News in the Channel - issue #42

GTIA

AI has quickly become an everyday part of working life for many businesses in the past couple of years and it is clear, as the technology develops, it is not going to be a passing fad – and channel businesses need to embrace it if they are not to be left behind. But many have yet to fully do that. Indeed, the Global Technology Industry Association’s (GTIA) State of the Channel 2026 report for the UK and Ireland, stated that, analysing the results of a survey of 130 ITSPs, the channel is at an AI inflection point: while respondents identified AI services as the top revenue driver for the coming months, only three out of 10 providers have fully embedded AI into their business models. According to the research, 35% of UK and Ireland ITSPs currently generate between 11% and 25% of their revenue from AI-related services, with many selling a mix of existing and newly developed AI products and services. This contrasts with those heavily focused on AI: 7% said that over half of their revenue now stems from AI-related products and services. “The channel now is at a point where we have to move quickly,” says Carolyn April, vice president, research and market intelligence at the GTIA. “There are still companies in the very early experimentation phase with AI and not rolling it about in any formal way. Those companies need to move to execution quickly.” By execution, Carolyn means having AI formally rolled out within the organisation in a way that it is governed and has formal oversight from the IT team or an owner or leader within the organisation that is responsible for AI initiatives so that employees are on the same page and there is a mission that’s well communicated around AI. “The second piece, and probably most important after that, is how they execute on monetising AI – selling it to customers and helping them to write their own AI

story,” she adds. “We are right in the thick of that now.”

Inflection point While the GTIA reports that AI is at an inflection point, Carolyn admits that, while many customers are excited about the potential of AI, there is also some wariness too. “When they talk to their MSP, they want a business case for the value of AI,” she says. “It’s not simply that you need to roll out AI because it’s cool. It’s important for the MSP to understand their customer’s business. This is not new news, but when it comes to AI, getting deeper knowledge around the vertical industries that their customer operates in, whether its healthcare, manufacturing or retail, will allow them to translate what the AI value is going to be to that particular industry. “We’ve always talked about the importance of specialising in some verticals, but when it comes to AI, that vertical knowledge is even more useful, and will give channel businesses a competitive edge. But you need to have the value proposition behind that.” Understanding Carolyn adds that MSPs and resellers need to really understand AI and have it embedded in their own business before they can deliver effectively to the customer.

Carolyn April

gtia.org

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There are still companies in the very early experimentation phase with AI and not rolling it about in any formal way. Those companies need to move to execution quickly.

“Do not go to market with AI until you have mastered AI in your own

organisation,” she warns. “The rollout of AI within your own internal operations is incredibly important. That’s ensuring the workforce understand how to use the technology – everyone that’s going to be using AI in any way must be trained on it. “We’re finding AI is less a product itself and more of part of the infrastructure layer, the enabling layer of everything within a tech environment. It’s going to become embedded into everything that you do. “I see a lot of mistakes out there with companies that go to market and talk to customers as though they are an AI expert

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