assessing its performance. This circumvents the need for a data
scientist to interpret results and gives CI pros the language they need to explain their analyses to
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March 7, 2016

internal stakeholders. The emphasis on explaining analysis to nontechnical resources throughout

the process is a strong differentiator for FICO. On the other hand, FICO also offers Model Builder
for data scientists looking to do more advanced analytics.
Client references mentioned there is room for improvement in FICOs ability to integrate into
marketing execution systems, saying the analytics activation phase required too much intervention
from IT. Another client said that their pricing model, particularly for large organizations, is
challenging and can be expensive. From an analytical perspective however, clients referenced
FICOs thought leadership and strength in predictive modeling, not surprising for the company that
created and universalized the FICO score. Brands looking for a tool to democratize analytics across
the enterprise may find it with FICO.
Consider Teradata if you have code-savvy analysts and massive amounts of data. Of all the
vendors included in this Forrester Wave evaluation, Teradata is the only one that doesnt offer a
workbench for customer analytics. This means that Teradata Aster Analytics users must know how
to code. On the other hand, Teradatas Customer Interaction Manager is very marketer-friendly and
with Aster provides end-to-end execution of customer analytics and campaign management. From
an analytical perspective, Aster offers an impressive array of algorithms that are optimized to run
at scale on all types of data. Asters AppCenter is a key differentiator and best in class method for
sharing data preparation and modeling processes.
Teradatas client references see a gap in driving analytics to the front line, and would like to be
able to export their models into a real-time streaming infrastructure. Teradata plans to release
a real-time scoring engine to Aster Analytics later this year. It is also developing an analytics
workbench as well as an automatic code generator to democratize the use of Aster. Teradata Aster
can provide firms with rich customer analytics, but firms which are dependent on a visual GUI may
want to wait for Teradata to roll out its new interface for marketers.
Consider Angoss as a standalone or complementary tool for DIY advanced analytics. Angoss
KnowledgeStudio is a powerful analytical tool that allows users to build complex repeatable
analytical processes in an intuitive GUI. Although there is some modeling automation, it is geared
toward an advanced business analyst or data scientist. It offers a wide range of data preparation
capabilities, a necessity for companies looking to mine customer data for insights. Its customer
analytics suite comes to life when paired with other solutions such as its Real-Time Scoring Engine
for model activation. Its strategic partnerships with Tableau for data visualization and reporting
and Lexalytics for Natural Language Processing also add valuable functionality. Plus, given its
comparatively lower price point, Angoss can either work as a standalone solution or in conjunction
with another customer analytics provider.
Overall, client references were very satisfied with Angoss data management and modeling
capabilities, as well as its overall usability. Data visualization within the tool itself could be
improved one client reference said he exports results into Excel for visualization, which Angoss
actually promotes to facilitate collaboration with business decision-makers. Also, client feedback
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March 7, 2016

suggested that Angoss users needed some statistical background and that training in the tool is
essential. We believe that Angoss is a compelling solution for firms looking for low-cost entry into
customer analytics.
Consider Alteryx if youre interested in location or LoB analytics at low cost. Alteryx offers a
less expensive yet robust analytical tool that empowers business users with advanced analytical
algorithms. It is also a strong tool for the messy business of data preparation, and makes data
blending (or joining data from multiple tables) easy for users. Alteryxs partnerships are a
key competitive strength. For firms looking to use geospatial data for contextual marketing, its
partnership with TomTom makes it a compelling option. Strategically, its land and expand model
and partnerships with companies like Tableau and Salesforce have paid off significantly and have
led to dramatic growth over the past three years.
Client references pointed to Alteryxs native data visualization capabilities as an area for
improvement. They would also like to see the company offer more training and community building
among its users, which may improve due to the recent launch of the Alteryx Community. Finally,
they advised potential Alteryx clients to factor in the steep learning curve. For analysts with an
Excel background, it may take three to six months to become fully ramped, but ultimately the gains
in analytical productivity and maturity are worth it.
Consider Manthan for retail analytics at scale. Manthan is very good at what it does. Namely, it
contains 175 prebuilt reports and prides itself on its quick time to insights. It runs on Hadoop and
uses Spark to process massive quantities of data in real time. It also offers a partitioned interface
for marketers, data scientists, and administrators. Its what Manthan doesnt do, however, that may
leave marketers wanting more. While it offers robust retail-specific analyses, it is still building its
capabilities for other verticals. It provides little data preparation functionality and doesnt analyze
text data. It also lacks the assortment of different algorithms of its competitors.
The most limiting aspect of Manthans current offering is its rigid architecture which can prove
painful to change once it is up and running. Client references said, If you need to add an attribute,
column, or anything you need to ask Manthan, which is costly and takes a lot of time. On
a similar note, client references cited the ability to analyze data from emerging channels and
touchpoints as a key area for improvement. Overall, however, clients were quite happy with the
fact that Manthan makes it easy to onboard business users quickly and at scale.
Contenders
Consider AgilOne for DIFM (do it for me) data prep and analytics. AgilOne is built for marketers
who do not want to deal with the messy and technical processes of extract, transform, and load
(ETL) and model building. It automatically calculates 400 metrics, such as likelihood to buy and
predicted customer lifetime value. It uses exact and fuzzy matching to identify the same customer
across different data sets. And it has its own built-in marketing automation system in addition to
integrating seamlessly with most others, thus making analytics easily and effectively actionable. As
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March 7, 2016

analytics sophistication grows, we find that many marketers and CI pros want to create their own
custom metrics and models, data types and structures shift over time, and changes in business
priorities require analytical agility. AgilOnes do it for me solution doesnt always give these more
mature marketers the flexibility to respond to these changes at the speed of business.
One client reference we spoke with said AgilOne went out of their way to do things for us, but
the capability that we need and their ability to deliver dont match. They advised prospective
clients to make sure AgilOne fits their specific needs before purchasing it. Other clients who arent
looking to perform modeling themselves find immediate value in embedded analytics. Another
client said, It was amazing to go live and have a whole book of reports. It was a quantum leap in
customer analytics for us. AgilOne could easily become a Strong Performer if it manages to strike
the right balance between simplicity and flexibility.
Engage With An Analyst

Gain greater confidence in your decisions by working with Forrester thought leaders to apply our
research to your specific business and technology initiatives.
Analyst Inquiry
Analyst Advisory
Ask a question related to our research; a

Forrester analyst will help you put it into
practice and take the next step. Schedule
a 30-minute phone session with the analyst
or opt for a response via email.
Put research into practice with in-depth

analysis of your specific business and
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Learn more about inquiry, including tips for

getting the most out of your discussion.
Learn about interactive advisory sessions

and how we can support your initiatives.
Supplemental Material
Online Resource
The online version of Figure 3 is an Excel-based vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product
evaluations and customizable rankings.
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March 7, 2016

Data Sources Used In This Forrester Wave

Forrester used a combination of data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each solution:
Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation
criteria. Once we analyzed the completed vendor surveys, we conducted vendor calls where
necessary to gather details of vendor qualifications.
Product demos. We asked vendors to conduct demonstrations of their products functionality. We
used findings from these product demos to validate details of each vendors product capabilities.
Customer reference calls and surveys. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester
also conducted reference calls and surveys with 3 of each vendors current customers.
The Forrester Wave Methodology
We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in this
market. From that initial pool of vendors, we then narrow our final list. We choose these vendors based
on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand. We eliminate vendors that have
limited customer references and products that dont fit the scope of our evaluation.
After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop
the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria,
we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires,
demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their review,
and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and strategies.
We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies and/or other
scenarios as outlined in the Forrester Wave document and then score the vendors based on a
clearly defined scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and we encourage
readers to adapt the weightings to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final
scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market
presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and vendor
strategies evolve. For more information on the methodology that every Forrester Wave follows, go to
http://www.forrester.com/marketing/policies/forrester-wave-methodology.html.
Integrity Policy
All of Forresters research, including Forrester Wave evaluations, is conducted according to our
Integrity Policy. For more information, go to http://www.forrester.com/marketing/policies/integritypolicy.html.
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March 7, 2016

Endnotes
Forrester has identified the age of the customer as a 20 year business cycle in which firms must be customer
obsessed in order to success. See the Winning In The Age Of The Customer Forrester report.
Source: Forresters Global Business Technographics Marketing Survey, 2015.
For more information on systems of insight, see the Digital Insights Are The New Currency Of Business Forrester
report.
Marketers can no longer afford to focus solely on customer acquisition and need to manage the entire customer
lifecycle. See the How Analytics Drives Customer Life-Cycle Management Forrester report.
Data scientists, once frequently referred to as unicorns, are now sometimes referred to as data janitors because
they spend 50% to 80% of their time data wrangling or data munging. Source: Steve Lohr, For Big-Data
Scientists, Janitor Work Is Key Hurdle to Insights, The New York Times, August 17, 2014 (http://www.nytimes.
com/2014/08/18/technology/for-big-data-scientists-hurdle-to-insights-is-janitor-work.html?_r=0).
For more information on advanced analytics, see the Seven Advanced Analytics Must-Knows Forrester report.
For more information on predictive analytics solutions for Big Data, see the The Forrester Wave: Big Data Predictive
Analytics Solutions, Q2 2015 Forrester report.
Many firms struggle to bridge the insights to action gap. To do so, they need to plan for implementation well before
starting to build models with individualized outputs. See the Brief: Close The Insights-To-Action Gap With A Clear
Implementation Plan Forrester report.
For more information on contextual marketing, see the The Power Of Customer Context Forrester report.
For more information about predictive analytics solutions, see the The Forrester Wave: Big Data Predictive
Analytics Solutions, Q2 2015 Forrester report.
10
For instance, EMC built a model to predict low customer satisfaction scores and contacts customers when there is a
triggering event. See the Beyond Surveys: New Tools For More Effective CX Measurement Forrester report.
11
These are estimates calculated using midpoints of ranges and are not exact. Source: Forresters Global Business
Technographics Data And Analytics Survey, 2015.
12
SAS, IBM, Pitney Bowes, and KXEN (now part of SAP) were Leaders in the following report. See the The Forrester
Wave: Customer Analytics Solutions, Q4 2012 Forrester report.
13
For more information on Adobes web analytics capabilities, see the The Forrester Wave: Web Analytics, Q2 2014
Forrester report.
14
15
R2D2 is a beloved character from the original Star Wars films. As a droid, he understands his masters speech
commands and responds in adorable beeps and squeaks. BB8 is a similar droid in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force
Awakens.
16
For more information on Adobe Marketing Cloud, see the The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Marketing Software
Suites, Q4 2014 Forrester report.
16
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