SAN DIEGO – Telecom channel leaders at Sandler Partners National Summit this week identified what they say are the largest opportunities for technical advisors over the next few years.

When asked which represents the largest revenue opportunities over the next 24 months, there was no clear consensus.

“It's really the AI story,” T-Mobile VP of channel sales Chris Jones said. “Some of the other areas -- copper replacement and fiber expansion -- are kind of in the rearview mirror. When you look at the larger industry, at where growth is coming from, and at how AI is transforming the way business operates and the way all of you operate, it's going to change everything. We don't necessarily all know where it's going to come from or how, but that's where we think the biggest growth will be.”

No one would argue that AI is the largest growth opportunity, right? Wrong.

“I put AI as No. 4,” said New Horizons Communications (NHC) CEO Doug Fabricatore, listing fiber expansion first, POTS [plain old telephone service] second and wireless third. “I'm looking at growth opportunities, and POTS is a trigger for more discovery of other products. You won't get the revenue from the POTS itself, but it's a good way to get into the customer and start upselling, going up the stack.”

The other panelists had nuanced answers.

Chris Bonavita, GTT’s VP of strategy, offered what he called “a slightly different perspective. We feel that AI starts the conversation and then drives an infrastructure conversation, so it's a mix of both. AI is where you work out what you need to facilitate, what you're actually going to deliver, and then that rides on the infrastructure. So the middle two, wireless and access: how do you get into the AI continuum, and how do you extract value from it, whether you own the infrastructure or you're going into an AI provider? AI starts the conversation, matches to a strategy, and goes to infrastructure. That's where we're going to make the most money in the next year and a half: supporting those AI initiatives, not necessarily the AI dollars themselves.”

“I can take it a step further,” AT&T SVP of partner solutions Chad Townes said. “Our perspective is fiber, fiber, wireless, fiber, because you can't do any of these other things without it. AI is going to drive demand, but customers don't care why they need it. They'll use it for AI. They'll use it for copper retirement. They'll use it to power their cell sites for wireless connectivity. Customers just want to be connected wherever they go, and the best way to do that is fiber. AI is going to drive that because every day it's getting more and more demanding, and that's just going to drive the need for more fiber.”

Townes added that copper retirement also opens the door for conversations because copper is going away and customers who need it must replace it with fiber, wireless or both. “The key is matching up the right time and the right investment, so you're catching those customers when they need it,” he said.

Searching for the Channel’s Easy Button

The panelists were asked how they can make life easier on channel partners. Townes called that his top challenge. He pointed out AT&T’s goal is to grow its percentage of business that goes through the channel from the mid-20s now to 80% in five years.

“We just have to make it easy,” Townes said. “Nobody wants to do business with somebody who's difficult, and at AT&T, we've been notoriously difficult over time. That's our number one focus, and it started with the basics around being partner friendly. We used to be the channel out of the channel; we're now committed to it. It's a board-level initiative.”

Bonavita said GTT also has a goal to increase new business coming through the channel -- from 70% now to 90%. “Our product and technology teams are totally focused on channel enablement, from our systems to the integration of our platforms and quoting tools,” he said. “It lets us deploy our channel-facing people and resources in the field to strengthen your customer relationships and simplify the technology process. That's how we're channel first. You can go out and have the complex conversations, bring them back to Sandler, and be supported by all of our systems, our resources, and all the investments we've made on the back end.”

Jones said T-Mobile is looking to change its go-to-market strategy from what he calls a “Frankenstein model.”

“When you try to do everything for everyone, you create an ugly experience that dissatisfies everyone,” he said. “The reality is there are a lot of different kinds of partners, and you need to build to the partner type. Partners don't really care about suppliers. They care about the outcome for the customer. Is it easy? Do I want to work with them? Do I want to do this over and over again? Do I want to risk my customer relationship with that supplier? There are hundreds of suppliers who can provide all of these things. So we're trying to build a model that asks, for whatever partner type you are, do we have the right support function, the right financial model, the right approach?”

Fabricatore said NHC focuses on delivering positive outcomes.

“We want to get customers in quickly, with the right solution, and we want that solution to stay in forever,” he said. “We look at four constituencies. First, carriers: we have good relationships with AT&T and all the others. Second, customers, whose priority number one is designing their network and delivering it on time, with visibility through our MAP system so they can see what's going on with their network. Third, partners, and it's important that we keep you up to date and aligned. Fourth comes project management, and I think NHC leads the industry with our project managers.”

What Will Advisors Sell in the Future?

Panelists looked into their near-term crystal balls to predict what trusted advisors would be selling in 12 months that they’re not selling now.

“Convergence,” Townes said. “Customers want what they want, whether that's fiber, wireless, security, or something we don't even know yet. They want a single source to tell them what they need to do. They want that convenience and convergence.”

Bonavita: “You're going to be selling the AI experience that enables businesses. You'll have conversations about the AI strategy, the security, and the compute. Those are the things you'll build the conversation around.”

Fabricatore: “If connectivity and backup are your go-to bread and butter today, I think you're going to be selling more of a full solution. You'll be more comfortable adding security out of the gate, adding managed Wi-Fi and SD-WAN out of the gate. You'll be selling a fuller, higher-revenue solution.”

Jones: “You're going to be selling more solutions with different suppliers and partners than you're used to. Businesses are looking at best-in-class providers and at suppliers who are willing to work with other suppliers. They want to know you can work with three, four, five or six different suppliers and not worry about the logo first, that you're part of a solution for the customer. You're going to be having different conversations than you probably ever have had before.”