The channel’s biggest AI moves, bets and declarations of 2025

Some partners are now billing themselves as AI-first businesses, while others have splashed some serious cash on the tech

After years of hype, 2025 became the moment the UK channel stopped talking about AI and started reorganising itself around it.

The industry has seen rebrands, seven-figure investments and acquisitions designed to fast-track capability, with partners no longer dabbling at the edges of automation and analytics, but staking their futures on it.

According to the UK government’s Artificial Intelligence Sector Study 2024, last year’s total estimated AI revenue leapt 68 per cent to £23.9bn (£9.7bn the previous year).

AI-savvy vendors such as NVIDIA and AMD have seen their revenues spike because of the technology.

As AI spending surges and vendors rewrite the competitive landscape, the race is now on to prove which moves were visionary bets, and which were rushed reactions to an industry moving at unprecedented speed.

CRN breaks down the significant AI moves from the channel in 2025.

Advania

Former Advania UK CEO Geoff Kneen (pictured right) began 2025 with a big bet - to double AI revenues.

After a good start in the industry around AI, he hoped things would accelerate this year, Kneen told CRN.

But we have to wait to hear from new CEO James Hardy (pictured left) on whether this came to fruition.

The overall Advania Group meanwhile has also made M&A moves in the name of AI with its acquisition of The AI Framework in July.

The business added an AI transformation capability to the group, having worked on projects across retail, telecoms, financial, and other sectors.

Kneen told CRN this was not a standalone move but part of a long-term, carefully constructed AI journey for the business.

“This isn’t the culmination of a three- or four-year acquisition process. It’s the next step in a multi-year evolution,” Kneen said.

“We’ve been building our AI capability for quite a long time now.

“Our relationship with Microsoft goes back to being a global launch partner for Syntex, and since then, we’ve continued to invest in developing AI propositions, including secure, private ChatGPT environments within clients’ own tenants.”

Insight

As AI transforms the business landscape at breakneck speed, Insight Enterprises president and CEO Joyce Mullen (pictured) stated the company is shifting its identity to an AI-first solutions integrator, blending cutting-edge technology with a relentless focus on client outcomes.

“We need to enable our people to deliver on the promise of AI,” Mullen told CRN.

“Traditional training models? Too slow.

“We’re now focused on continuous, top-down and bottom-up learning.

“Every day we’re building new knowledge, trying new tools and applying them with real clients.”

From its early rollout of internal AI governance to scaling AI-enhanced services and launching tools like Radius AI, the solution provider is positioning itself not just as a technology provider but as a trusted guide for organisations navigating the promise and complexity of AI.

“Responsible AI isn’t optional; it’s foundational,” she said.

“We teach our teams to validate sources, watch for hallucinations and build guardrails into every solution we deliver.”

Bechtle

Germany’s Bechtle is also part of the AI acquisition club with its takeover of DeepL in its home turf.

The newly acquired company is an AI translation services specialist, delivering AI language tools to the European enterprise and public sectors, with Bechtle aiming to implement DeepL’s language solutions across its own operations.

The duo would set out to establish a joint go-to-market strategy targeting enterprise customers in sectors such as finance, healthcare, legal, and manufacturing, as well as public sector organisations that require translation solutions.

“Our cooperation with DeepL perfectly aligns with our mission to make artificial intelligence accessible to our customers throughout Europe,” said Dirk Müller-Niessner (pictured left), CTO at Bechtle.

Sebastian Enderlein (pictured right), CTO at DeepL, added: “Our collaboration provides access to innovative AI language solutions that enhance multilingual communication, placing strong emphasis on compliance, data sovereignty, and seamless integration into existing IT infrastructures.”

Bell Integration

Bell Integration sales director John Davenport told CRN in October that one of the clearest indicators of Bell’s repositioning is its investment in AI.

Following its purchase of development shop Amelia last year, the number six ranked Top VAR now has the scale to go after enterprise AI work.

“You need scale to have credibility and a right to sit at the table in AI,” Davenport said.

“We’ve established a 350–400 head consulting capability in AI, covering multiple disciplines and geographies.”

The practice spans the US, Europe and India, with partnerships including IBM and NICE.

But while AI is already contributing revenue, Davenport admits profitability will take time to reach full potential.

“AI is profitable, but we’ve made sizable investments that need to pay off over time,” he said.

Transputec

London-based Transputec this year added an entirely new division to tap the automation potential of agentic AI.

Three months in, Kuhnic already had proposals out for nearly £800,000 worth of work and is handling 15 active clients, AI strategist Gytis Kandrotas told CRN.

The goal is to hit at least £1m in its first year, with ambitions to double or triple that figure in year two.

Kandrotas said the work spans “any department, really” where manual, repetitive tasks still dominate, from accounting to marketing to customer service.

“You could put an AI agent on that job just like a human would,” he explains. “You train it, and then it does the same exact thing — 24/7 and without mistakes.”

SCC

Robert Vassoyan, SCC’s new CEO, intends to lead the company into the AI age.

“Taking this position now, during the AI revolution, is incredibly exciting,” he told CRN.

“I’m convinced SCC has a role to play by adopting AI internally to improve how we work and externally to help clients do the same.”

He intends to develop AI skills by training and adapting internal talent, as he sees a high level of expertise across sales, management, digital, cyber, and data.

“It’s about orchestration, not overhaul,” he adds.

While he explains that “there isn’t a single CEO on Earth who doesn’t think about their AI strategy daily,” he adds that SCC needs humility when approaching it, as not all solutions are mature and ready yet.

“For SCC, the first step is to place AI at the centre of our internal transformation - in logistics, supply chain, and go-to-market - and learn from that before deploying solutions for clients.

“We’re also reviewing our partner portfolio across hardware, software, compute, and storage to integrate more AI, as well as updating our professional and managed services accordingly.”