For the past couple of months, we have been working on identifying best practices for application development and delivery teams executing on multichannel strategy. The related report will get published soon. We found that application development and delivery teams need to be successful in the magic triangle of delivering a multichannel solution: 1) tactically; 2) in a strategic way; and 3) fast.

During our research, we also found that there is a lot of confusion about what multichannel really means. Consequently, we defined four levels of multichannel maturity that will help teams outline their multichannel goals and objectives and improve communication between internal customers and delivery teams — and between business and IT.

After my related presentation at Forrester’s IT Forum EMEA 2011 in Barcelona, conference participants even told me that multichannel definitions are essential for achieving enduring success for mature, rich, broad multichannel solutions. It is about ensuring, not assuming, that all stakeholders share the same understanding of the term multichannel — and its various flavors.

What is your perspective here? Let me know, please: JHoppermann@Forrester.com.