D&H’s ‘Go Big AI’ Program Makes AI ‘Tangible’ For MSPs

‘Every vendor, every distributor…they're all talking about AI, but partners really struggle to understand how to monetize it. What products are out there? What services do I wrap around it? So we're really trying to demystify the whole opportunity around AI to make it tangible,’ says Jason Bystrak, senior vice president of modern solutions business unit at D&H.

D&H Distributing’s newest “Go Big AI” program aims to help partners profit from the market transformation and opportunity artificial intelligence has to offer.

Through training, enablement and tools that focus on productivity-enhancing, AI-powered solutions, like Microsoft Copilot, the program helps to empower MSPs to harness AI in a more tangible way.

“What partners are seeing in the market is that there's a lot of confusion about how they monetize AI,” Jason Bystrak, senior vice president of modern solutions business unit at D&H, told CRN. “Every vendor, every distributor…they're all talking about AI, but partners really struggle to understand how to monetize it. What products are out there? What services do I wrap around it? So we're really trying to demystify the whole opportunity around AI to make it tangible.”

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Market research firm IDC forecasts that GenAI spending will reach more than $150 billion by 2027, especially with tools like Microsoft Copilot, which are changing the ways organizations do day-to-day tasks. The “Go Big AI” program involves AI-ready companies such as Microsoft, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Lenovo, Dell, HP, HPE and Cisco.

The program offers targeted trainings, a new SuccessPath “Getting Started with AI 101” course, community workshops, sales enablement tools and go-to-market strategies, lead generation and marketing support.

The program launched because VARs are looking for repeatable solutions that they can deploy, said Marty Bauerlein, chief commercial and consumer officer for D&H.

“So that's where we have to do our research,” he told CRN. “As a distributor [we have to] work with our vendor partners and our solution providers that know how to do this really well and figure the market where you can use it.”

D&H estimated that 90 percent of organizations are still in early stages of maturity when it comes to utilizing AI.

“There’s a window for our partners to capture significant share, if they can identify what AI-based applications are best for their practices,” said Bauerlein (pictured above). “MSPs and VARs need guidance on how to drive adoption.”

The program offers MSPs an AI partner playbook, positioning statements, sales prospecting guides, customer targeting techniques, solution-building, deployment, cross-sales and provisioning strategies and services catalogs utilizing D&H’s methodology.

“D&H exists to enhance your team's expertise, embrace innovation and forge strong partnerships,” Bauerlein said. “Let's go big with AI together.”

Robert Hessell, CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based MSP Source 1 Solutions, said AI-powered innovations will allow his company to develop a new suite of solutions and services that will accelerate offerings for his customers.

“But it calls for a strategic go-to-market plan,” he told CRN in an email. “We’ve aligned with D&H through past market transitions with much success, and are eager to work with them to capitalize on AI as it heightens capabilities and enhances infrastructures. Their ‘Go Big AI’ program will deliver practical, actionable guidance on how we can best accomplish that for our industry-leading MSP practice.”