Over the next five years, the UK channel will see a radical consolidation of partner numbers, will move from selling products and people to outcomes, and will come under increasing pressure from hyperscaler marketplaces.
These are among the predictions made by the 75 UK channel partner leaders we questioned for the inaugural Oxygen Partner Leaders.
Powered by Giacom, Oxygen Partner Leaders tests out what makes VAR and MSP CEOs tick in 2026 via ten big questions.
The CEOs who took part include Computacenter’s Mike Norris, Advania’s Hege Støre, Softcat’s Graham Charlton, SCC’s Robert Vassoyan, Bytes Technology Group’s Sam Mudd, Trustmarque-Ultima’s Simon Williams, Focus Group’s Neil Hall, Air IT’s Barney Taylor and CDW’s Penny Williams.
When we asked our partner leaders for their most surprising predictions of how the industry will evolve over the next five years, they did not disappoint.
Here’s what a selection of them said….
Matt Franklin-Wilson
CEO, Roc Technologies
5-year channel prediction:
“It is a case of transform or die. Successful partners will spend more on AI tokens than they do on employees.”
Read Franklin-Wilson’s full Partner Leaders Q&A here, or visit the Oxygen Partner Leaders hub here.
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