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.

According to a global study of 1,500-plus CEOs conducted by IBM, 88 percent of business leaders say that getting closer to their customers is their top priority over the next five years.

In response to these results, research conducted by the Center for CIO Leadership has concluded that getting closer to end customers "may be the most important thing CIOs can do to earn and keep (their) seat at the table."