Distributors continue to influence AI, cloud and hyperscale sales and adoption, reveals GTDC

GTDC believes distributors are a major force multiplier helping cloud and AI and hyperscaler-focused suppliers reduce risk, scale faster, enter new markets and orchestrate increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

Distributors continue to have a strong influence on AI, cloud and hyperscaler sales and adoption. These were among the findings from a new study developed by CommCentric for the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC). The report revealed the continued role distributors play in the tech ecosystem, moving beyond their normal roles.

According to Frank Vitagliano, CEO of GTDC, today’s distributors have advanced far beyond the critical logistics and credit services mission. Vitagliano explained that distribution is now a major force multiplier—helping cloud and AI and hyperscaler-focused suppliers reduce risk, scale faster, enter new markets and orchestrate increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

“Those services are layered on top of all the time-tested valued services that vendors have come to expect from their trusted distributor partners,” Vitagliano said.

On distributor’s key value propositions based on feedback from channel leaders across North America, EMEA and APJ, the study revealed that partner ecosystem growth remains a priority for vendors. 80% of vendor executives rank this distribution value-add as the most important contribution to their go-to-market success, with sales enablement resources cited by 57% of respondents, reflecting the growing need for education, tools and guidance to sell and support cloud and AI-driven solutions.

There is the strong adoption of digital platforms with 86% of suppliers either using at least one today or actively evaluating options to support online transactions, lifecycle management and analytics. Hyperscaler relationships continue to evolve as 60% of vendors have direct relationships with these infrastructure suppliers with 40% leveraging both a direct and distributor-supported model. This underscores the growing importance of distribution as a bridge between these organizations and the broader channel ecosystem.

Distributors in Asia Pacific

While the Asia Pacific region is on a mixed growth rate, depending on the country, distributors continue to also play a very influential role. According to Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director for GTDC APJ, most distributors in the region are making investments in the digital platform as the study revealed.

“It varies but there is some level of investment going on for every kind of distributor, whether global, regional or local. So, it's happening across APAC,” Lazarus said.

At the same time, Lazarus also pointed out that AI investment by distributors is also increasing at various levels.

“If you look at it, first the digital investments, AI is now playing a part in providing data intelligence for their resellers. Second, they are investing huge amounts with vendors on AI readiness, and that's happening. They are exploring and executing services around AI along with their downstream channels,” he explained.

On concerns if the smaller distributors may be challenged by the investments made by larger ones, Lazarus pointed out that while some distributors are ahead of the others, the situation is a bit similar when cloud services began.

“Some were faster than others whether across the channel but finally, everyone caught up. So, the same evolution is happening in our mind and some are playing catch-up, some are already there and building. My view is that everyone will adapt. I think there is no choice but to get onto the bandwagon. It's like many years ago when customers were moving to the cloud, those who didn't offer in the short term lost out but they quickly scaled up and caught up,” Lazarus concluded.