Sydney Neely

Channel partners are being pulled in two directions at once: a surge in demand driven by AI, and a widening gap in the skills needed to deliver it. At NEXT+ Summit powered by D&H Advanced Solutions+, channel leaders described a market where artificial intelligence is reshaping expectations across security, infrastructure and services. Many organizations are moving forward with AI initiatives but often lack the internal expertise to support them.

Artificial intelligence is accelerating modernization across federal, state and local government, forcing solution providers to confront a growing customer challenge: whether the physical infrastructure can support new AI workloads. For Niki Pettis, strategy and innovation manager for secure power at Schneider Electric, that urgency is being driven by policy, infrastructure investment and changing public sector priorities. “Modernization isn’t optional or exploratory,” Pettis said.

At Women of The Channel West, Jennifer Anaya, senior vice president of global marketing at Ingram Micro, led a keynote conversation focused on a challenge many solution providers know well: how to stay focused, influential and effective in an industry full of competing priorities. The session, titled “Be the Signal, Not the Noise,” featured Seana Fippin, founder and CEO of Red Box Business Solutions, and Donna Grothjam, founder and growth strategist of Grothjan Consulting.