Forrester

I was recently invited to participate in an analyst panel at PlatformCon 2025 in New York City. The conference was not huge but still delivered impact and featured a mix of vendor booths ranging from industry giants such as Google to ambitious startups. The audience was a blend of platform professionals from industries as diverse as healthcare, professional sports, and video games. The featured guest speaker was engineer Kelsey Hightower. Here are my key takeaways from the event. Don’t Be Afraid To Look Under The Hood Of AI Hightower kicked off the day with a compelling talk that challenged attendees to critically evaluate AI and its capabilities. He emphasized the importance of viewing AI as another piece of technology — there’s nothing mystical about it. Hightower encouraged the audience to dig into the details and not simply buy into the hype. Hightower also touched on how the rise of technologies such as Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) has shifted corporate attitudes. For decades, companies maintained strict control over their internal resources, but now many are rushing to API-enable their entire ecosystems with little caution. He posed a thought-provoking question: “Imagine if they had done this 10 years ago — what could have been accomplished?” If you’re curious to learn more about AI, MCP, and their implications, refer to this blog. The Tension Between Developers, Operations, And Platform Teams Is Real One of the liveliest discussions at the conference centered around the persistent struggles between developers, operations teams, and platform engineers. During the developer productivity roundtable, which I had the honor of joining alongside other fellow industry analysts, this tension was laid bare. Far from a dry technical discussion, the session felt more like group therapy for platform leaders. Many attendees shared candid stories about the tug-of-war between developers seeking speed and agility and platform engineers urging patience and structure. It’s clear that the question of whether platform engineering can fully resolve this dynamic is still open. Several actionable strategies emerged during the conversation: Adopt a “platform as a product” approach. Treat your platform as a product designed to serve your internal stakeholders. Read this report for more insights. Set clear expectations. When building a platform, align all stakeholders from the outset. Refer to my report for practical guidance. Define common goals based on value streams. Establish shared objectives to bridge the gap between teams. Check out this webinar for actionable advice. The tension may never fully disappear, but fostering collaboration and setting shared goals can help mitigate the friction. Final Thoughts  PlatformCon 2025 offered a unique window into the evolving world of platform engineering set against the backdrop of AI’s growing influence. Whether you’re a developer, an operations leader, or a platform engineer, one thing is clear: The platform landscape is shifting rapidly, and AI is playing a central role. Clients of Forrester who have questions on developer platforms or portals are welcome to request an inquiry or guidance session with me. source

For years, Forrester has talked about the importance of connecting customer experience (CX) to business outcomes, partially to stoke the CX function’s survival instinct and partially because you’ll go broke if you’re doing CX just for CX’s sake. Over the past year, we’ve collected stories and interviewed government CX leaders and the consultancies that support government agencies because we want to help public-sector leaders connect CX with mission outcomes. We’re pleased to announce the publication of Why CX For Government: Proof That Investing In Experience Boosts Participation, Efficiency, And Resilience! As we explain in the report, the business-case levers for government are similar to those of the private sector, but they’re not quite the same. In fact, they are: Increasing participation. Government agencies thrive on their ability to inspire the compliance, uptake, and advocacy that justify investments in programs and services. Optimizing for efficiency. This has taken center stage in many governments and at all levels of government — covering everything from the costs to serve to the scope of the programs and services being offered. Improving resilience. As with the private sector, resilience covers a lot of ground not included in the first two levers. In this case, it includes everything from operational continuity and safety to advocacy and equity. We’ve gathered more than 20 examples from different countries, and at different levels of government, to show that it is possible to describe the ROI of CX in government. Some sample metrics or examples may resonate more depending on the specific interests of a given agency’s mandate or current political climate. But we’ve got something for everybody in this one, so take inspiration from the pieces that will work best for your agency’s leadership. Our recommendations: source

The multibillion-dollar question I’m often asked is: Will a critical mass of consumers shop and check out on Google’s AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity? Consumers’ loyalty to convenience makes a “yes” most likely. Thirty-eight percent of US online adults, according to Forrester’s Retail Topic Insights 1 Survey, 2025, checked how fast products would arrive before ordering. If the likes of Google’s AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity build, buy, or partner for Apple Pay-like checkout and Amazon-like fulfillment, paths to purchase will forever change. GenAI Reenergizes The SEO Solutions Market Search engines’ potential to become full-funnel one-stop shops makes search engine optimization increasingly significant. But unlike search engines, which are top of mind for CMOs and now CFOs, SEO is relegated to the weeds of schema markup, sitemaps, log files, and crawlers. SEO’s marketing problem, based on its reputation for tediousness, technical difficulty, and low return on effort, hamstrings SEO processes. Thirty-eight percent of B2C marketers, according to Forrester’s Q2 2025 CMO Pulse Survey, cite “getting buy-in from various SEO stakeholders, including content, IT, and paid search” as their greatest SEO-related challenge. That’s changing as vendors across the SEO landscape increasingly automate content and technical SEO workflows, precisely measure SEO’s short- and long-term impacts, and adapt to AI-integrated search. The Forrester Wave™: Search Engine Optimization Solutions, Q3 2025, evaluates the top seven vendors in the SEO market on criteria spanning their current offerings and strategies. You can chat with our Wave using Izola and customize the Wave to identify vendors that match your particular criteria. Our Wave rewards vendors that deftly balance SEO’s new-fashioned priority — adapting content and site structure to grow visibility across ChatGPT and Perplexity — with SEO’s perennial problems, including the difficulty of evangelizing and implementing SEO across IT, content, and paid search stakeholders. It validates vendors that put SEO in context of the broader media mix, have robust local and international SEO capabilities, and deepen their moats around predictive and generative AI. The reenergized SEO market will burgeon as organic-first expertise engines like Google’s AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity dramatically reshape traffic patterns and media mixes. Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, and to learn more. source

Just when you thought you had seen it all — post-pandemic blues, geopolitical conflicts, and global market volatility — along comes the AI-led tech revolution to pose even more pivotal change. As a tech leader, you now have a choice: Remain reactive and wait until the storm passes (which is not in the forecast any time soon), or actively seize the opportunity to craft a technology strategy and roadmap that enables and fuels AI opportunities, adeptly navigates risk, and drives business results. While I already sense a certain level of AI fatigue among European tech executives, this is still the right time to responsibly and ethically embed AI into your organization, scale beyond the single use case, and unlock AI computing and agentic systems for intelligent automation, quick decision-making, and reimagined digital experiences. At the same time, you need to rethink your cloud strategy for composability, cybersecurity, and sovereignty, and you need to use application generation platforms to swiftly turn business need into reality, cut spiraling vendor costs, and break free from crippling tech debt. You’ll Never Walk Alone It’s always good to hear that you are not the only one feeling overwhelmed with the latest challenges. To navigate this defining moment and forge the strategies essential for this new era, I invite you to join Forrester’s leading minds and your peers at Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA in London October 8–10. At this year’s event, we’ll equip technology and security leaders with the skills, practices, and platforms to master today’s tech mayhem and achieve high performance in a volatile environment. At T&I Summit, we will offer over 40 in-depth track sessions, workshops, and discussions where you can gain practical insights and tangible strategies to implement within your organization. Whether you are building your AI strategy, modernizing your tech stack, or securing your organization in testing times, you’ll return empowered to drive innovation and business value. Here are three themes that we are going to focus on at this year’s Summit. Take Back Control With all the changes happening now and more coming, things feel a bit out of control for most tech leaders. At T&I Summit, we’ll provide the strategic frameworks that tech leaders need to regain control and drive business value. Attendees will learn how to: Craft resilient IT strategies and actionable roadmaps that harness emerging tech, with a focus on AI’s transformative impact on enterprise architecture and core IT capabilities. Master pragmatic approaches to value delivery and financial management fit for a dynamic world. Deconstruct and anticipate current and emerging risks; address digital sovereignty, AI, and other regulatory complexities head on; and act decisively to secure your organization. Break Down The Silos Siloed business operations have been the stumbling block for effective technology delivery for many years. Tech leaders and their business partners need to unite and create a culture of continual alignment with changing business needs. At T&I Summit, you’ll learn how modern tech strategies enable the reconfiguration of siloed core systems into scalable platforms and leverage the latest emerging technologies for differentiation and growth. We’ll share the best practices for reducing technical debt and the blueprints for changing traditional tech fabric into composable assets that scale. Scale AI AI promises to reforge business, but scaling beyond the first single use case is often hard. To realize this promise, organizations need an ambitious vision for process redesign, paired with advanced data and automation fabrics. In London, we’ll help you create a robust data and AI strategy, implement strong data and AI governance, and choose the right technologies to leverage enterprise data and drive process orchestration. The key to AI success is understanding how to drive transformation by scaling AI and emerging tech beyond the single use case, creating a culture of continual innovation for business growth. Hope To See You In London As I write this, the Forrester team is busy preparing and rehearsing all the sessions for Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA, and from what I’ve seen already, this promises to be another great event. I sincerely hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to seeing you all there. source

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a concept that has sparked both fascination and fear for decades. But more recently, as many enterprises begin to establish the prerequisites for agentic AI or deploy their first AI agents, AGI is beginning to make more headlines and create confusion among some technology leaders. Unlike other types of AI, AGI represents highly autonomous systems capable of outperforming humans in a wide range of economically valuable tasks. Understanding AGI has never been more important, as its seeds are already taking root in today’s advanced agentic systems. For many, AGI’s portrayal in popular media has cemented a narrative of existential dread, with stories about machines surpassing human intelligence and triggering global calamity. On the other hand, scientific discussions often seem overly theoretical, making it difficult for technology leaders to see the use case or relevance of AGI today. This leaves us with two equally problematic pitfalls — either dismissing AGI as a distant fantasy or reacting to it with unnecessary alarm. There is, however, a more balanced and practical path forward. At Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA on October 8–10 in London, we’ll explore this path and demystify AGI in a keynote session designed to equip leaders with the insights they need to act confidently. Rather than succumbing to hype or fear, the conversation will center on framing AGI as a coming event — an ongoing evolution from today’s agentic systems toward more autonomous and intelligent systems. This perspective allows us to make sense of AGI as a trend, rather than an endpoint, and take meaningful steps now to prepare for the future. The keynote will begin by defining AGI — what it is and, perhaps more importantly, what it isn’t — and discussing its implications from various scientific and economic perspectives. For instance, while AGI has often been linked to the concept of singularity (the moment machines surpass human intelligence), there is a growing emphasis on its economic capacity. OpenAI defines AGI as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.” Framing AGI this way allows decision-makers to consider its tangible impacts on business, innovation, and society. Instead of fixating on timelines or theoretical superintelligence, we advocate focusing on the stepping stones ahead of us. Seeing AI as a journey rather than a destination helps us cut through the noise, focus on what matters, and take practical steps that prepare us for the long road ahead. Here are some keys to this that we’ll dig into more deeply at the Summit: Don’t focus on the destination — take the journey. AGI will not arrive all at once but will unfold in stages, starting with agentic today. Understanding these phases helps us take the right steps now and plan for the future. See beyond the hype and prepare for the journey ahead. By acting today — improving how IT operates, making our data AI-ready, and investing in a foundation of trust — we position ourselves to lead through the mayhem at each step along the way. Avoid future vendor lock-ins and stay sovereign. Mapping realistic scenarios and milestone signals today will allow for better decisions tomorrow. By framing AGI not as a destination but as a trend emerging from increasingly powerful agents, we can treat the current agentic craze as just one phase in that continuum. This gives us permission to spend more time where we are now — learning how to separate hype from reality as agents evolve from basic tool-using assistants (Level 1) toward more autonomous, decision-making systems (Level 2), what we might call “proto-AGI.” It’s true that we analysts have said often that “this is going to be the next big thing.” But today, we at Forrester are convinced that AGI is bigger than the internet, social, mobile, cloud, or big data. It’s the biggest change in tech we have ever seen, and it’s starting right now. That means boundless opportunity: a literal shuffling of the deck for business. Beyond automating payments or agent-to-agent commerce, executive-level AGI promises new science, new knowledge, and frictionless customer experiences — while wringing out every inefficiency in every process. You can find out more about our upcoming Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA here and become part of the conversation shaping the future of AGI. And what’s more, you can bring a friend for free! We’re offering a two-for-one special for the Summit through August 29, so bring a colleague to the event, happening October 8–10 in London. source

After studying for a certificate in business sustainability management from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, I pivoted part of my research at Forrester to the intersection of marketing, AI innovation, and environmental sustainability. Back in 2021, I interviewed dozens of leaders about sustainability disruption and how to transform their business. I interviewed Guy Flament, then CEO of the Yves Rocher brand, and Jean-David Schwartz, then deputy CEO of transformation and sustainability at Group Rocher. Their stories helped me articulate how sustainability is not about ticking the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulation box but about building a strategy that integrates sustainability into business execution in every country and every function across your organization, enabling it to differentiate and increase profitability. Sustainability Transformation Demands Three Key Principles I wrote a first report explaining that to embrace a multiyear transformation journey toward sustainability, traditional firms must embrace three key principles, summarized in the graphic below:   Many firms have started their sustainable transformation journey, and many of them succeed at being both sustainable and profitable. It can be a bumpy road but is also a way to gain a competitive advantage. But because of the current backlash toward ESG and even environmental science denial, we lack examples of large firms that are pivoting their approach to become more sustainable. Indeed, more often than not, I come across sustainability-born companies, green startups, or regenerative companies — whatever you call them — that do not have any legacy. Don’t get me wrong: It is great to see new players that are sustainable by design and that can hopefully challenge and disrupt existing players. The Challenge Is For Global Firms To Integrate Sustainability Into Their Business Given their massive impact on the environment, existing firms — especially global ones — have to transform to reduce their carbon footprint and stay within planet boundaries. The challenge is to do so while not losing competitiveness and while maintaining profitability. When they succeed, many firms prefer not to be too vocal: 75% of CMOs we surveyed in Q1 2025 said that they would like to communicate more on their green initiatives but fear greenwashing! I interviewed Guillaume Darrousez, new CEO of the Yves Rocher brand since the end of 2023 (for those of you who understand French, here is the link to the video at the B.Better conference), and thought it would be a great idea to write a full case study on how a leading brand in the French beauty market and a global cosmetics player with a presence in more than 90 countries operates and executes sustainability in its business.   Indeed, in the very competitive beauty market led by giants such as L’Oréal and disrupted by sustainable-born startups, Yves Rocher faces both a significant challenge and opportunity. It must live up to its strong environmental DNA, transform the brand, and accelerate the execution of sustainability in its business operations, all while augmenting profitability. Yves Rocher Case Study Highlights The case study highlights how Yves Rocher: Embedded sustainability KPIs into its overall OKRs. Sustainability is an integral part of the nine objectives and key results (OKRs) of its business management approach, with three KPIs centered on sustainability in 2024. Launched the “act beautiful” program. It is a pragmatic approach with 10 acts to demonstrate its commitment to a more sustainable beauty industry, affecting many functions and business units. Doubled its sales of “committed gestures products.” Yves Rocher has reached its objective of doubling its sales of “committed gestures products,” reaching 4.3% in volume of its total product mix and 1.8 million clients in 2024. A committed gesture product is defined as a product that drastically reduces its environmental footprint, respects all of Yves Rocher’s sustainable-product criteria, and promotes new usage, encouraging a more frugal and sustainable consumption behavior. Reduced its carbon footprint. In 2024, Yves Rocher succeeded in reducing its carbon footprint by 11% from 2023. Contrary to firms that commit to reducing their relative carbon intensity (tons of CO2 per product sold), Yves Rocher has committed to reducing its absolute greenhouse-gas emissions by 30%, from 107,926 tons of CO2-equivalent (TeqCO2) in 2022 to 75,500 TeqCO2 by 2030. The report shares how a global beauty brand with a strong DNA around nature has gone further to integrate sustainability deeply into its business strategy and execution. Clients who wants to know more can access the full report and set up some time to discuss the implications for their own company. Special thanks to Alexandra Ferré, chief impact and CSR (corporate social responsibility) officer, and to the individuals in the executive team from Yves Rocher and Groupe Rocher who generously gave their time during the research for this report. source

This year, I had the opportunity to attend USU World 2025, held in June in Rust, Germany. A key observation from the event is how US politics are shaping strategies in Germany and Europe. Organizations are seeking to reduce their dependency on US-based or US-owned infrastructure while simultaneously building options within their own country or in the EMEA region. This was described as an awakening. A New Look With Familiar Foundations USU unveiled a rebranding effort with a renewed strategic direction, supported by feature showcases, user engagement sessions, and a few glimpses of product evolution. No doubt, these improvements are a direct result of the Thoma Bravo acquisition of a majority stake in USU in December 2024. At that time, Thoma Bravo and USU jointly announced accelerated product innovation, a shift toward SaaS and platform-centric models, and a desire to scale across Europe and the US. Central to USU’s roadmap were three priorities: generative AI-powered service agents, vendor-neutral cloud observability, and embedded knowledge governance. Each addresses a long-standing IT service management (ITSM) pain point: fragmented data, poor service quality, and escalating SaaS complexity. The Path Ahead USU’s roadmap presentation was aggressive and is pushing the company in a very positive direction. But for a market keen on innovation and a competitive edge, much of the substance remained high-level; it was framed as early steps rather than transformative leaps that had already been adopted into the platform. It symbolized USU’s commitment to transformation, innovation, and an increasingly urgent mission: to redefine how ITSM meets the demands of a hybrid, AI-powered, and compliance-conscious digital world. USU’s ambition for intelligent apps — tools that automate decision-making processes with minimal human oversight — certainly aligns with market directions. Yet in 2025, when competitors are already delivering AI-native service experiences, USU’s framing as “visionary but not yet realized” places it behind the curve. With the support of Thoma Bravo, however, its execution is faster than in previous years and a welcome push in a very positive direction. Transforming Governance Into Practice USU took a firm stand on data governance, especially in the European regulatory landscape. By formalizing data ownership, establishing data councils, and integrating governance into everyday workflows, USU is ahead of its peers in operationalizing compliance. While others offer governance as an overlay, USU bakes it in. Beyond technology, the event reinforced USU’s emphasis on community through interactive sessions, real-world use cases, and leadership visibility. The user group meetings showcased practical service desk enhancements, user-driven feedback loops, and decentralized governance models that promote collaborative development. Final Thought: Potential Or Plateau? USU’s event showcased a company deeply engaged with its users and mindful of regulatory complexity. Yet in a landscape where AI-first service management, full SaaS parity, and cross-platform interoperability are no longer future goals but immediate expectations, the announcements at this event felt more evolutionary than revolutionary. To close its innovation gap, USU must shift from roadmap narratives and minimum viable products to deploying production-grade intelligence without sidelining customers who demand flexibility and control. The question is: Will USU follow the advice of one of its event keynote speakers who said that “data privacy is a right, and it is important, but it is not our only right”? Will its AI practices mature more quickly than they have up to this point? USU World 2025 wasn’t about flashy features or headline acquisitions. It was about intention, precision, and a values-driven approach to ITSM. The emphasis on vendor-agnostic architecture, embedded AI, and the human cost of transformation shows that USU isn’t trying to outscale competitors; it’s carving a niche around trust, clarity, and sovereignty, as that niche is growing. As enterprises question platform lock-in, seek compliance-first tools, and battle digital exhaustion, USU’s measured and modular roadmap may prove to be precisely what mid-to-large European organizations need. The world of ITSM is indeed transforming, but not everyone needs a mega platform to get there. Sometimes, you need a partner who listens first, integrates second, and governs always. Let’s Connect Have questions? That’s fantastic! Let’s connect and continue the conversation. Please reach out to me through social media or request a guidance session. Follow my blogs and research at Forrester.com. source

Digital identity, once a dream for seamless global authentication and verification, now fragments along geopolitical fault lines. European companies are tightening ranks and forming alliances. China is sharpening its grip with a view to consumer protection and digital dominance. The US is retreating from federal coordination, citing risks from fraud and abuse. The battle for ecosystem dominance is on, and the choreography is far from elegant. Continental Waltz: Europe’s Consolidation Gambit The recent partnership of Namirial and Signaturit may seem like yet another private equity dalliance. Yet there lies an undercurrent of sovereignty: Europe is aligning itself for a post-NIS2 world where compliance is a weapon and a shield. The merged colossus now blankets Italy, Spain, France, and Germany — prime terrain for eIDAS 2.0’s new regime. PSG and Bain Capital, it appears, have no patience for incrementalism and are building fortifications to keep challengers at bay. Digital trust market players in Europe scramble for size, desperate to escape fragmentation and regulatory suffocation. July 2025, hardly chosen at random, ensures that the entity stands ready for wallet mandates and digital credentialing. With around 240,000 customers and approximately 1,400 staff, the platform aspires to be the bedrock of continental compliance. Consolidation will not pause. Regulatory labyrinths favor the giants, and those without scale will soon find themselves spectating from the sidelines. The Data Waltz: China’s Panopticon Parade By mid-July, China is poised to unveil its national digital ID scheme — an orchestration of centralized data flows on a scale rarely seen. The rationale? In the absence of chips, quality data in prodigious quantities may yet propel China’s AI efforts, as some have mused. No nation feeds the facial recognition machine quite like China, with millions of cameras providing a perpetual harvest from cameras on crosswalks or to gain entry at zoos and theme parks. The scheme, however, quietly sidelines the country’s private-sector internet giants. Ant Group learned as much when compelled to share its consumer-credit data with the central bank. Similarly, Didi’s brush with regulators was yet another lesson in the hierarchy of national priorities. One might expect public concern, especially after 2022’s theft of 1 billion personal records from an unsecured police database. Yet such anxieties rarely surface. Reports of these lapses disappear almost as quickly as they emerge, courtesy of ever-vigilant tech platforms and, frankly, the world’s nearly silent acceptance of privacy breaches. So come July 15, China’s digital ID is set to advance — centralized data, it seems, is the currency for China’s next technological bid. If China’s model works, we expect this to export to friendly regimes along the Belt and Road. American Patchwork: Digital Identity In Flux Recent developments have left the US digital ID landscape (more) fragmented. With the withdrawal of federal coordination, the country now faces a patchwork of state-level and private-sector solutions, each operating with limited interoperability. Without clear national guidelines for developing and issuing secure digital IDs, fraud targeting US infrastructure and the private sector is expected to persist. While current identity debates put a lens on immigration, some warn that this misses the wider competitive landscape. Chinese companies are rapidly expanding their digital ID footprint, even providing services to some US-domiciled entities such as those used by the New Orleans police, as reported by The Washington Post. The gap between policy priorities and market realities grows increasingly apparent. Fragmentation, leading to opacity, can allow an adversary enabler and threat actors to exploit gaps between systems, as shown in some of our research. Without a unified framework, identity assurance in the US remains divided. This not only complicates digital transactions but also allows international competitors to expand their reach in trust and identity services, capitalizing on the US’s internal complexity. Discordant Choreography: Three Models, No Harmony What emerges isn’t harmony but discord. Europe builds compliant oligopolies, China orchestrates state-led omniscience, and the US improvises with market entropy. The result is a world of incompatible trust regimes. Each border crossed will demand a new proof of identity, elevating both cost and complexity. Winners will be those nimble enough to play by every rule: Europe’s consolidators, China’s state champions, and the US’s bullishness. For international businesses, the divergence of identity regimes brings mounting operational costs. Multinational platforms must navigate compliance in Europe’s tightly regulated frameworks, China’s state-controlled identifiers, and the US’s patchwork of inconsistent standards. Digital identity, once prophesied as an enabler of global commerce, now becomes a fault line in the sovereignty wars. Those who command the infrastructure will write the next chapter. Those left behind will find themselves, once again, asking permission. source

On July 1, 2025, M-Files — the enterprise content management (ECM) vendor — announced a deepening of its strategic partnership with Microsoft. M-Files will now use Microsoft’s SharePoint Embedded as its foundational document repository. M-Files differentiates itself in the ECM market with its strong metadata-first foundation, focus on knowledge-work-intensive verticals such as audit or consulting, and solutions for complex document management needs like manufacturing or engineering. SharePoint Embedded, launched in mid-2024, is an API-only, “headless” edition of SharePoint intended to be used by independent software vendors or enterprises building their own document-centric applications. What This Means For M-Files Customers M-Files cloud edition customers in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. M-Files is now a more fully integrated experience in M365. M-Files documents will integrate more seamlessly into the digital workplace, using the same storage backend as M365 applications inside the customer’s existing tenant. M-Files documents can take advantage of a broader set of Microsoft’s capabilities including coauthoring, integration with MS Teams and calendars, governance by Purview, and access to M365 Copilot. The migration effort should be minimal: M-Files will manage the migration of existing documents from their existing Azure storage to SharePoint Embedded. Admins only need to activate their M-Files application within the Microsoft admin console. M-Files managed documents won’t add to a customer’s overall M365 storage volume limit. M-Files cloud edition customers in the Google Workspace ecosystem. For the relatively small percentage of M-Files customers not using M365, nothing will change. Their M-Files documents will remain in Azure storage. M-Files customers deployed on-premises. For clients deployed on-premises, nothing will change — M-Files will continue to support its on-premises edition. Why This Matters For The Overall ECM Market Document storage and basic repository services are commoditized. SharePoint Embedded is an example of a true content platform, which Forrester defines as: Software platforms architected specifically for the design, development, and delivery of document-, content-, or process-rich applications. Content platforms enable the decoupling of repository, application, and UI layers and reveal services and APIs for application creation and integration. Vendors need to compete at a higher level with horizontal and vertical solutions that address customer needs. Years ago, at a Microsoft Ignite conference, I had a conversation with a senior member of the SharePoint product team, and he relayed that their vision was to ensure “no file left behind.” That comment stuck with me. SharePoint Embedded is another tactic to execute on that vision. Unstructured data — aka content — is gold to AI, and Microsoft wants it. My Prediction? Within the next year, we’ll see at least one other ECM vendor follow suit and adopt SharePoint Embedded for its foundational repository services. Vendors with a focus on specific vertical markets that want to deliver solutions to their customers — and that are already aligned to the Microsoft ecosystem — are the top candidates to make that move. Forrester clients can book a guidance session or inquiry with us to discuss further. source

HPE Discover 2025: Key Announcements And Insights For Enterprise IT Leaders From June 23 to June 25, HPE hosted its annual Discover event in Las Vegas, showcasing innovations in AI and hybrid cloud. As Forrester analysts, we attended the event and explored how HPE is positioning itself as a leader in what it calls the “agentic AI” revolution — a bold step toward autonomous IT infrastructure. In this blog, we’ll break down the key announcements and explain what they mean for enterprises. If you’re a CIO, it’s time to look beyond the buzzwords and ask yourself: How will these developments shape or disrupt my IT roadmap? 1. GreenLake Intelligence: AI Moves From The Periphery To The Core HPE unveiled GreenLake Intelligence, a suite of AI agents designed to autonomously manage computing, storage, and networking across hybrid cloud environments. CEO Antonio Neri outlined a vision where AI agents seamlessly handle day-zero through day-N operations, all while maintaining governance across the IT stack. Forrester’s take: HPE GreenLake continues to evolve. Initially introduced in 2018 as a way to enable “as-a-service” consumption for all HPE products, GreenLake has grown into a comprehensive portal akin to AWS’s console. It now serves as a central hub for managing, engaging, and reporting on HPE’s portfolio within enterprise data centers. GreenLake’s next chapter includes the integration of Zerto, OpsRamp, and Morpheus into CloudOps Software, providing the operational glue to execute predefined tasks and surface observability data. While calling it a “cloud” remains somewhat ambiguous, this architecture has the potential to deliver intelligent, self-operating infrastructure — a significant step forward for hybrid cloud management. 2. NVIDIA-Powered AI Factory: Accelerating Enterprise AI Adoption HPE expanded its AI Factory initiative through a partnership with NVIDIA. This turnkey infrastructure solution integrates compute, storage, networking, management software, and services into a seamless stack, enabling enterprises to accelerate AI adoption. Forrester’s take: HPE’s embrace of the AI Factory concept aligns with a trend NVIDIA pioneered. While the term remains loosely defined, HPE’s execution delivers robust enterprise integration, security, and performance. To meet customer expectations, HPE must make these solutions widely available and expand partnerships beyond infrastructure. HPE competitors already do so. Enterprise buyers expect clearer guidance for navigating high-performance AI rollouts. With increasing interest in AI, HPE is well positioned to lead the charge — but only if it delivers on these demands. 3. Renewed Commitment To Private Cloud HPE is doubling down on private cloud solutions, including VM Essentials (VME), a VMware alternative. By aligning VME with Morpheus and OpsRamp, HPE aims to simplify private cloud adoption for enterprises. Forrester’s take: VMware customers exploring alternatives expect HPE to deliver strong solutions that address their challenges. While VM Essentials provides a reasonable entry-level option, organizations with complex workloads or hybrid ambitions will outgrow it unless HPE expands its ecosystem and roadmap integration. HPE must mature its private cloud blueprints, articulate its value proposition for CIOs, and provide clear guidance on how private cloud fits into enterprise IT strategies. Without these improvements, adoption could stall. 4. Networking And Security Innovation: Agentic Mesh Technology HPE emphasized AI-driven networking as part of its broader agentic AI strategy. It showcased HPE Aruba Networking Central, a solution designed to tackle complex challenges such as spanning tree incidents and device onboarding — all while aligning with Zero Trust principles. Forrester’s take: The lack of major networking announcements compared to last year’s HPE Aruba updates was noticeable. This shift may reflect a strategic decision to conserve resources ahead of its deal closure with Juniper. While HPE focused on step increments, its competitors rolled out new features and products, gaining market momentum. HPE’s vision for the eventual “death of the firewall” was intriguing but lacked clarity on how it plans to transition into a network security fabric vendor. Enterprises need greater transparency and a detailed roadmap for these ambitious claims to resonate. HPE closed its acquisition on July 2 — expect our take on this shortly. 5. Storage Advances: Alletra MP X10000 Enhancements HPE revealed updates to the Alletra Storage MP X10000 system, including plans to support Model Context Protocol (MCP) in late 2025. These upgrades promise AI-optimized performance and deeper ecosystem integration for enterprise storage. Forrester’s take: The addition of in-line data classification and vectorization to Alletra MP X10000 reflects a growing trend: converging data services into the storage layer to accelerate generative AI use cases such as retrieval-augmented generation. While embedding an MCP server into the platform is an exciting roadmap item, its value remains unproven. Vendors such as NetApp and IBM are also pushing similar innovations, which positions HPE to stay competitive — but execution will determine whether these enhancements truly deliver value for enterprise AI adoption. 6. Strategic Partnerships And Ecosystem Expansion HPE announced deeper partnerships with Veeam and Commvault to strengthen data protection across its private cloud offerings. Veeam will now support backups for HPE’s VM Essentials, while Commvault will offer HPE’s Zerto Software to its customers. Forrester’s take: The Veeam partnership addresses a critical need for data resilience among enterprises transitioning away from VMware. With HPE integrating Zerto, Morpheus, and OpsRamp into its CloudOps Software portfolio, many of VMware’s lifecycle management features are now covered. Looking ahead, we expect more backup vendors to support HPE’s VM Essentials and additional partnerships to emerge, filling gaps in lifecycle management and operational tools for VMware customers exploring alternatives. 7. Sustainability Recognition HPE honored Atea with its inaugural Sustainability Partner of the Year award, underscoring its commitment to environmental responsibility. Forrester’s take: Sustainability may not grab headlines like AI, but it’s becoming a critical focus for enterprises due to regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the rising energy demands of AI workloads. HPE has publicized its sustainability efforts extensively, but clearer communication about how it enables CSRD compliance will resonate more with global and EU enterprises seeking immediate guidance. Final Thoughts HPE Discover 2025 showcased a unified vision for the future of enterprise IT, centered around agentic AI. From infrastructure management to networking and storage, HPE demonstrated its commitment to delivering autonomous capabilities across the IT stack.