Like his Omdia colleague Jay McBain, Devan Adams will be a keynote speaker at the 2026 Channel Partners Conference and Expo. And while he’s not as well known in the channel as McBain (not yet anyway), Adams has conducted ground-breaking research on the TSD market that all technical advisors (TAs) and other types of partners need to hear.

I recently interviewed Adams, the principal analyst for the Omdia Channels NAM & Managed Services Analysis Team, about his upcoming CP Expo sessions.

Channel Partners: Your April 15 keynote session is The Unveiling of the True Value of the TSD Market. Without giving too much away, what will you reveal in your research about TSDs?

Adams: I’ll reveal how TSDs are contributing $16 billion to the channel ecosystem, mostly under the radar due to the lack of visibility and fanfare they get compared to others. I’ll highlight the biggest market opportunities and what will separate the winners and losers.

Channel Partners: What about your TSD market report surprised you the most?"
Adams: The wide range of TSDs in the market – there are really large and very small players, with the former dominating share at 72%. The contribution of non-technology advisor partners within TSD networks, although they’re smaller in numbers, are larger in average contract values (ACVs).”

Devan Adams

Channel Partners: How is the TSD market changing?"
Adams: The market is maturing, with growing venture capital and private equity investments reshaping execution strategies and prompting partner tiering, supplier pruning, and better enablement (like AI-enabled portals) resources.

Channel Partners: Why is this a must-attend session for all types of partners?
Adams: This session will provide a quantifiable answer to the most asked question ‘what is the true value of the TSD?,’ and will introduce the underrated TSD market to new partners and suppliers.

Channel Partners: You are also moderating an April 14 session How to Cash In on AI’s Potential as part of the AI Symposium. Your panel includes representatives of Vonage, Thread, and Telnyx. What type of AI-powered tools will this session touch on?

Adams: We’ll explore AI tools like Vonage’s AI studio, Thread’s AI service desk, and Telnyx’s Voice AI Agents. These AI-based solutions are transforming customer experience (CX), IT services, and communications markets.

Channel Partners: What are some of the innovative usages of AI do you expect them to talk about?"

Adams: Expect insights on building AI personalized experiences with APIs, obtaining real-time analytics, automating call triage, and multilingual voice AI agents.

Channel Partners: Obviously, AI is a huge talking point today. Do you think channel partners are taking full advantage of AI yet? If not, what do they have to do to fully realize its potential?

Adams: Most partners are just scratching the surface for AI. An Omdia survey showed that only 8% of partners deployed agentic AI in full production internally. To unlock AI’s full potential, it must be embraced by partners internally and produce ROIs that will appeal to customers.