AI Business
Growth, risks, and the next wave of innovation: What’s to come for the IT Channel in 2026?
The UK IT channel enters 2026 with real momentum. The market is set to grow by over 11% and, as ever, the indirect channel will be at the centre of how technology is bought, delivered and measured for business value. Alex Tatham, Non-Executive Director at CI Group, draws on 30+ years’ experience in the technology sector to explain why this year will not be defined by a single big bet – but by how well the channel balances AI hype with hard economics, human skills and regulatory reality.
AI: louder than ever, but not the only story
AI will dominate every conference agenda, board discussion and customer meeting in 2026, but that does not mean it will command the largest share of spend. The real money will flow into the infrastructure needed to run AI (data centre capacity, power and chips), where constraints in supply and energy will shape customer choices as much as ambition.
On top of this, organisations will increase investment in standardised AI software that can be delivered through the channel at scale, while being far more selective about bespoke AI ‘solutions looking for a problem’. The projects that succeed will be those focused on a manageable set of business issues with clearly measurable outcomes and commercial models that reward performance, not just deployment. At the same time, AI compliance will move quickly up the agenda as the EU AI Act and emerging UK rules force every player in the supply chain to understand how AI systems are built, trained and supported.
Services growth and the human factor
Channel sales of IT services will continue to grow at over 12%, as organisations look to outsource more of their technology operations for reasons of cost, convenience, and increasingly, the use of AI. This will open opportunities for more specialised offers, such as joiners/movers/leavers services that sit alongside MSPs and traditional resellers to manage devices in a financially, environmentally and security‑conscious way.
Yet the biggest reason IT projects still fail is human, not technical. Too many programmes treat people as an afterthought, rather than the most important element of any investment in AI or cyber. In 2026, successful channel partners will treat technology as a way to augment human behaviour, not replace it, backing this up with serious investment in training and skills analysis across their customers’ organisations.
Cyber remains the top spending priority
AI may grab the headlines, but cybersecurity will continue to dominate actual end‑user spending priorities. For CIOs and boards, protecting the organisation has been the number one concern for years and that will not change in 2026.
AI will both strengthen and weaken cyber posture: it will enable more sophisticated and automated attacks, but also more intelligent and automated defences. New and evolving regulation will add another layer of urgency, pushing customers to prove that they understand and can manage security risk across their estates. Channel partners that can combine cyber expertise with AI literacy will be particularly well placed.
Software, cloud platforms and DSOR
Software sales through the channel will perform very strongly, helped by the growing adoption of channel‑friendly models by software vendors. More vendors will work via distribution and cloud marketplaces, where the route to the customer is indirect but the opportunity for value‑added services is significant.
Designated Seller of Record (DSOR) models from cloud platforms will become more important, allowing end‑users to choose software on the platform while channeling the commercial transaction through resellers and distributors. This keeps the end‑users’ spend aligned to their committed cloud budgets, while allowing partners to support, manage renewals and add services around AI, cyber, training and management tools.
Hardware, devices and quantum’s ‘ChatGPT moment’
Reports of the death of hardware are, once again, exaggerated. The end of support for Windows 10 alone will drive a wave of device refresh in 2026, with prices rising as component costs increase and supply constraints bite.
This will also be the year quantum computing starts to move from lab curiosity towards commercial reality, with its own ‘ChatGPT moment’ of wider recognition and early adoption. For the channel, the immediate opportunity will be modest but strategic: understanding the landscape, identifying early use cases and working with vendors and customers to prepare for a different kind of compute model.
Communications and collaboration
Communications convergence will continue, but spending here will lag other areas in 2026. As AI is embedded into voice and communications infrastructure, many organisations will sweat existing assets rather than commit to wholesale replacement.
However, collaboration tools will keep reshaping call centres and voice management, changing how organisations interact with customers and employees. The winners in the channel will be those who can join up collaboration, contact centre technology and AI‑driven insights into practical, outcome‑focused projects.
Health tech and new device categories
Health IT devices will be one of the most dynamic, if still relatively small, categories in the channel. Devices that measure, improve and report on personal health will grow strongly, moving well beyond fitness trackers into more specialised medical‑adjacent equipment.
Brain‑computer interfaces (BCI) will begin to appear in the commercial channel, raising new questions about ethics, support and data handling. Partners that understand both the regulatory and technical demands of health‑related solutions will be able to create highly differentiated offerings.
Public sector strength – and shifting ESG priorities
Public sector IT spend will be the strongest it has been for some time, driven by investment in infrastructure, defence, healthcare and other major programmes. For resellers, hiring and retaining experienced salespeople in the public sector will be critical to capturing this growth.
In contrast, the emphasis on environmental and DE&I priorities has already diminished in 2025 and is likely to fall further in 2026, outside parts of the public sector where this agenda remains stronger. That is, in many ways, a missed opportunity: sustainability and inclusion deliver clear business benefits, and partners who keep faith with this agenda will stand out as the pendulum swings back.
The UK IT channel goes into 2026 with no shortage of opportunity – but success will go to those who mix realism with ambition, focus with flexibility, and technology innovation with a genuine commitment to people.
Contact marketing@cigroup.co.uk to speak to our team about how sami can help your organisation successfully and responsibly adopt AI, with solutions focused on your individual goals and challenges.