The rush is on to deploy AI-powered opportunities across the channel ecosystem, and they'll only expand over the next few years. The challenge for partners lies in cultivating the talent, services and expertise needed to deliver on the technology’s promise.
Partners in North America will be looking at nearly $150 billion in potential AI services revenue by 2031, according to Omdia, a Channel Dive sister company. However, only 20% of partners currently have the maturity and specialized capabilities to capture that business, the analyst firm said in a report published earlier this month. Another 44% remain at a low level of maturity.
Global AI services spending is expected to climb from $85 billion this year to $347 billion in 2031. North America represents roughly 43% of the total, Lisa Lawson, senior principal analyst at Omdia, told Channel Dive. Applying that share to the firm’s global forecast puts the region at about $36.6 billion in 2026 and approximately $149 billion within five years.
“The partners set to capture the highest margins and growth over the next several years will be those that offer highly specialized services requiring deep technical expertise, industry-specific knowledge and IP, and proven security and governance frameworks — not generalist advisory or implementation where there is growing competition,” Lawson said.
As enterprises move from AI experimentation and to production deployments, demand for partners who can produce business results is going to spike. Currently, most enterprises report fewer than 1-in-5 proof of concept projects have led to any real value.
Opportunities are evolving, too, as enterprises look to move past the initial stages of adoption. Currently, AI advisory services account for 24%, while build and co-develop services represent 26% and design18%, according to Lawson.
“Early-stage services are essential today for adoption but also represent where the competition is greatest and where margins are under pressure,” Lawson said.
By 2031, Omdia expects AI services spending to shift toward operational services. Security and governance will rise from 12% of the market to 18%, representing a $62 billion global opportunity. Management and optimization services will increase from 10% to 15%, or $52 billion. Adoption and integration will expand from 8% to 13%, reaching $45 billion.
Partners will have to move beyond generalist consulting and implementation toward services that address compliance, data governance, security, performance, cost optimization and AI integration.
“The elite 20% of partners currently positioned to deliver mature AI services have made aggressive investments in AI talent, upskilling, and certifications, proprietary IP and frameworks, industry-specific knowledge and solutions, strategic vendor partnerships to deepen relationships and co-selling with key platforms, and full AI lifecycle capabilities across the customer journey,” Lawson said.
Skill gaps
Partners who want to ride the AI services train have their work cut out for them. Lawson said they should “invest immediately in talent and training, vertical expertise, productized offerings, and vendor partnerships,” with a focus on security and governance, managed services and optimization, where growth and margins are highest.
Partners will need support to boost their AI maturity, according to Omdia. Vendor enablement funding can fill some of the gaps, as partners look to hire and retain AI skills in a confusing talent market.
Vendors are also sending squads of forward-deployed engineers to help partners with AI deployments. Microsoft committed $2.5 billion to initiatives that embed engineers and train partners. OpenAI invested $4 billion in a standalone consulting business earlier this year, and AWS launched a $1 billion FDE initiative in June.
Forward-deployed engineering is an expensive stopgap measure that is difficult to support indefinitely, according to Omdia. The firm expects vendors to shift back toward partner-led delivery models as partner capabilities mature.
“Vendors can’t scale FDEs to serve the entire market long-term, especially mid-market and SMB customers,” Lawson said.
For partners already serving those end users, Lawson sees opportunity in productized, industry-specific offerings across several areas: integration and adoption, managed services, ongoing optimization, governance, compliance and security.
Overall, for Omdia, the question is not whether demand for AI services is already materializing. It’s now up to partners to build AI practices around the growing market.
AI services represent a “generational opportunity,” Lawson said. “The window for partners to position themselves is narrowing.”
