FEATURE TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
expanding faster than anyone can master end-to-end, and the partners trying to do it all are the ones falling behind. The shift I’ d urge channel partners to commit to is to focus on outcomes and the right approaches that deliver real measurable value for their clients and address the business problems customers are struggling to address.
The shift I’ d urge channel partners to commit to is to focus on outcomes and the right approaches that deliver real measurable value for their clients.
The partners I see growing fastest aren’ t generalists chasing every announcement. They’ ve picked a domain and committed to it deeply enough to build managed services, assessment practices and outcome-based engagements around it. Identity is a clear example. Agentic AI and the explosion of machine identities have created problems most enterprises don’ t yet know how to articulate, let alone solve. The partners who can walk a customer through assessing, governing and continuously validating a sprawling non-human identity layer are going to have meaningful pricing power for years.
What‘ keeping pace’ really means in 2026 is having a clear point of view about which technologies matter most to your customer base and building services depth in those areas. The partners who specialise will be in a much stronger position than the ones who stretch across everything thinly. The market is moving toward outcomes and away from resale, and that movement rewards partners who pick their lane and become the trusted advisor customers turn to as the market changes.
Raza Baloch, Head of Business Partners, Virgin Media Business Wholesale:
Technology is evolving at a pace we’ ve never really seen before, particularly around AI. Every business now wants to be seen as being‘ AI-first’, but the reality is that many organisations are still working out how to properly use AI tools and apply them in a meaningful way. ChatGPT is often the most talked about example, but there are now huge numbers of AI tools available that businesses are only just starting to explore and understand.
That creates a major opportunity for channel partners. AI is helping level the playing field for smaller partners in particular. In the past, smaller businesses may have struggled to compete with larger organisations that had bigger teams and more resources. Now, with the right AI and
automation tools, smaller partners can deliver strong customer experience, improve efficiency and compete at a much higher level, often without needing significant operational scale.
With the right AI and automation tools, smaller partners can deliver strong customer experience, improve efficiency and compete at a much higher level.
At the same time, AI is also helping larger organisations manage complicated systems and processes more effectively. In bigger businesses, especially those growing through acquisitions or consolidation, there are often multiple systems, processes and ways of working that can be difficult to manage. AI can help bring those systems together faster and improve efficiency across the organisation.
We’ re already seeing AI make a real impact in customer service too, with businesses using it to improve response times, personalise support and reduce complaints. Ultimately, AI won’ t replace jobs, but people and businesses that embrace AI will move faster than those that don’ t. The channel partners that succeed will be the ones willing to adapt, experiment and use AI to improve both operations and customer experience.
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