AI offers new ways to add value and support customers for many MSPs, VARs and SI businesses. However, to many, it might seem like an enormous giant: easy to spot from afar, but up close, much more intimidating.
But before you grab your axe and scramble for the nearest beanstalk, it’s important to survey the scene and make sure that you’re heading for a cash cow rather than being left holding a handful of dry beans.
Metaphors duly stretched, today we take a closer look at the opportunities this presents for the channel with Gilles Closset, our global AI ecosystem leader. Gilles is instrumental in helping our partner community distinguish between the hype and the practical opportunities AI offers and brings a wealth of customer insights.
Gilles, thanks for joining us – let’s kick off.
Q1. Which industries are using AI the most: who are the early adopters? Why are they using it and what business outcomes are they looking for?
GC: Healthcare is one sector where we’re seeing huge growth, largely because of AI’s potential to help people live longer, take better care of them and reduce administrative burdens. A lot of AI in healthcare doesn’t depend on GenAI, and we see a lot of startups in this area, mostly based more on the traditional machine learning industry.
We also see significant AI uptake in Manufacturing, mostly in the optimisation of production processes. With its heritage in Kaizen and Six Sigma, manufacturing has always seen a strong appetite in this area. The sector is also starting to embrace predictive maintenance, using both digital twin and machine learning technology.
Thirdly,the Retail industry has embraced a mix of GenAI and machine learning to improve customer interactions using chatbots, sales optimisation and hyper-personalisation. AI is allowing every brand to offer the kind of personalised experience that was previously restricted to luxury brands; it has the power to absorb a lot of data points about customers and provide a far more customised experience across the areas of both sales and customer support.
Finally, we see a great amount of AI adoption in the Financial sector, particularly in the areas of fraud detection and personalised engagement. The financial sector has historically been enthusiastic about machine learning for improving KYC (Know Your Customer) processes, and AI can really accelerate this.
Q2. What are other customers really looking for when it comes to AI? What are they adopting, and what are the best opportunities for VARs and MSPs in AI today?
GC: We see a lot of potential from AI to improve efficiency and personalisation, draw together data from different customer journeys and integrate it. As I said above, customers are increasingly expecting a highly integrated approach when it comes to their relationship with brands – and AI enables everyone to do this.
We also hear a lot of questions from customers about data handling; from ethical principles to cloud audits and hands-on management, there’s a lot of opportunity for partners to support customers. It’s still early days in terms of adoption, but this is a clear opportunity for partners to get ahead, show differentiation and stand out.
Q3. Turning to the market main challenges, what themes are customers struggling with the most and need help from VARs and MSPs to support them?
GC: One major challenge we’ve seen is to go beyond a POC – we see a lot of exploratory initiatives, but then they don’t scale!
At the same time, data quality is a challenge. A lot of organisations have legacy systems that weren’t designed to work with AI, so there’s a real need for modernisation. IDC’s latest findings predict an unprecedented YoY growth of 97% in AI compute and storage hardware infrastructure to support this adoption. This area already is a vast area of investment, currently valued at $47.4b. We see a lot of projects to update and extract data from old systems, and partners who can support with this are in a position to significantly drive their customers forward in terms of AI maturity.
Finally – and this is linked to the previous point: we are seeing a big talent gap. AI is a new industry, so organisations are still developing their skills. There are two main ways to address this: you can either help a customer to address the gap directly and deliver workshops and training, or you can provide the end customer with people to do the work on a temporary basis.
All of this requires a transformation plan and can be daunting, but it does represent a major opportunity to add value. Furthermore, these projects will usually start with data literacy, making sure people understand the potential of AI, getting buy-in, and then you’re off!
Q4. What are your top tips for partners starting to explore the possibilities of AI for their customers?
GC:
1: Mind the skills gap: Upskill your own team or help to skill up the customer.
2: Know how to tackle topics around data quality and governance. Good data is the foundation for all good AI – and as the old saying goes, Garbage In, Garbage Out.
3: Use UK or European organisations where you can. We see lots of feedback from partners who are trying to differentiate from the hyperscalers in terms of price, data protection (especially around sovereignty and vulnerability to extra-territorial laws) and working with a European player will make this much easier.
Gilles, many thanks for your time, and very useful insights. From what we’ve heard, AI certainly offers prospects of gargantuan proportions and, like many new rapid-growth market cycles, once you’ve separated the wheat from the chaff (or beans from the stalks), climbing up to the giant’s AI tech lair is a significant opportunity for partners. As always, it’s important to listen to what customers are doing and understand their broader strategic and technical landscape, but in the long term, embracing the AI opportunity can uncover new business treasures you never knew existed!
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Fostering and enhancing impactful collaborations with a diverse array of AI partners, spanning Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Startups, Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Global System Integrators (GSIs), subject matter experts, and more, to deliver added value to our joint customers.
🏁 CAREER JOURNEY – Got a Master degree in IT in 2007 and started career as an IT Consultant
In 2010, had the opportunity to develop business in the early days of the new Cloud Computing era.
In 2016, started to witness the POWER of Partnerships & Alliances to fuel business growth, especially as we became the main go-to MSP partner for healthcare French projects from our hyperscaler.
Decided to double down on this approach through various partner-centric positions: as a managed service provider or as a cloud provider, for Channels or for Tech alliances.
➡️ Now happy to lead an ECOSYSTEM of AI players each bringing high value to our joint customers.