By now, nearly all companies have realized that CX is the differentiator and customers value the experience above almost everything. Enormous effort and resources have been thrown at CX, and there have been huge gains. According to Forrester’s 2017 Customer Experience Index (CX IndexTM), however, CX quality plateaued or declined for most industries and companies.

So are we going to stay put or decline? Or are we going to punch through to the next level? 2018 will be the year where this is decided. So what will be the big stories? How will technology and automation advance the customer experience? Here’s our take on what we think will be the biggest trends in 2018.