Beyond next available agent: Routing possibilities

From time to time I'll find an old tech magazine or an analyst's report laying around and I'll sit down for a few minutes to take a look back into the future. Sometimes their prophesies are entertaining. They issue bold statements about estimated revenue in a particular category or market. They offer predictions on the technology required to "stay competitive" and the companies that are sure to fail if they don't embrace a particular trend.

I'm not ridiculing the fortunetellers - their information is very helpful when making a selection from the enormous quantity of products and solutions available today. But when I read these predictions I try to remove myself from the business and look at the view from a customer's perspective. What works for me? With whom do I prefer to do business? What technology do I think is actually easy for me to understand and use as a customer? The last question is a difficult one for me to view as a customer since I'm in the business; but you get the point.