A Tech Tide places each technology category on two dimensions, business value and maturity, then assigns one of four actions: Experiment, Invest, Maintain or Divest. Read it as a timing aid for budgets. It judges categories, not products, and Forrester says maturity depends mostly on the health of the surrounding ecosystem.
The four actions
Forrester's methodology page defines them by position:
- Experiment: low maturity, low business value. Limit exposure to bounded experiments until value improves.
- Invest: low maturity, high business value. The technology is ready enough for confident investment.
- Maintain: high maturity, high business value. Core technologies to keep running and using.
- Divest: high maturity, low business value. Look for higher-value replacements.
What maturity means here
Maturity is not a product quality score. Forrester says it judges maturity mainly by ecosystem signals:
- a diverse base of paying customers
- satisfied end users who advocate for the technology
- several vendors with strong finances
- complementary service providers and products that benefit from its growth
- limited entrenched competition from alternatives
- an active community of developers, experts and evangelists
Survey data from stakeholders gives the starting placement, and analysts adjust it with their own judgment.
Using it for a security budget
Take a category you are considering, for example software composition analysis, AI agent controls or automated remediation. Ask three questions of any Tech Tide that covers it.
- Does the action match our own readiness? An Invest category may still be a poor fit if your inventory of repositories is incomplete.
- Which ecosystem signals are weak? A thin community or few financially strong vendors affects your exit options.
- How old is the placement? Categories move, and survey data ages.
I have not read any specific Tech Tide for these categories, and the methodology page does not say which categories are covered. Check Forrester's site for current coverage.
What it cannot tell you
A Tech Tide will not say which product to buy, whether a vendor handles your languages, or what integration will cost. It also cannot capture your internal constraints, such as a regulator expecting evidence of certain controls.
Pair it with your own roadmap. A Maintain category deserves attention at renewal time. A Divest category deserves a plan, not a panic.
A worked example of timing
Imagine your team is deciding whether to fund automated fix pull requests this year. A report that placed that category at Experiment would suggest a pilot on a few repositories with clear exit criteria. One at Invest would suggest a funded rollout with a named owner. One at Maintain would suggest a renewal conversation about what you already run.
The same words lead to different budgets, which is why you should write the action you take for each placement before you read the report. It stops the result from steering you after the fact.
Quick check
Is Experiment the same as do not buy?
No. Forrester defines it as limiting exposure to bounded experiments until value improves.
Does a Tech Tide rank vendors?
The methodology describes placing categories, not ranking vendors.
If you want a bounded experiment on supply chain risk, the Safeguard free scan gives a starting view of SBOM and dependency findings.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
