TD SYNNEX’s fourth annual Direction of Technology (DoT) Report has highlighted how blending AI-driven transformation with resilient cybersecurity frameworks, deep specialisation and automation-enabled talent drives growth, despite persisting macroeconomic challenges.
► AI, services and specialisation driving the next wave of growth
► Cybersecurity remains key but keeping pace is a challenge
► Positive outlook with 66% of partners reporting revenue increases
► Services start to pull ahead
Taking feedback from over 1400 partners solution providers in 40 countries, the report emphasises how service-led business models are fuelling success in the age of AI, with ISVs and professional services firms expressing the most optimism. Nearly 75% of partners say AI is essential to their future. The report identifies six critical global trends shaping the IT market in 2025:
- AI is the foundation for market leadership – As AI adoption accelerates, partners must differentiate by offering more advanced, impactful use cases like AI-powered cybersecurity (58.4%) or AI-driven automation (54.3%), which were identified by partners as solutions likely to have significant impacts on their business.
- Cybersecurity is fundamental, but still a battleground – 80% of partners already offer at least one cybersecurity solution and security has been a leading growth driver for endpoint solutions over the past two years. Partners rank advanced endpoint security as their second-highest priority for new offerings. However, emerging threats like AI-driven attacks (49.2%) and data breaches (41.9%) as top concerns.
- Specialisation beats scale – Industry expertise and consultation is the number one factor that end customers look for in a partner, with exceptional customer service following closely in second. Partners are already adapting to this market expectation, with 90% planning to offer support and maintenance services, 88% planning to deliver custom IT integration and 82% planning to expand managed services in the next year.
- Redesigned operating models for the AI era – Nearly 70% of leaders are experiencing talent shortages, which they say directly affects AI (43%), data & analytics (41%) and cybersecurity (39%) implementations. This signals an industry-wide shift in how work gets done and serves as an opportunity for partners to redesign operating models and workflows to drive efficiency for an AI-enabled future.
- Macroeconomic challenges persist, but growth is still possible – Despite global headwinds, the growth outlooks remain positive in most regions with 66% of partners reporting revenue increases. Companies that combine strategic foresight with operational agility are best positioned to achieve growth.
- The new winners: service-led and future-ready – ISVs (120) and professional service firms (110) are pulling ahead as industry growth leaders, as demonstrated by the Net Growth Index. This is due to their efforts to build balanced portfolios, with more than half blending fast-growing capabilities like artificial intelligence and data & analytics with core offerings.
The full report is available to view here
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