One Partner's Path to AI Success
A channel partner builds up its artificial intelligence and machine-learning practice and goes to market.
Last year, Teknion, a channel partner in data analytics, met a Boston-based machine-learning software developer, DataRobot, at a tech event. In the fall, Teknion inked a partnership deal with DataRobot, thus taking a big step into the hot artificial intelligence (AI) market.
This year, Teknion’s CEO told sales reps to talk about predictive analytics and DataRobot on every sales call, says William Collins, chief digital marketing officer at Teknion.
Welcome to the bang-bang world of AI, where the technology speeds ahead, line-of-business (LOB) tech buyers ready their wallets, and channel partners move quickly to keep up.
There’s no question the enterprise market for AI is about to accelerate. Worldwide spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $19.1 billion in 2018, an increase of more than 54 percent from 2017, according to IDC. By 2019, 40 percent of digital transformation initiatives will use AI.
“Interest and awareness of AI is at a fever pitch,” said David Schubmehl, research director at IDC. “Every industry and every organization should be evaluating AI to see how it will affect their business processes and go-to-market efficiencies.”
Signs point to an emerging channel of systems integrators reinventing themselves as AI experts. In order to cater to them, DataRobot recently launched a partner program that includes a DataRobot University, APIs and SDKs, and an array of support benefits. DataRobot has approximately 80 channel partners.
“We’re going to more than triple our channel revenue this year,” says Seann Gardiner, executive vice president of business development at DataRobot. “I wouldn’t say the majority of our sales today is through the channel, but in places like Japan, we’re 100 percent channel. As we expand to places like Singapore, Australia and Western Europe, certainly the channel is going to be a big part of that. It’ll be a healthy mix.”
Seann Gardiner
Seann Gardiner
Many channel partners, though, still struggle to become AI experts. The problem lies