Techaisle Blog

For decades, the technology channel has operated on a simple, foundational premise: partnership with the vendor. The model was clear - partners were an extension of the vendor's sales force, armed with vendor certifications, aligned with vendor GTM strategies, and loyal to the brand. Their success was inextricably linked to the vendor's success. Techaisle’s latest channel research, a comprehensive study of 4,115 partners, signals that this era is not just ending; it has already been rendered obsolete by a force that vendors have ironically championed: Artificial Intelligence.

A seismic shift is underway. Partners are quietly - and not so quietly - pivoting their allegiance away from their vendor suppliers and toward the only constituency that matters in the long run: the end customer. This is not about disloyalty. It is about survival and relevance in an AI-driven world. Techaisle research identifies a key trend that should serve as a five-alarm fire for every channel chief: the channel will pivot from vendor dependency to buyer value. This is not a future prediction; it is a present-day reality unfolding in partner business models, technology choices, and investment priorities.

The Data Does not Lie: The Anatomy of a Power Shift

The traditional vendor-partner dynamic was built on a dependency on product. Vendors created technology, and partners resold it, adding a layer of service. This created a natural fealty. But the very nature of partner revenue is changing. Techaisle data indicates that partner revenue is now predominantly driven by services, with 53% coming from services versus 47% from product resale. This is a critical tipping point. When a partner's profitability is driven more by their own expertise and intellectual property (IP) than by the margin on a vendor's product, their strategic calculus fundamentally changes.

This is where AI becomes the great accelerator of independence.

The global conversation around Artificial Intelligence is often dominated by the sheer horsepower of GPUs and the expansive promise of public cloud. While the market remains captivated by the meteoric rise of companies selling AI infrastructure, a quieter, more intricate strategy is unfolding - one that intertwines silicon, hardware, software, and a collaborative go-to-market (GTM) engine to tackle the foundational bottleneck in AI adoption: enterprise-grade infrastructure.

It is clear to me that IBM is architecting a sophisticated partnership playbook that moves far beyond traditional alliances. This is not just about co-marketing or creating reference architectures. On the contrary, it is a deeply integrated, three-way GTM model designed to deliver holistic AI solutions. This strategy uniquely positions IBM to address complex customer needs in a way that pure-play cloud providers or hardware-only vendors cannot. It is a story that has been flying under the radar, but one that the entire technology ecosystem needs to understand.

Beyond Reference Architectures: The 360-Degree Partnership Philosophy

At the heart of IBM's approach is the recognition that its strategic imperatives of AI and hybrid cloud are impossible to achieve without a robust ecosystem of partners. This strategy begins with a core group of strategic technology partners, with collaborations centered on technology leaders like  AMD, Broadcom, Dell Technologies, Intel, Lenovo, NetApp, and NVIDIA. The logic is simple yet profound: every AI solution is ultimately deployed on a server, powered by GPUs, and dependent on high-performance infrastructure to function at scale.

To capitalize on this, IBM is pursuing what can be described as a 360-degree partnership model that encompasses four key pillars:

1. Selling To: Ensuring partners are confident in IBM technology by using it themselves.
2. Selling Through: Enabling partners to integrate IBM technology into the solutions they take to market.
3. Selling With: Establishing joint account planning and a co-selling motion where sales teams from both companies approach clients in unison.
4. Building Together: Moving beyond basic reference architectures to co-create complete, market-ready solutions and blueprints.

The power of this framework lies in its transition from theoretical blueprints to tangible, integrated solutions. A historical parallel can be drawn to IBM's partnership with VMware, which transformed a nascent licensing deal into a multi-billion-dollar business by building a complete solution on the IBM public cloud. This history provides the blueprint for the deeper, more complex alliances being forged today.

The Game-Changer: A Three-Way GTM Model in Action

As an industry analyst and a market researcher, it is my job to cut through the noise of the technology market and identify strategies that deliver tangible value. In the current AI-obsessed landscape, the Customer Experience (CX) sector is perhaps the noisiest of all. Every vendor promises sweeping transformation, yet a crisis of confidence is brewing. Based on Techaisle's ongoing research into enterprise and midmarket IT priorities, businesses are increasingly trapped in "pilot purgatory," spending fortunes on AI science projects that fail to deliver measurable outcomes. A vast majority of AI initiatives reportedly fail, often because they are measured by vanity metrics like "tokens consumed" instead of tangible business results.

Against this backdrop, Verint’s recent "Engage" conference presented a refreshingly pragmatic and potent strategy. Under the banner of "AI Business Outcomes. Now," Verint is making a calculated bet not on the hype of a monolithic, all-knowing AI, but on a focused, measurable, and open approach to CX Automation. This strategy is particularly relevant for enterprise and midmarket customers who are weary of disruption and demand demonstrable returns on their technology investments.

The Verint Strategy: Pragmatism Over Platitudes

At its core, Verint’s strategy is built on the understanding that CX operations are a complex web of manual workflows - from quality assurance and coaching to analytics and compliance. The goal of AI, therefore, should not be a vague promise of "intelligence" but the specific, targeted automation of these workflows to create capacity, boost revenue, and elevate customer experience simultaneously.

This philosophy underpins Verint's entire platform and go-to-market motion. Verint announced that over 50% of its annual recurring revenue is now derived from AI-powered solutions, a staggering jump from virtually zero just two years ago. This growth is not accidental; it is the result of a differentiated approach that directly addresses the primary fears and frustrations of today's technology buyers.

Deconstructing "Unique": The Four Pillars of Verint’s Differentiated Strategy

While many vendors claim to be unique, Verint's claim is substantiated by four interconnected strategic pillars that directly address key customer pain points.

The accounting industry stands at a critical juncture. Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and the accountants and bookkeepers who serve them are navigating a complex landscape defined by talent shortages, mounting regulatory pressures, and persistent economic uncertainty. In this environment, the traditional role of accounting software as a mere system of record is no longer sufficient. The market demands a shift towards a system of intelligence—one that not only records transactions but automates workflows, anticipates needs, and delivers actionable insights.

At its recent Xerocon Brisbane event, Xero articulated its response to this demand with a series of announcements that signal a profound strategic evolution. Moving beyond incremental feature updates, Xero unveiled a cohesive vision centered on a supercharged AI financial agent, a unified partner platform, and strategic acquisitions to bolster its payments ecosystem. This is not just about making accounting easier; it is about fundamentally reimagining the nature of financial management for SMBs and redefining the value proposition for their advisors.

The AI Superagent: JAX's Evolution from 'Just Ask' to 'Just Done'

The centerpiece of Xero's future vision is the evolution of JAX (‘Just Ask Xero’), its AI business companion. Xero is moving JAX from a "just ask" tool to a "just done" financial superagent, built on an agentic AI platform. This is a critical distinction. While many vendors are adding conversational AI interfaces, Xero's ambition is to create a system that proactively automates manual, repetitive tasks across bookkeeping, tax, payments, and reporting.