How are channel partners preparing for genAI?
Bytes, Computacenter and Logicalis tell CRN how they are getting generative AI-ready
Are channel partners upskilling internally or hiring outside the business to gear up for generative AI demand?
The impact of genAI is expected to truly start making waves next year, with 2024 being billed as "the year of the plan" for the market changing technology by Gartner.
According to the analyst firm, global end-user spending on public cloud services is predicted to grow 20.4 per cent to $675.4bn in 2024, driven by the ramp up to delivering genAI-enabled applications at scale.
Gartner VP analyst Sid Nag warned this could have a negative effect on channel partners' ability to offer cloud solutions if they lack the expertise.
"This is a difficult problem. Partners will have to quickly upskill to meet demand. Instead of trying to boil the proverbial ocean they will need to upskill around a few industries and specific use cases within an industry."
Nag however does think this growth is "good for the channel and partners" since it will create demand for more cloud services such as consulting, managed and support services.
Vendors are swiftly appointing chief AI officers, while Schneider Electric announced just yesterday its new UK&I training programme to get staff up to speed in a variety of areas, including AI.
But how are channel partners preparing for generative AI? Are they upskilling? Or seeking out the experts elsewhere?
David Rawle, group CTO, Bytes
"It's really difficult to find people that know genAI. At the end of the day it's just another piece of technology.
"And if you've got good technical people internally that genuinely get the buzz and interest out of tech, they want to play with it. They want to add it into their labs. They want to do stuff with it. They want to learn.
"So if you've got really good people internally, that skill grows very, very fast in-house.
"And one of the things I'm very particular about as a CTO is to make sure we recruit people who have a genuine passion for tech in that part of the business.
"We run tri-monthly to quarterly hackathons in association with Microsoft. We look at what we can do in that month with what's new, what's just launched.
"The only real investment is a little bit of time to give them to do that kind of stuff out of their day-to-day.
"At the end of the day, it's another technology workload. So if there was another new thing coming, we would obviously look to recruit to support that as the business grows, because you don't spread your existing resources too thin.
"We've got AWS people, storage people, networking people, security people, and AI layers across all of that, in the same way marketplace layers across the whole of procurement.
"Everybody in your vendor team needs to understand the marketplace for their vendors. Otherwise, you can't do the best job for the customer.
"For me it layers in as another piece of tech. If you're passionate about technology then you're passionate about what AI can do."
Continue reading to hear from Computacenter and Logicalis...
How are channel partners preparing for genAI?
Bytes, Computacenter and Logicalis tell CRN how they are getting generative AI-ready
Dr Colin Williams, chief technologist - networking, security & unified communications at Computacenter
"There are times I find it strange when I hear people discussing whether and how to invest in AI related skills as if it's a binary conversation. In my opinion investment is non-negotiable and we are embarking on a skills augmentation activity to layer on AI skills onto existing traditional and emerging skills (and have been for quite a while).
"This will ensure existing workforces and incoming employees are aware that being in possession of AI skills will be highly beneficial for IT professionals in the future.
"Computacenter is already an extensive hybrid and public cloud platform and landing zone builder. AI cloud workloads are simply another workload, whether organisations re-platform applications using public cloud landing zones or leverage it for substantial AI data lakes or processing farms, we as Computacenter are keen to ensure that we are the AI on premise or cloud platform builder of choice for enterprise organisations.
"I've mentioned a few times, whilst the market is homing in on generative AI, it's really a discussion about the use of data to build and train artificial intelligence and machine learning models that are infused with generative capabilities.
"Which means we are continuing our investment in our data skills and analytics across all its dimensions of which generative AI just happens to be a very important part (in addition to security, resilience, observability and others).
"Therefore other partners who are discussing how and when they invest in emerging genAI capabilities in my opinion are already late to the game."
How are channel partners preparing for genAI?
Bytes, Computacenter and Logicalis tell CRN how they are getting generative AI-ready
Scott Hodges, head of cloud, Logicalis (UK & Ireland)
"Logicalis works with many customers looking to embrace the public cloud, more so now with a focus on modernisation and innovation over the traditional ‘lift and shift' type migrations.
"With public cloud offering innovative services such as generative AI, customers are looking to leverage these technologies to enhance the offerings they are taking to market. The focus with Logicalis in this area is ensuring customers adopt generative AI with a security-first, secure-by-design approach.
"To provide exceptional service, we leverage the latest training programs from our partners to upskill our teams, ensuring they are well-equipped to meet customer needs. Our global presence, centres of excellence, and strategic partnerships enable us to offer the expertise necessary to bolster and accelerate our customers' ongoing innovation."