Three Early Signals from the State of Partnerships Survey
What partnership leaders are already telling us about AI, execution, and the future of ecosystem growth.
When I launched the State of Partnerships Survey, I made a commitment to share what I learn along the way, not just publish a report months from now.
We’re still early, so these aren’t conclusions.
They’re signals.
Here are three that surprised me.
1. AI adoption isn’t the story anymore.
Nearly everyone responding is already using AI as part of their daily workflow.
The conversation has shifted from “Should we use AI?” to “Where does AI create the most leverage?”
That feels like a major change from even six months ago.
2. AI is uncovering partner value that companies used to miss.
One respondent described using AI with conversation intelligence to identify partners mentioned during sales calls that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
Another is using AI to analyze customer segments and identify where partner motions should focus.
This isn’t about replacing partner managers.
It’s about exposing signals that humans simply didn’t have time to find.
3. Human judgment still matters.
This was probably the strongest theme.
Respondents are happy to let AI help with research, QBRs, enablement, communications, and analysis.
But when it comes to relationships, negotiations, executive conversations, and strategic decisions, they still want a person in the loop.
That balance feels important.
This is only the beginning.
The responses are already challenging some assumptions I had, and I suspect they’ll challenge a few of yours too.
If you work in partnerships, alliances, channels, ecosystems, or Partner RevOps, I’d love your perspective.
The more voices we have, the more valuable this research becomes for everyone.
Take the State of Partnerships Survey here:
https://bluethread.io/state-of-partnerships
I’ll continue sharing the patterns as they emerge.