"Love Their Disruptors?"

My friend Steven Houghton-Burnett made a living from telling people to "Love Their Disruptors". More than ever, there is value in embracing that in the technology industry.

Last week, Jay McBain wrote another thought-provoking piece on route to market disruption.

Peter Bryant wrote an equally thought-provoking article on global system integrators (GSIs) losing market share for the FIFTH consecutive year.

There is huge opportunity presenting itself across the partner ecosystem, with added competition diversifying where customers spend their services $$$.

Large VARs and GSIs are attempting to capture this by acquiring capabilities, but these old oil tankers are slow to turn. Organisational complexity and traditional billing models hold them back.

Hayley Mooney said at Marc Sumner's Channel Chat last week that AI fatigue had set in. Canalys (part of Omdia) research backs this up, with 61% of partners reporting last year that they saw little/no shift from proof of concept to production in their Gen AI projects.

That’s an INCREDIBLE stat. Expertise is crucial in securing stakeholder support and it's where cloud-native and specialist SIs are winning, delivering where GSIs are scrambling to keep up.

Disruption is afoot...

🍐 The Canalys research is screaming at me that clear outcomes and pricing models tied to results are sorely needed. Especially in AI and digital transformation projects.

🍒 Managed services & cybersecurity opportunities will open the door to scaled transformation and AI readiness.

🫐 Gen AI has triggered a fundamental change in buyer behaviour. Specialist SIs are being favoured for their agility and depth of expertise