Transforming AI Hype into Authentic Intelligence

Aaron Harris, Global CTO at Sage, explains how companies can transform AI hype into actionable, authentic intelligence. This article originally appeared in Insight Jam, an enterprise IT community that enables human conversation on AI.

Business leaders have heard enough about the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They no longer need concepts or demos; they want proof. Proof that it works in the real world, that it delivers measurable outcomes, and that it helps solve the challenges they face every day.

The reality is simple: leaders are no longer chasing concepts. They’re asking how AI can reduce costs, unlock new revenue streams, and identify efficiencies without introducing risk or complexity. They’re looking for authentic intelligence; technology grounded in experience, built with trust, and designed for tangible impact. And with the advent of agentic AI, this isn’t simply another wave of automation or a passing trend. It’s a shift that will fundamentally change how we live and work, where systems don’t just respond, but reason, act, and learn.

For businesses, this means accountants closing month-end more quickly, small businesses navigating global uncertainty with clearer insights, and fast-growth companies unlocking productivity in ways that weren’t possible before. For channel partners, it’s an equally important inflection point and an opportunity to move beyond reselling AI to start embedding AI into their blueprints.

From Selling AI to Shaping Outcomes: The Maturity Leap

Many partners sell AI-infused solutions. High performers go that one step further to help businesses automate delivery, drive smarter decisions, and turn innovation into measurable gains. They’re embedding intelligence into how they deliver, not just what they provide. AI maturity isn’t about adopting new tools either, but about applying AI to solve real customer
problems, repeatedly and at scale. This is what separates the leaders from the laggards.

IDC’s latest research reveals that 87 percent of high-performing partners have a dedicated AI practice, while 60 percent report that most customers are already experiencing measurable benefits from AI-powered software. These leaders are operationalizing intelligence, utilizing data and automation to unlock recurring value, and aligning their customers’ desire to be “AI-ready” with their own readiness to deliver outcomes that matter.

Empowering Partners to Grow AI Maturity

To realize the full potential of AI and Agentic systems, partners need support from vendors and technology providers, not just technology. Maturity doesn’t happen by accident, but comes from consistent enablement, guidance, and shared learning across the ecosystem. Vendors play a crucial role here, providing secure and trustworthy solutions that embed governance and data protection by design, and offering hands-on training to help partners turn innovation into measurable value. When vendors empower partners to lead with impact, they create a ripple effect across the ecosystem.

Equipped with the right tools and insight, partners can help small and mid-sized businesses automate intelligently, make faster and more informed decisions, and build resilience. It becomes a positive cycle of growth: vendors enable partner success, partners enable customer success, and the entire ecosystem advances through trust and shared outcomes. The opportunity for every vendor, across every market, is to move from supplying technology to co-creating capability. That’s what will define sustainable leadership in the AI era.

Designing Industry-Specialized, Repeatable Solutions

Small and Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs) don’t buy AI, they buy progress. They seek partners who understand their industry, workflows, and compliance pressures. To that end, high-performing partners are building repeatable, vertical-specific solutions that deliver measurable ROI and long-term customer loyalty. Proprietary IP and deep industry knowledge turn AI from a generic tool into a tailored growth engine.

Nearly 70 percent of high performers offer specialized solutions for micro-verticals. Partners who align deeply with customer goals see higher retention, stronger NPS scores, and greater profitability. When AI is tailored for a specific sector, such as manufacturing, construction, or accounting, it stops being an experiment and becomes essential infrastructure. This is particularly important for SMBs, where trust is the gatekeeper to AI adoption. Without it, even the most advanced technology will stall.

Partners need AI that is transparent, safe, and explainable. I’ve seen promising pilots collapse because trust wasn’t built in from day one. Customers will forgive slow results; they won’t forgive hidden risks.

The Partner Ecosystem as the Architect of the AI Future

We have rapidly entered a new phase in the AI lifecycle, one defined by Agentic AI. These systems are not just automating tasks; they’re enabling a new level of decision-making, adaptation, and creativity. High-performing partners are already building service propositions on top of AI agents because they understand that the real opportunity isn’t in the technology itself, but in the transformation it enables. They’re redefining the partner’s role as a strategic co-creator of customer value. The future of the channel isn’t about selling AI, but about building a trusted, intelligent ecosystem that delivers on AI’s full potential, together.