Forrester Research believes that four attributes will characterize the online experience of the future: customized by the end user, aggregated at the point of use, relevant to the moment, and social as a rule. In a recent blog post, analyst Ron Rogowski, points out that many such experiences are built with “RIA” technologies, although you — like most users — probably won’t know by looking at them which technology is being used. And while you might care about the technologies at play if you’re reading this, it’s nearly certain that your customers don’t.

As we look to the future of online experiences... it's important to recognize that regardless of the technology powering the experience, user expectations have evolved — and will continue to evolve — to the point where they expect richer, more fluid interactions than what they get in many cases today.

While creating the online experiences of the future doesn’t require use of one technology over another, firms will increasingly turn to the array of rich technologies — many of which are called RIAs today — to enable customization, aggregate data from multiple sources into a single UI, build cross-platform/device applications, and blend social interactions and updates into the overall experience.

The truth is that firms don't need an RIA strategy; they need an online customer experience strategy. RIAs will become an increasing part of the mix of tools to the point where, very soon, describing an experience as “rich” or RIA will be as passé as using the term “color TV.”