Joel Martin

Joel Martin is an Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, where he leads research and advisory across three areas: telecommunications and IT services, the Microsoft partner ecosystem, and quantum computing. He covers enterprise buyers and the providers serving them, turning three decades of experience studying and participating in these shifts into decisions leaders can act on.

In telecommunications, Joel delivers research for enterprise buyers of telecom services and solutions, and for the operators, IT services firms, and advisory partners that serve them. His coverage spans AI adoption, sovereign infrastructure and data centers, B2B growth models, partner ecosystems, customer operations, network transformation, cloud, and services consumption — with a focus on where providers create differentiated value and where offerings are becoming commoditized.

Joel also leads HFS research on the Microsoft ecosystem and on quantum computing. On Microsoft, he tracks how alliances between Microsoft and IT services providers work, and what enterprise buyers need to know as they build — from AI licensing and commercial models through implementation and the modernization of applications, data, and cloud services around AI. On quantum, he is building the HFS point of view on what the technology’s rise means for the enterprise, connecting quantum to cybersecurity and post-quantum risk, AI, cloud, and future computing models, and to the IT services and advisory relationships enterprises will need to manage it.

Clients work with Joel for the range of vantage points he brings to a problem. He has worked at Microsoft, led product development, product management, and marketing at a global semiconductor engineering firm, and possesses decades of IT consulting and advisory experience spanning competitive intelligence, vendor management, and contract review. His experience shapes how he works with CIOs, CTOs, Heads of AI, and functional leaders through advisory engagements, executive briefings, and HFS forums. His approach is to cut through the hype and build practical frameworks that help leaders prioritize investments, evaluate partnerships, and define the changes needed to succeed.

Joel’s perspective spans the dotcom boom and bust, the rise of SaaS and cloud, and now AI and quantum. He believes the role of research isn’t to predict the future in isolation, but to help leaders make better decisions in the present. He develops and delivers strategic workshops that connect software and services trends to outcomes enterprises can act on, across both their teams and their business metrics.