Customer experience is high on the priority list for many IT leaders. As I noted in a blog I posted last month, 82 percent of 100 CIOs and CTOs from companies with 500 to 10,000 employees that were recently surveyed by Yankee Group place customer experience as their top strategic priority this year.

As the economy continues to improve and companies look grow their businesses by adding new customers and retaining existing customers, it's important for CIOs, CTOs, and other executives to develop a stronger understanding and appreciation for delivering on multichannel customer experiences.

For the fourth consecutive time Apple ranked highest in customer satisfaction among smartphone makers, taking the top spot in J.D. Power and Associates' semi-annual survey, albeit with a tighter margin over Android smarphone makers Motorola and HTC.

Apple scored 800 out of 1,000 possible points, down slightly from past scores but still ahead of its closest rivals, Motorola which scored 791 and HTC with and 781, both of which make smartphones based on Google's Android operating system. Smartphone makers that scored below the industry average of 764 included BlackBerry maker Research in Motion with 737, Samsung at 735, Palm with 726, and beleaguered Nokia bringing up the rear with 711.