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Channel has role to play in supporting AI adoption
Findings from Dynatrace have revealed a clear opportunity for partners to help users keen to make use of the technology
Dynatrace has shared further evidence that supports the assertion that generative AI (GenAI) is going to be a growing channel opportunity.
The observability and security player quizzed chief technology officers (CTOs) to get a picture of attitudes towards AI and the priorities going into next year.
The broad conclusion was that customers have clearly identified AI as a positive and expect it to help them improve efficiencies, but there are concerns around managing the technology.
That opens the door for those channel partners that are comfortable with AI to step in and deliver support.
“The channel has already seen that the hype cycle triggered by the release of ChatGPT late last year has generated significant interest in AI over the past 12 months,” said Michael Allen, vice-president of worldwide partner sales at Dynatrace.
“Customers need to drive down operational costs while also increasing the speed of digital transformation, and are therefore looking to invest in technologies like AI and automation,” he added.
“However, they’re also alert to the risks of moving too quickly and handing over control to an AI or an automated process before sufficient guardrails are in place. Channel partners have an unmistakable opportunity to add value and unlock new revenue by helping customers to establish these controls so they can adopt AI safely and securely.”
Customer expectations
Customer expectations around the potential of AI are high, with significant numbers expecting the technology will help improve cloud efficiencies, security and make more data analytics available across the business.
As a result, decent numbers (61%) of CTOs are looking to increase their AI investments in the year ahead. Some worries exist around linking up tools to maximise those benefits.
“Organisations have significant concerns about the risks of using generative AI for critical IT use cases that enable them to accelerate innovation and drive operational efficiencies,” said Allen.
“The channel therefore needs to focus on showing customers how they can use other types of AI to enrich prompts with detailed context and precision about the current state of their IT environment, and instantly validate the outputs produced by generative AI,” he added.
AI has already been highlighted as a channel revenue opportunity going into 2024, but the expectation is that customers will struggle to adopt the technology without the support of a partner.
Allen said that as well as helping to design, install and maintain AI environments, the channel also had a role to play in securing those environments.
“The channel also has a role to play in helping customers to conduct risk assessments and establish internal usage policies to ensure workforces can use generative AI safely and securely,” he said. “If they get their offering right, channel partners will be poised to maximise the revenue opportunity that generative AI has unlocked, and deliver lasting value for their customers.”
