Ted Schadler

Cambridge

Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research

Coauthor of #MobileMindShift, Forrester VP & Principal Analyst. Focused these days on platform business, digital transformation, and the future of services.

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Articles

For AI Success, Follow Path Two

4 weeks ago | forrester.com | Ted Schadler

At the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last week, MIT Nobel Prize winning economist, Daron Acemoglu, painted it black and white. He said, technology can take two paths. Path one is using technology to automate tasks that people once did. We’ve been doing that for centuries. Silicon Valley loves it. Business managers love it. Take out cost by replacing people with machines. It’s inevitable. But no company ever saved their way into the history books.
The Battle for Grounding Your AI Agents Has Begun

1 month ago | cdotrends.com | Ted Schadler

I passed a barefoot man strolling down a sidewalk on a chilly day in May. His hair was short. He was clean-shaven, wearing a multicolored blanket hoody. He exuded serenity as he grounded himself in the concrete beneath his feet, granting his chi permission to exchange greetings with the earth. Through that lens, every day, all 8 billion of us could be grounding (also known as “earthing” by believers — all I know is that it feels good in the summertime).
IBM Think 2025: A Bold Step Toward AI-First Enterprise Transformation

1 month ago | forrester.com | Ted Schadler

By Forrester ResearchIBM Think 2025 wasn’t just a showcase—it was a signal. The company is aligning its portfolio for the AI-first era. For CIOs, IBM’s message is clear: the future of enterprise IT is hybrid, intelligent, and orchestrated—and IBM wants to lead the way. Okay, so what did we really think? AI and hybrid cloud take center stage. IBM reinforced its commitment to hybrid cloud and AI, highlighting the synergy between the two.
The Battle For Grounding Has Begun

1 month ago | forrester.com | Ted Schadler

I passed a barefoot man strolling a sidewalk on a chilly day in May. His hair was short. He was clean shaven, wearing a multi-colored blanket hoody. He exuded serenity as he grounded himself in the concrete beneath his feet, granting his chi permission to exchange greetings with the earth. Through that lens, every day, all 8 billion of us could be grounding (also known as earthing by believers — all I know is that it feels good in the summertime).
Technology Service Provider Acquisitions: A Strategic Shift To AI And Industry Services Is Underway

2 months ago | forrester.com | Ted Schadler

Thanks to my colleagues Hannah Murphy and Hayden Weatherall for this research foundation.
AI computing will change the world by empowering people, not automating tasks

2 months ago | futurecio.tech | Ted Schadler

Most of the hype and boardroom enthusiasm for generative AI (genAI) stems from the belief that AI machines will automate the repeatable tasks that people used to do, thereby saving firms money with fewer employees doing more work. While we believe that’s true for rote knowledge tasks and some knowledge worker roles, it’s not really the point. The point is that automating work hasn’t ever changed the world by itself. The point is that automating work hasn’t ever changed the world by itself.
Four Forces Shape The Future Of Technology Services

2 months ago | forrester.com | Ted Schadler

Generative AI (genAI) and agentic workflows are roiling technology services markets, overturning the 15-year stability of the prevailing business model. The era defined by time-and-materials pricing, agnostic technology positions, and people-driven business growth is no longer viable. Since the peak growth seen in 2021, which followed years of consistency post-Great Recession, it has become an entirely different story.
Salesforce Launches Agentforce: What Technology Leaders Need To Know

Mar 24, 2025 | forrester.com | Ted Schadler |Martin Gill |Charles Betz

It’s safe to run your AI agents (they’re mostly chatbots, case summaries, or simple text generators today) on the Agentforce chassis – as long as you don’t inside your Salesforce application domain. We spent two days in San Francisco at Salesforce’s TDX developer conference.
The State Of Services, 2025: Co-Innovation And Performance Pricing Set The Bar

Mar 18, 2025 | forrester.com | Ted Schadler |Frederic Giron |Oliwia Berdak

Technology service spending will reach $2 trillion in 2028, rising 4.6% year over year globally, much faster than GDP growth. We recently analyzed the earnings of six technology service providers and surveyed over 2,300 enterprise services decision-makers (with both business and IT titles) from 11 countries around the world to find out what’s going on out there.
Google Pressures Microsoft 365 By Adding Gemini To Workspace For (Mostly) Free

Jan 15, 2025 | forrester.com | J.P. Gownder |Ted Schadler |Brian Hopkins |J. P. Gownder

On February 2024, I wrote a blog post declaring “You’re not switching to Google Workspace to use Gemini — yet.” Google aims to change that. Today, the company announced that it will include “the best of Google AI in Workspace Business and Workspace Enterprise plans” without the need to purchase an add-on.