AI is changing how channel partners operate long before it changes what they sell. Across the IT channel, service providers are using generative and agentic AI to automate sales, finance, quoting, and service delivery while simultaneously building new AI consulting, security, and data management practices for customers.
We spoke with leaders from WCA Technologies, MRE Consulting, and Ingram Micro during the latter company’s Unplugged event in July about how MSPs are operationalizing AI.
Channel partners use AI to scale without adding headcount
Sales is frequently the starting point for internal AI adoption, Ingram Micro SVP of US Sales Victor Baez said. Partners are using the technology to improve CRM data, generate quotes faster and organize information that can help sellers become more productive.
From there, AI is spreading into finance and back-office processes, including invoice management and month-end accounting. That is allowing some solution providers to plan for growth without immediately expanding their workforce.
“A lot of them are talking about doubling their business without hiring anybody,” Baez said. “They’re becoming so much more productive with the team that they have.”
That internal experience can also become an important sales asset. Partners that understand how AI affects their own workflows are better positioned to identify practical customer use cases and explain the operational changes required to support them.
Process maturity remains critical to AI adoption
However, successful adoption still depends heavily on process maturity and change management.
Peter Fidler, president of WCA Technologies, said his company’s broader evolution as a managed services provider required it to improve how work was tracked, organize its help desk and create repeatable processes that prevented customer needs from falling through the cracks.
“You make adjustments over time,” Fidler said. “It’s all about servicing and doing what’s in the best interest of your clients.”
Those fundamentals remain relevant as partners introduce AI into their businesses. New tools cannot compensate for poorly documented processes, inconsistent data or employees who do not understand how and why workflows are changing.
AI sales strategies focus on measurable business outcomes
Partners are also becoming more disciplined about how they position AI to customers, Baez said. Rather than leading with broad promises about the technology, they are tying projects to measurable outcomes such as faster invoicing, improved sales productivity and shorter accounting cycles.
“They can’t just keep saying AI,” Baez said. “It’s like, ‘I’m implementing this solution because it’s going to make you invoice faster. It’s going to increase your sales productivity.’”
That outcome-driven approach gives partners room to build consultative offerings around business processes, data readiness, governance and security.
“There’s a lot of [fear of missing out] around AI in almost every industry right now,” said Zachary Esmond, director of strategic partnerships at MRE Consulting. “Customers need partners like us to provide the services and support to fully understand what all AI can do for their businesses.”
“We just start by asking them questions,” he continued, noting that the best way to understand how a customer can leverage AI tooling is to better understand how their business operates currently.
“For us, it’s about asking ‘what’s a problem we can solve for you,’ and then using that as the starting point, rather than just creating a deck of solutions we offer and seeing what sticks,” Esmond said.
Customer demand expands hybrid infrastructure opportunities
Those customer conversations increasingly extend beyond software and services, forcing partners to rethink the infrastructure strategies that underpin AI deployments.
Baez said some firms that built their businesses primarily around public cloud are developing on-premises and data center capabilities as customers seek more control over data, costs and AI workloads.
Some are building vendor-specific infrastructure practices or, at minimum, learning enough to advise customers on hybrid architectures.
Even with that in mind, Esmond told Channel Insider that MRE Consulting continues to see demand for cloud migration projects, showing that while on-premises and hybrid options are certainly back in the mix at higher rates, opportunities in cloud are far from over.
READ MORE: HPE partners told Channel Insider at HPE Discover about new opportunities across public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises environments.
Continuous learning shapes channel AI strategies
While partners are adopting AI at different speeds, the direction of travel is becoming clearer. Competitive advantage is coming less from simply offering AI and more from knowing how to implement it, govern it, and connect it to measurable business outcomes.
That means successful channel firms will need to keep refining their own operations even as they help customers modernize theirs. The same process improvements, data discipline, and change management that enable internal AI adoption also strengthen partners’ ability to deliver consulting, managed services, and long-term strategic guidance.
For Fidler and Esmond, a willingness to keep learning remains essential even after decades in the industry.
“You might listen for that one thing that you say, ‘You know what? That’s a really good idea. I should do that,’” said Fidler. “There’s always learning, and you have to be open to that.”
“You constantly have to evolve your way of thinking and doing things,” Esmond said. “You need to understand what people need today but also review what they’ll need in the future.”