"If 2025 had a theme tune for the IT channel, it would be the sound of partners enthusiastically unboxing "AI opportunities" while quietly checking the invoice to see who actually got paid. Because, yes, AI dominated everything. Vendor keynotes. Distributor roadshows. Strategy decks. Every conversation that began with "we're seeing a lot of interest in..." inevitably ended with "...AI". But for many partners, 2025 wasn't the year AI transformed the balance sheet, but the workload."
"Analyst research from IDC showed most channel partners investing in AI practices, embedding AI into services, and pursuing specialisation. High-performing partners, in particular, were already using AI to differentiate through things like vertical expertise, outcome-based delivery, and automation. However, at the Canalys Channels Forum EMEA, Omdia analysts noted that while the AI opportunity is enormous, the rewards are uneven - and not always flowing to the channel."
"As a result, 2025 became the year partners stopped asking "how do we sell AI?" and started asking "how do we survive with AI?" The answer, increasingly, was specialisation, managed services, and embedding AI into delivery rather than pitching it as a shiny standalone thing. Partner programs: simplification, but not serenity If AI defined partner strategy in 2025, programme change defined partner headaches."
AI dominated channel activity in 2025, appearing in vendor keynotes, distributor roadshows, and strategy decks while driving high interest across conversations. Many partners invested in AI practices, embedding AI into services and pursuing specialisation, with high-performing partners using vertical expertise, outcome-based delivery and automation to differentiate. Rewards from AI remained uneven, with benefits not always reaching channel partners. Partners shifted focus from selling AI as a standalone product to surviving with AI by offering specialised services, managed services, and embedding AI into delivery. Simultaneously, partner programmes underwent changes that created additional operational headaches.
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