'AI adoption is accelerating, but partners still lack education, hindering sales': XChange UK day one, part one
CRN recaps the first half of day one of XChange UK 2024, tackling the game-changer topics of genAI and sustainability
CRN's XChange UK 2024 kicks off with insight's from The Channel Company's (TCC) research on genAI in the IT industry, which found adoption is accelerating while lack of education and commercial strategy hinders sales up-take.
Hosting the event at the Down Hall Hotel in Essex, CRN editor, Victoria Pavlova, introduced the findings: "Trends in this area are moving very quickly, and perceptions and opinions are also changing rapidly.
"Things changed dramatically between Q3 and Q4 of 2023. And now, as we approach the end of Q1 2024, vendors and channel partners' adoption of AI has accelerated significantly in just one quarter."
The research found that adoption has accelerated from exploratory stages to actual integration within processes.
The survey results reveal that compared to the previous quarter, the partner community has gained more confidence in adopting genAI for internal and external applications.
"The results show a shift in the expected speed of adoption. Last year, most respondents stated they planned to adopt genAI within one to three years. Now, it's looking like one to six months, although the number of respondents who have fully integrated genAI is still fairly low, as expected," Pavlova reported.
According to TCC's survey, use cases have also shifted.
While initially the dominant use cases were chatbots like ChatGPT and content creation, now data analytics has emerged as the biggest use case, with chatbots/virtual assistants falling to number three.
"Text summarisation has also become a prominent use case, and code generation remains significant."
Despite the accelerating conversations and demand, the channel's ability to sell AI solutions remains relatively low, the research found.
Over 50 per cent of vendors say they have a lot to offer, but only 23 per cent of channel partners surveyed say they have a commercial offering utilising AI.
This could stem from a lack of communication, proper partner education, or both.
More education for salespeople on packaging, selling, and communicating the value of AI solutions seems needed.
The research also revealed that sales readiness for AI solutions is perceived as generally low to moderate.
"This aligns with the previous insight - the evidence suggests that the channel sales community requires additional training and experience to effectively sell AI products," Pavlova told the audience.
"Overall, the conclusion is that most partners are actively adopting AI for internal processes, as well as needing to sell AI solutions externally.
"However, they require additional knowledge and skills. Sales teams need more training, while customers want to invest but budgets are slow to materialise. Everyone struggles to communicate the tangible, bottom-line benefits of AI, which is the biggest challenge partners face in making AI solutions available through the channel."
Is the channel walking its sustainability talk?
Sustainability was the next hot topic of conversation discussed in the opening panel of CRN's XChange UK event.
Panel host and CRN consulting editor, Sara Yirell, opened the discussion with a rather shocking fact on why sustainability is such a major issue in the IT channel: "The supply chain emissions for the IT channel are comparable to the airline industry, so we are quite a big polluter and we do need to start making a difference and reduce these emissions."
Sitting on this panel, Jenny Latimer, head of alliances and operations at Highgate IT, gave a more positive take on the issue: "While there's no limit to what can be done on sustainability, everything is changing rapidly.
"When I look back at where organisations were 18 months ago on this issue compared to now, the progress has been amazing.
"A lot is being accomplished, but there's always more that can be done."
Agreeing with this view, Richard Behan from CAE Technologies said that he's also seen a noticeable uptick in interest, motivation and passion for sustainability this past year.
"It's important to recognise that positive momentum. Now it's time to do even more. As Latimer mentioned, we need to keep pushing further. Even looking at the basics like scopes one and two emissions, there are very achievable strategic steps organisations can take.
"Yes, scope three gets more difficult from an environmental perspective, but we've been making good industry-wide progress as a channel."
"The key is that we can always strive to do better on this journey. There's no endpoint or limit to improving sustainability practices."
John Gladstone, sustainability lead at Softcat shared a more pragmatic view: "As a large $2.5bn business, we can't change everything overnight.
"We're customer-driven, providing solutions that meet their needs and requirements. Sometimes the most sustainable solution isn't always feasible.
"If we stopped selling technology entirely because it's not yet fully sustainable, that wouldn't be viable since most industries heavily rely on it.
"We can't produce hardware from fully sustainable materials yet, though vendors are using more recycled materials.
"There are dependencies we can't simply disregard. Turning this around in just a decade may be too much to ask - the next generation will likely drive more progress."
The challenges and how to handle them
The panel discussed the numerous challenges in sustainability for the channel. Firstly, the impossibility of a one-size-fits-all approach, due to organisations being at a different stage in their journey.
"Simply measuring emissions scopes one and two is relatively straightforward, but scope three is far more complex and varies across industries," Latimer said.
"There's been a shift recently, with various initiatives aimed at collaboration and organisations helping each other. Distributors are now offering incentives for resellers around sustainability. Vendors are providing training courses on how to get started with sustainability practices."
But the biggest challenge the panel outlined is simply beginning the journey and learning.
"A couple years ago, I wouldn't have had much to contribute on this topic. But once you start that learning process and engage with others, you rapidly gain more knowledge," Latimer added.
"It's all about collaboration and sharing insights, as reinforced at CRN' s Sustainability and Tech Summit."
Behan added that it's important early on to define what sustainability means for a specific organisation, based on feedback from customers and internal expectations.
"Our journey began three years ago by examining how to create a sustainability strategy aligned with our culture and principles like the UN SDGs.
"And the key takeaway is that sustainability has to be embedded into the very DNA and culture of the organisation. It was one of our biggest hurdles - ensuring passion, support and engagement around these efforts across all employees. Using working groups helped build that internal momentum," Behan explained.
Gladstone stressed the importance of leaning frameworks and experts in this journey: "Rather than trying to figure it all out alone, the best approach is to start small by leveraging established frameworks like the SDGs.
"Then find partners and consultants who are subject matter experts that can educate your team and provide guidance based on your organisation's structure and needs.
"Outside resources can accelerate your sustainability journey by seeing it through a fresh lens."
Are vendors doing enough?
On vendors' sustainability efforts, panellists mentioned that some are doing really well, but there are challenges too as partners rely on the information provided and don't have full visibility into their supply chains and manufacturing processes.
"We're very reliant on the information they choose to share with us. But if we can get our stuff in order then that can be the missing piece of the puzzle," Latimer argued.
Behan added: "But we have to be realistic - we're not going to see fully sustainable devices in the next few years. If a vendor could make one today, we'd gladly sell it.
"But that technology simply doesn't exist yet. Vendors are undoubtedly trying their best, but there's no doubt more work needs to be done by vendors.
"They're in a tough position having to keep releasing new products, vendors are being as transparent as they can, but ultimately customers need to recognise sustainable behaviour and purchase accordingly to drive real change."
Gladstone echoed this argument: "While vendors could improve, they're definitely making progress.
"The missing link may be getting customers themselves to prioritise sustainability and make purchase decisions based on those values.
"Recognising and rewarding vendors' sustainability efforts is key."