TD Synnex is launching a program to get businesses up to speed with new AI products.
The Clearwater and Fremont, California-based multinational company has launched the AI Enablement Program, a resource for TD Synnex partners to understand better the uses of AI products like Microsoft's new AI-enabled suite, Microsoft 365 Copilot. As the trend in large language models and AI continues and expands, businesses are looking to justify buying AI products, and the program is a way for TD Synnex to connect with the distributor market and facilitate the adoption of AI.
By doing so, TD Synnex said it's setting the foundation for participation in each market segment. It's also a look at how generative AI products, like Microsoft 365 Copilot, are officially entering the market and how businesses will adopt them.
“Through our enablement journey and resources, we believe partners can gain a competitive edge in the rapidly growing AI market, which is currently valued at more than $530 billion," Sergio Farache, TD Synnex's chief strategy officer, said in a prepared statement.
The new program launched this week provides channel partners with resources and educational tools to prepare them for "navigating AI-powered workplace productivity," according to a press release.
"With any new technology, the first priority is enablement because it's the only way that you can reach critical mass," Sergio Farache told Tampa Bay Inno.
As one of the largest global technology distributors, the company's reach and size give it confidence in its insights and understanding of technology channels and the global ecosystem, as it told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in October. One such insight comes from its newly published trend report showing a more than 600% focus on AI products since 2022.
Research firm Gartner predicts generative AI will be a workforce partner for 90% of companies globally in two years. Microsoft 365 Copilot is an example of what that might look like, TD Synnex said in a press release. As a distributor, it has begun marketing AI products, and it recently added Microsoft 365 Copilot to its "Destination AI" program, an aggregation of product offerings in the AI space.
The added offering and new program hint at a mainstream adoption of AI technology.
Copilot is one of the first tools to commercialize the technology behind ChatGPT, the headline-spawning OpenAI technology, for a broader business audience through Microsoft rolling it into its suite of products. It became available for public use in November, and Microsoft is pioneering this means of offering AI technology embedded in software.
"TD Synnex is perfectly positioned to help partners on their AI journeys with this new and dynamic tool," David Smith, a vice president of channel sales at Microsoft, said in a prepared statement. "We’re encouraging enterprise and [small to medium-sized businesses] to anchor on this wave of innovation to transform with more precision than ever before."
Customers are seeking out Copilot, too. After the announcement of the limited availability of Copilot months before it was launched in November, TD Synnex began to receive calls from partners asking about Copilot's availability. The enthusiasm for these tools is evident and massive, Farache said.
"That was a reinforcement of interest in the market," he said.
Even so, it's still too early to tell how AI products, like Copilot, will be adopted. They're often expensive and may take time before their prices level. Companies also need to figure out precisely what their needs are before investing. But TD Synnex sees financial potential for those who can figure out how to integrate AI into their business.
"More and more, we will see a correlation between the use cases and the return on investment," Farache said.
