News in the Channel - issue #37

COMMENT

Grasping the issue AI continues to garner headlines for the efficiencies and insiights it is bringing to businesses but there are concerns about it – including how sustainable it is. This is an issue resellers are increasingly going to have to grapple with as AI use rises.

I have written about artificial intelligence (AI) several times over the past three years or so in this column, but it is worth returning to again – largely because the technology is evolving so fast that what is written about it can be out of date within a few months.

because they will have an important role to play as a trusted advisor to their customers. AI is also having a major influence on cybersecurity. While cyber criminals are using it to bring more and different threats to businesses, it is also being used to defend systems from attack,

Dan Parton

While the benefits of AI are becoming clearer for businesses in a range of industries now – although

such as SaaS solutions. You can read more on the latest trends, and how resellers can help keep customers’ SaaS solutions safe, on p32. Elsewhere in this issue, we look at how warehousing

there is still an element of ‘AI for AI’s sake’ among some – there are nevertheless some legitimate concerns about it. One of the main concerns is how businesses square increasing use of AI with their ESG goals. Using AI requires a lot of computing power, which requires more energy, as well as putting more pressure on data centres and how they are cooled. Given one of the main aims of sustainability policies is to reduce energy consumption and the impact on the environment, this would appear to present a problem. But, as we explore in a feature beginning on p22, this issue is being acknowledged, and there are ways that AI can help with sustainability, but it will nevertheless require thoughtful deployment – and this is an issue that resellers will need to be on top of

and logistics businesses are increasingly harnessing the power of data to bring efficiencies to their operations as they face greater pressures than ever before. But resellers can help, and there are a range of data management products and services they can provide. Read more on p38. As always, I hope you enjoy the issue. News in the Channel is for everyone in the channel, and the content aims to reflect this. So if there is any topic that you would like to see covered in a future issue – or you have a news story or press release you would like to send for consideration for publication – please drop me a line at dan@newsinthechannel.com. n

See the 2025 WINNERS