Joe McKendrick is ZDNet's lead AI strategist covering enterprise technology adoption through an infrastructure-first lens. His work bridges the gap between data architecture and AI implementation, with recent focus areas including:
Successful pitches to McKendrick demonstrate:
We trace McKendrick's journey through three distinct phases of technological evolution. Beginning as a database trends analyst in the early 2000s, he developed foundational expertise in data architectures that now underpins his AI coverage. His 2010s pivot to cloud computing reporting for Database Trends and Applications positioned him to document the infrastructure revolution enabling modern AI systems. Today, as ZDNet's lead AI strategist, McKendrick operates at the nexus of enterprise technology adoption and cutting-edge AI development.
This April 2025 investigation exposes the hidden data crisis undermining AI initiatives. McKendrick interviews 14 Fortune 500 CTOs and data architects, revealing that 68% of enterprises lack the data hygiene protocols needed for reliable AI outputs. The article introduces a five-pillar framework for AI-ready data architecture, emphasizing continuous quality monitoring and probabilistic system design. Industry analysts credit this work with accelerating adoption of data governance platforms like Collibra and Alation.
In this January 2025 analysis, McKendrick predicts the rise of autonomous AI agents as primary enterprise system users. Drawing on Accenture's 2030 projections, he maps the evolution from current API-driven architectures to self-modifying agentic systems. The piece highlights Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet achieving 49% resolution rates on software engineering benchmarks, signaling a paradigm shift in development practices. Tech leaders praise McKendrick for contextualizing complex system architectures in accessible business terms.
McKendrick's 2024 Forbes analysis of KPMG's AI adoption survey revealed that 88% of enterprises were actively exploring agentic systems. The article introduced his "Autonomy Maturity Model," tracking organizational readiness across decision rights frameworks and failure recovery protocols. This work became required reading in MIT's AI implementation courses and influenced the IEEE's standards development for autonomous business systems.
McKendrick consistently prioritizes stories about bridging the gap between AI ambitions and operational realities. Successful pitches focus on specific implementation challenges like vector database optimization or real-time data pipeline architectures. Reference his 2025 analysis of Databricks' Unity Catalog adoption to demonstrate understanding of his infrastructure-first approach.
While avoiding theoretical AI ethics debates, McKendrick actively covers practical compliance solutions. Highlight case studies from healthcare or financial services demonstrating LLM audit trails or hallucination mitigation techniques. His February 2025 piece on HIPAA-compliant chatbot deployments exemplifies this focus.
Pitch emerging tools for agent orchestration, including open-source frameworks like AutoGPT and commercial platforms such as Microsoft's AutoGen. McKendrick's January 2025 coverage of Anthropic's workflow automation benchmarks sets the standard for technical depth required.
Recognized for synthesizing technical AI concepts into actionable business insights, particularly his series on probabilistic data architectures. The judging panel noted McKendrick's unique ability to "make Kubernetes-level details relevant to C-suite decision-makers."
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on AI, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
