FEATURE CHANNEL PARTNERS
Instead, he believes customers increasingly value partners that understand their business priorities well enough to recommend the right architecture before customers even realise they need it.
Similarly, Mike Day, Vice President of Global Partner Sales at GoTo, said successful partners are shifting from focusing purely on winning deals to supporting customers throughout the entire technology lifecycle.
“ The partners that are raising their game in the channel have changed their mindset from a transactional one, to a lifecycle approach,” he said.
Rather than viewing contract signature as the finish line, he argued that it should mark the beginning of a long-term relationship built around customer success, recurring revenue and reducing churn.
Expertise matters more than scale If relationships are becoming more valuable, expertise is becoming the differentiator. Several contributors argued that the most successful partners over the coming years will not necessarily be the largest organisations, but those capable of developing specialist knowledge that customers cannot easily find elsewhere.
Olly Carter, Senior Channel Sales Director at Forescout, believes adaptability will matter more than size.
The partners that will dominate over the next five years are not necessarily the biggest.
“ The partners that will dominate over the next five years are not necessarily the biggest,” he said.“ They will be the ones that adapt the fastest.”
He argued that customers are now dealing with operational technology, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, cloud platforms, regulatory compliance and an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape.
“ They don’ t need another vendor presentation. They need someone who can help them make sense of it all. That’ s where the opportunity lies.”
Rather than leading with products, Carter said successful partners begin with customer outcomes.
The best partners won’ t lead with products. They’ ll lead with proven customer outcomes.
“ The best partners won’ t lead with products. They’ ll lead with proven customer outcomes. They’ ll understand what matters to the customer, uncover problems the customer didn’ t even know they had, and build repeatable services that deliver measurable business value.”
Drawing on Forescout’ s Mission: Possible partner roadshow, which visited more than 100 cities worldwide, Carter said the partners creating the strongest pipeline were often those investing in their people, collaborating closely with vendors and turning enablement into meaningful customer conversations. Specialisation is another recurring theme.“ The winners will also embrace specialisation,” Carter said.“ Whether it’ s OT security, asset intelligence, Zero Trust or continuous threat exposure management, customers increasingly want trusted experts rather than generalists.”
Amselem echoed that view, arguing that“ specialisation beats breadth.”
“ A partner who is deeply fluent in one or two disciplines – cyberstorage, ransomware resilience, hybrid cloud data management – will outcompete a generalist every time, because customers are buying expertise, not a catalogue.”
Simon Townsend, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Office of the CTO at ControlUp, believes the pace of technological change is making that expertise even more important.
“ Technology is evolving faster than ever,” he said, citing Artificial Intelligence,‘ vibe coding’ and growing pressure on organisations to consolidate technology.
To keep pace, Townsend believes partners must move beyond traditional sales and technical support teams by investing in specialist resources that understand both emerging technologies and the commercial value they create.
“ The top performing partners have sales specialist teams, offices of the CTO and licensing specialists to help accommodate this.”
Managed services become the business model As customers seek ongoing operational support rather than individual technology implementations, recurring services are becoming central to partner growth strategies.
For Amselem, managed services have evolved from an optional offering into a necessity.
“ Managed services are no longer a nice-tohave add-on but a business model,” he said.
Customers increasingly expect measurable outcomes including faster recovery, lower total cost of ownership and demonstrable compliance rather than additional technology to manage themselves. Partners capable of operationalising vendor platforms while committing to service-level agreements are, he argued, securing stronger renewals and deeper customer relationships.
Day also believes long-term operational engagement is becoming increasingly valuable. By investing in customer success after deployment, partners create stable monthly recurring revenue while strengthening customer loyalty and reducing churn.
Townsend agreed that managed services are becoming essential as traditional resale margins continue to tighten.
“ Top performing partners have realised quickly that resale alone is not enough and that managed services is key to provide consistent revenues.”
The common thread is clear. As procurement becomes easier and technology purchasing becomes increasingly commoditised, customers are placing greater value on the expertise required to operate, optimise and continually improve their environments over time.
Artificial Intelligence changes the conversation While recurring services and advisory capabilities are reshaping the partner business model, Artificial Intelligence is changing the conversations partners are having with customers.
The opportunity extends far beyond helping organisations deploy AI technologies. Increasingly, customers are seeking guidance on how to adopt AI safely, govern its use and manage the new risks it introduces.
26 www. intelligenttechchannels. com