Channel partners must evolve to lead GenAI’s transformation

Larger deals, faster cycles and proper implementation, as well as timeline expectations, are key to success.

The adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) is reshaping industries worldwide, with channel partners reporting significant shifts in deal dynamics, project leadership and market penetration. The latest Omdia quick polls provide a comprehensive view of how GenAI is transforming business operations globally over time. 

Takeaways for channel partners

• Growing deal sizes and shorter cycles: Between 2024 and 2025, deals with bigger initial sizes increased across both shorter and longer sales cycles, while smaller initial deal sizes declined. Partners should prepare for larger initial investments and faster deal closures as businesses gain confidence in GenAI solutions. 
• Incremental adoption: While GenAI is becoming more prevalent, many businesses are integrating it gradually, focusing on specific use cases before scaling. Partners should support this phased approach by offering tailored solutions that align with incremental integration strategies.
• Leadership shifts: Partners must adapt to changing leadership dynamics by collaborating with both business and technology stakeholders, engaging diverse decision-makers and fostering cross-functional collaboration to align project goals with business outcomes.
• Challenges in scaling: Moving GenAI projects from proof of concept to production remains a hurdle. Partners need to address technical, operational and strategic barriers to help businesses scale their GenAI initiatives effectively and realize their full potential.

Shorter cycles and bigger initial deal sizes

The shift toward shorter sales cycles with larger initial deal sizes (19% in 2025, up from 13% in 2024) signals growing market confidence in GenAI solutions. This indicates businesses are increasingly willing to invest more upfront to accelerate implementation. Partners should position themselves to capitalize on this trend by developing streamlined implementation frameworks that justify higher upfront investments.

Conversely, deals with shorter cycles and smaller initial sizes declined from 23% to 19%, suggesting a move away from smaller-scale experimentation toward more substantial investments. Deals with longer cycles and bigger initial sizes also increased (23% in 2025 versus 18% in 2024), reflecting the complexity of some GenAI projects requiring extended timelines for deployment.

The declining percentage of partners seeing no differences in GenAI deals (24% in 2025 vs 28% in 2024) suggests GenAI is increasingly recognized as a unique category distinct from traditional IT solutions. Partners that can demonstrate clear ROI pathways for these larger investments and adapt their sales processes to match the accelerated pace of decision-making will gain a competitive advantage in this evolving market.

GenAI’s role in closed deals

The decrease in partners reporting no GenAI involvement (35% to 29% from 2024 to 2025) represents a critical market inflection point. Partners who fail to adopt GenAI risk being left behind as clients come to expect this technology as standard or baseline capability. While fewer partners reported GenAI involvement in more than 75% of their deals (falling from 25% to 17%), the proportion of deals with moderate GenAI involvement saw substantial increases. Particularly notable is the growth in the 21%-to-40% range, which surged from 7% to 15%.

This shift underscores a growing trend toward broader but less intensive integration of GenAI across deals. Businesses are increasingly exploring GenAI in a broader range of scenarios, reflecting a more incremental and diversified adoption strategy. The shift toward moderate GenAI involvement presents an opportunity for partners to develop scalable, modular solutions that allow clients to incrementally increase their GenAI footprint based on proven success.

Customer demand for GenAI proof of concepts

With “never” responses falling from 42% to 25% and “frequently” responses rising from 12% to 18%, partners should develop a structured proof-of-concept methodology that demonstrates value quickly while establishing a clear path to production.

The relatively stable “in every deal” category (8% in 2024 versus 7% in 2025) suggests GenAI hasn’t reached commodity status. This even distribution of increased demand across varying levels of interest highlights the gradual adoption of GenAI, as businesses move from cautious exploration to more frequent and strategic use.

Partners that can identify high-value use cases specific to client industries will differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. The data suggests businesses are becoming more selective about where they apply GenAI, focusing on scenarios with clear ROI potential rather than implementing it universally.

The implementation gap

GenAI experimentation is surging, while production implementation lags behind. Channel partners with no GenAI proofs of concept dropped from 36% to 23% (2024 to 2025), yet 40% report only a small minority of projects reaching production (up from 22%). This implementation gap represents a strategic opportunity for partners that can develop expertise in growing GenAI solutions beyond pilot phases.

Partners that build specialized capabilities in production readiness assessment and implementation roadmaps will capture significant market share as organizations struggle to convert promising pilots into enterprise-wide deployments.

Business versus technology stakeholders

GenAI project leadership is becoming increasingly distributed across organizations. Leadership from line-of-business leaders “all of the time” dropped from 19% to 11%, while technology leaders (CTO/CIO) leading “all of the time” fell dramatically from 29% to 11%. Simultaneously, technology leaders leading “some of the time” increased to 33%, signaling a shift toward collaborative decision-making.

This democratization of GenAI leadership creates opportunities for partners that can effectively bridge technical capabilities with business-focused outcomes, positioning themselves as strategic advisors rather than just technology providers.

Conclusion

As the global adoption of GenAI is transforming industries, channel partners play a pivotal role in driving its implementation. Channel partners that strategically position themselves at the intersection of technology expertise and business transformation will capture the greatest share of the rapidly evolving GenAI market. Those that develop specialized capabilities in scaling projects from proof of concept to production, navigate multi-stakeholder decision processes, and deliver measurable business outcomes will establish themselves as indispensable strategic partners. The window for differentiation is narrowing as GenAI adoption accelerates, making now the critical moment for partners to invest in the skills, methodologies and customer engagement models that will define market leaders in the AI-driven future. The journey from experimentation to widespread adoption is underway, and those that adapt to the changing landscape and ensure proper implementation will be best positioned to thrive in the GenAI era.