Artificial intelligence dominated the conversation at the Channel Executive Council's fall meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona — but not in the way many expected.
Instead of talking about CAM replacement and workforce reduction, executives focused on AI as a way to make partners and channel teams smarter and faster — to help them improve conversion rates, sharpen forecasting and attribution, and hunt for new logos.
Specifically, AI removes guesswork from the sales pipeline by analyzing both buyer behavior and historical data in real time. While traditional channel forecasting relies heavily on partner intuition, artificial intelligence introduces objectivity to data analysis. As for finding net-new customers, it’s one of the most difficult tasks for channel partners; AI uncovers hidden opportunities by acting as an automated scout.
The consensus: AI won't displace people, but it will accelerate the pace of the channel. Frank Rauch and Larry Walsh discuss the details in this edition of “In the Margins.”