AI is redrawing the rules of the partner ecosystem faster than most organisations can adapt. Last week, Stuart Wilson, IDC’s Senior Research Director for Partnering Ecosystems, and Andreas Storz, Senior Research Manager in the same practice, shared IDC’s latest research on what that means in practice for vendors, partners, and distributors operating across Europe and beyond. Drawing on survey data from more than 1,000 established partners, direct feedback from IDC’s European Partner Advisory Board, and real-world vendor examples, they made the case that the ecosystem is not simply evolving: it is being structurally reset. Here is a brief overview. The full recording is available on demand.
Stuart opened with a finding that will resonate with anyone tracking partner economics right now: AI is systematically compressing the lifecycle phases where partners have historically earned the most. Implementation, integration, and basic support are not disappearing, but they are becoming thinner and, in a growing number of cases, absorbed directly into vendor platforms. IDC has documented specific examples of how this compression is already playing out at scale, with leading vendors publicly committing to timelines and automation levels that would have seemed ambitious just 18 months ago.
What makes this moment different from previous platform shifts is the speed and simultaneity of the impact. AI is hitting vendor economics, partner margins, and customer expectations at the same time. Partners who are waiting for the dust to settle before repositioning are likely to find the window has already closed.
The compression of execution-heavy activities does not mean the overall ecosystem opportunity is shrinking. IDC’s data points clearly to a redistribution of spend toward higher-order roles: AI solution design and agent creation, governance and compliance services, industry advisory, data engineering, and reusable marketplace IP. These are areas that reward deep domain knowledge and customer trust rather than delivery capacity.
Customers are also changing how they expect to be served. Rather than relying on a single partner to cover the full lifecycle, they increasingly want a coordinated network of specialists. That shift has direct implications for how vendors structure their ecosystems and how partners think about collaboration rather than competition. The recording covers the full breakdown of where IDC sees demand growing and shrinking, and what partners are doing today to get ahead of it.
Andreas Storz walked through a structural shift in how technology solutions are discovered and bought. Marketplaces are moving inside products, and IDC is seeing real evidence that customers are making decisions before a formal procurement process ever begins. This compresses buying cycles, introduces new buyer personas including business users and domain specialists who are not traditional IT buyers, and moves partner influence upstream into phases where most partner programs have little presence today.
Partner Advisory Board members were frank about what this looks like from the front line. One dimension that generated particular discussion was the growing scrutiny customers apply to every new AI investment:
“Customers scrutinize every purchase order. We are having to prove the ROI to the last penny before new AI work is approved.” — IDC Partner Advisory Board member, November 2025
Co-sell models are adapting accordingly. The shift away from field-led selling toward digital and telemetry-driven motions is not a future state: it is already shaping how the most forward-leaning vendors are structuring partner engagement today. The recording covers what that looks like in practice and what partners need to do to remain visible in these new buying journeys.
The structural conclusion Stuart and Andreas reached is that most partner programs in operation today were designed for a world that is rapidly ceasing to exist. The incentive structures, metrics, and engagement models built around resale transactions and implementation milestones are misaligned with where ecosystem value is now being created. Vendors that do not address this gap will find themselves losing the partners best positioned to deliver AI-driven outcomes to customers.
The research points to a dual imperative: accelerating existing partners toward AI-centric delivery models while simultaneously cultivating a new generation of AI-native partners who bring differentiated industry IP and a very different set of expectations around how vendor relationships should work. How to run both strategies in parallel, without letting either undermine the other, is one of the more complex programme design challenges IDC is helping clients navigate right now.
“AI-native competitors without legacy delivery models are coming. If we don’t pivot, we will be disrupted.” — IDC Partner Advisory Board member, November 2025
The Q and A that followed also surfaced sharp questions on how AI model providers are disrupting established alliance hierarchies for global systems integrators, and whether the net effect of all this change will be a more consolidated or more fragmented ecosystem. Stuart’s answer to the latter was more nuanced than a binary either/or, and worth hearing in full.
The complete recording includes data from the IDC EMEA Partner Survey data (N=1,001), a detailed breakdown of the dual partner strategy framework, and a live Q and A with both analysts. If the topics covered resonate with your ecosystem strategy, IDC’s Partnering Ecosystems practice offers advisory support, custom research, roundtables, and strategic workshops tailored to vendors, distributors, and partners navigating this transition.
Our experts are always happy to continue the conversation. Simply reach out via the contact form.
Stuart Wilson is senior research director for IDC’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Partnering Ecosystems program. With over two decades of global experience, Stuart focuses on the rise of complex, connected ecosystems and how platform models are reshaping routes…
Andreas Storz is senior research manager for IDC’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Partnering Ecosystems program. Based in the US, Andreas focuses on the evolution of go-to-market models, new digital value chains and the wider impact on partner ecosystems,…
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