AI tools are transforming the channel ecosystem, and technical sales are no exception.
AI startup Opine, founded in 2023, markets AI teammates to supplement technical sales teams. The company uses agentic AI to simplify complex sales processes, aggregating deal information and customer activity into real-time data and insights.
Opine agents can save companies an average of four hours of manual effort every week, per each active opportunity, according to the company. The startup aims to give B2B firms — and the humans they employ — more breathing room.
“Complex selling always involves partners,” Akash Ganapathi, Opine cofounder and CEO, told Channel Dive after a panel Tuesday during NYC Tech Week. “Partner-to-partner sales is so human, because it’s based on relationships and trust. We want to minimize the nonhuman, more repetitive side of technical sales: tracking requirements, gathering customer details. Our goal is to give sellers more time to spend with their clients.”
Opine has secured $5 million in funding and reached 7-figures in annual recurring revenue, according to Ganapathi.
The startup recently partnered with Saviynt, a cloud-based cybersecurity platform provider. Saviynt has a partner-first strategy, with 85% of its business running through the channel.
"With Opine, my team can focus on delivering value instead of wrangling spreadsheets or chasing down updates. It’s lightweight, flexible, and just works.” Saviynt Director of Solutions Engineering Mark Rida said in a client testimony on the Opine website.
Despite the potential benefits of AI assistants, there’s a looming downside for displaced workers.
Sales representatives were among the top ten occupations “most exposed” to AI, according to a report from Anthropic on labor market impacts. Anthropic found that 63% of sales tasks, including contacting customers to demonstrate products, were observed to be covered by AI. The study did not count technical and scientific sales in its ranking.
AI proponents say that AI tools are augmenting rather than replacing salespeople.
Ganapathi said sales, particularly technical sales, are AI-resistant.
“Salespeople are not going anywhere,” he said. “I think there will always be this need for trust and accountability. You can't ask an AI to own the outcome of a deal.”
