8 | | APRIL- MAY, 2024enerative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), once a concept primarily explored in science fiction and academia, has now become the predominant topic of discussion in households and boardrooms around the world. In a little over a year since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, the technology has seen exceeding levels of democratization that have brought its application to business operations into the mainstream.As macroeconomic uncertainties continue to impact global economies, chief executives are turning to these Gen AI advances to achieve optimization and efficiency gainsAs macroeconomic uncertainties continue to impact global economies, chief executives are turning to these Gen AI advances to achieve optimization and efficiency gains. This is driving a CAGR of 24.5 percent in AI spending in the Asia Pacific region with figures projected to hit $49.2 billion by 2026.Against this backdrop of skyrocketing demand for Gen AI and other high-growth technologies such as cloud, cybersecurity, and networking, the channel partner ecosystem is rising to be an anchor of stability for technology vendors, reseller partners, small and medium businesses, as well as mid-sized enterprises.Shifts in the channelChannel partners have always been key players in the global IT ecosystem, serving not only as a resource to implement new technologies but also to drive the adoption of these business solutions. As the demand for enterprise AI grows, partners are now guiding businesses through fundamental changes in their technology stacks while shifting their own strategies to adapt to an evolving market.Per Tech Data's Direction of Technology 2023 report, partners in the Asia Pacific & Japan (AP&J) region recognize the transformative potential of high-growth technologies and are strategically expanding their portfolios to evolve with the changing and escalating demands. 40 percent of partners plan to offer AI/ML solutions in the next two years, nearly double the figure when compared to 19 percent in 2022. More importantly, partners are also realizing the value of foundational offerings such as Bennett Wong, Vice President Advanced Solutions -MDC & Analytics, Tech DataPLANNING FOR SUCCESS WITH GEN AI? START WITH GETTING THE BASICS RIGHTgIN MY OPINIONBennett Wong an experienced leader brings strong business acument and insights, having successfully led allliance initiaties with global vendor partners, as well as having driven channel sales leadership and engagement. With more than two decades of experience in the IT distribution industry across Asia Pacific, Bennett possesses deep knowledge of the IT ecosystem, including the market landscape, develop- ments and trends.
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