Artificial Intelligence is creating significant opportunities for channel partners, but turning vendor innovation into measurable customer outcomes remains a major challenge. Suzanne Swanson, VP of Global Channel Partnerships at Rapid7, tells us why vendors must reshape the AI narrative around practical business value, consistent partner enablement and real-world outcomes to help partners build trusted advisory relationships and drive sustainable growth.
AI is the dominant talking point in most business conversations, and yet many channel partners are struggling with its practical application. Kaseya’s recent State of the MSP Report found that despite 48% reporting AI as a top client need, only 13% identified it as ‘a meaningful revenue source’.
The reason for that is the narrative produced by vendors around AI often focuses purely on capabilities or positions it as a product to be monetised directly. This approach leaves partners unsure of what the real business value is and how it can help their customers.
The opportunity for vendors is to make AI more practical. They need a clear story that shows where AI fits, how it can impact the business, and what measurable value it creates for customers.
Why are channel partners struggling with the AI narrative?
I find that customers are not necessarily looking for partners who can explain every technical detail behind large language models or Machine Learning algorithms. They want trusted advisers who understand where AI delivers meaningful business outcomes.
The scenario I often see is that a customer has expressed an interest in AI, but it’s not tied to clearly defined, outcome-based requirements. They know AI matters, but they may not know where to start and want the partner to help turn that curiosity into measurable value.
That is where the challenge begins. Many partners are being asked to make AI practical, but the messaging they receive from vendors is often still too broad. There is no shortage of excitement around AI, and much of it is driven by vendors launching new capabilities, integrations and model-driven features.
While vendors want to demonstrate innovation, they often end up creating the impression that AI is something partners can just sell in its own right. This leaves partners in the difficult position of trying to translate broad AI promises into practical outcomes.
On top of this, customer budgets are tighter than ever, and buying decisions are scrutinised more heavily, so every investment must clearly demonstrate business value. So, when a vendor leads with the capability benefits, it puts partners on the back foot.
What should the AI narrative actually look like?
The narrative around AI should focus on helping customers apply AI in practical, measurable ways. AI is a partner’s silent co-pilot, and when applied to real operational problems, it allows them to act faster, prioritise more effectively and deliver measurable value to customers.
In the context of cybersecurity, AI helps accelerate security investigations, reduce manual administrative work, and help analysts make faster, more informed decisions. For partners, this creates a clear commercial story centred on reducing costs, improving response times, and helping customers do more with existing teams and budgets.
By helping customers understand how AI strengthens security outcomes, partners are able to build long-term advisory relationships. And in order to do this, the channel needs help from its vendor partners.
If partners are expected to guide customers through AI adoption, vendors have an equal responsibility to guide partners.
How do vendors rework their AI narrative for partners?
Vendors need to create a narrative that moves beyond broad promises and shows how AI fits into existing workflows, solves operational challenges and supports better decision-making.
What we typically see is partners being handed a list of capabilities from the vendor, and although they sound impressive, they’re completely meaningless when it comes to real conversations with customers.
What’s more valuable is providing clear examples of where AI improves workflows, increases efficiency, or strengthens security. That means explaining where AI exists within solutions, why it’s being used, what measurable difference it makes and, just as importantly, where human expertise remains essential.
Enablement plays an equally important role in this. Vendors should create opportunities for partners to see AI in action through practical training, real-world customer examples and direct access to subject matter experts.
Seeing how AI is already being used to improve analyst productivity, accelerate threat detection, or automate routine tasks helps partners understand the practical application and showcase the business value to customers.
By reshaping the narrative, partners can have better conversations with customers, showing where AI genuinely adds value and avoiding treating it as a solution looking for a problem.
Why is consistency just as important as the message itself?
The AI narrative needs to be consistent across the business. If it is not, it quickly breaks down. Whether messaging comes from sales teams, technical specialists, or partner enablement programmes, partners should hear the same clear, practical story.
It might sound obvious, but it’s often the case that different teams share information and priorities, leaving partners confused. Remember, partners work with vendor account managers, sales teams, marketers, and pre-sales engineers all at the same time, which means inconsistencies can quickly arise.
Consistent, outcome-focused messaging gives partners the confidence to articulate where AI fits within a wider security strategy rather than presenting it as a standalone solution.
To do that means treating the partner as an extension of your organisation by providing them access to the same strategic direction, messaging and enablement content provided internally.
At our EMEA Partner Summit in Lisbon earlier this year, we gave partners a clear view of Rapid7’s strategic direction and our approach to the evolving market. We wanted our partners to have a stronger understanding of our vision, a compelling customer narrative and clear priorities they could take into every conversation.
The summit helped build partners’ confidence by equipping them with a compelling narrative and clear priorities to take back to customers.
Will AI become the defining factor for partners?
AI will undoubtedly shape the future of the channel, but it won’t be the defining factor on its own.
The partners that stand out will be the ones who understand where AI creates genuine value for customers and where human expertise still makes the difference.
When applied thoughtfully, it helps teams work smarter, respond faster and focus more time on solving customers’ biggest challenges. That’s what builds trust, strengthens relationships and drives sustainable growth.
Ultimately, customers won’t choose partners simply because they use AI. For vendors, that means moving beyond the hype. Success won’t come from positioning AI as the next technology to monetise, but from giving partners the clarity, practical guidance and confidence to embed AI into the workflows that matter most.
