Big Data CEOs On The Biggest Opportunities, Keys To Success For Partners: CEO Outlook 2026
Top executives from the IT industry’s top vendors and solution providers responded to a series of questions about their views on what’s coming in 2026. Here’s a closer look at what CEOs at the top big data tech companies had to say.
Big Data In 2026
The wave of AI development is remaking much of the IT industry in many ways and the “big data” space is no exception. IT companies that develop software for collecting, managing and analyzing data—and the solution providers they work with—are playing an increasingly critical role in efforts by businesses and organizations to implement and derive value from leading-edge AI technology.
As part of the 2026 CRN CEO Outlook, CEOs were asked what they see as the biggest market opportunity they and their company’s channel partners will tackle together in 2026, the impact of AI on their work with partners, and what they consider to be the key to success for channel partners this year.
Given that the answers to those questions can differ widely across the IT industry, here is a look at the responses given to those questions by six CEOs specifically in the big data space.
For the answers provided by these and the other CEOs to all the questions in the survey, please visit to the 2026 CRN CEO Outlook page.
Mike Capone
Qlik
What is the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2026?
The biggest opportunity is helping customers move from AI activity to AI accountability. Too many organizations have pockets of experimentation that do not show up in operating results, and they cannot explain, audit, or repeat what is working. In 2026, the winners will be those who turn AI into a managed capability with clear outcomes, clear governance, and clear economics.
That is where channel partners come in. The work is not simply deploying another tool. It is building the connective tissue that makes AI useful in day-to-day operations: trusted, reusable data products with defined ownership and service levels, consistent meaning across the business, and the ability for AI to act safely inside real workflows. This is also where agent-driven execution becomes real: moving from dashboards that inform to systems that recommend and trigger actions, with humans in control.
Finally, customers will demand choice and cost control. Partners that can design open, adaptable architectures that scale AI without lock-in or runaway spend will own the next wave of growth.
What impact do you expect AI to have on the business you and your partners do together in 2026?
AI will shift our joint business from implementing systems to operating outcomes. In 2026, customers will expect AI to keep improving after “go live,” with performance, quality, and risk managed continuously. That changes the center of gravity for partners from one-time projects to ongoing services that measure value, tune performance, and maintain trust.
It will also change what customers buy. Budgets will move toward solutions that shorten cycle times, reduce operational risk, and control costs, not features that sound impressive in a demo. Partners who can connect AI initiatives to clear business metrics will have a major advantage, especially when leaders start asking a simple question: what did this change in the way we run the business?
Finally, AI will make integration the front line again, just with a new interface. Agents and assistants only deliver value when they can access the right data and take safe action across real systems with permissions and oversight. Partners who can design that connective layer, and keep it secure and auditable, will be indispensable in 2026.
What is the key to success for your channel partners in 2026?
Success in 2026 will come from focus, not breadth. The most effective partners will choose a clear lane, build repeatable offerings, and package their expertise into solutions customers can adopt quickly. General capability will not be enough. Buyers will reward partners who can show a proven playbook for a specific industry, function, or set of outcomes.
Partners will also need to own results beyond delivery. AI and data programs do not succeed because they go live. They succeed because they keep performing. That creates a premium for partners who can measure value, manage risk, and continuously improve what they implemented. Managed services, optimization, and value realization will separate leaders from the rest.
Interoperability will be another differentiator. Customers want to preserve choice and avoid lock-in as technology changes. Partners who can make ecosystems work together, across clouds and tools, will reduce friction and accelerate time to value.
Finally, partners will win by leading with trust. Strong governance, clear access controls, and auditable processes are not compliance overhead. They are what allows customers to scale automation with confidence, and that confidence is what unlocks bigger investments.
Ketan Karkhanis
ThoughtSpot
What is the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2026?
The biggest opportunity we are tackling in 2026 is the definitive shift from passive “self-service” BI to active, agentic analytics. For years, the industry promised that self-service tools would democratize data, but the reality was often just “dashboard sprawl”—creating more work, not more value. As I often say, nobody wakes up excited to build a dashboard. They wake up excited to solve problems.
2026 will be the year we help companies realize the true value of AI agents to transform their analytics strategy. With our AI agent, Spotter, paired with our team of agents along the analytics lifecycle, we have moved beyond the old paradigm. Our AI can now handle the entire heavy lifting, from data modeling to dashboarding to conversational analysis, autonomously. This frees our customers to focus on the “why” and “what next” rather than the “how.”
For our partners, this is a massive evolution. For every partner interaction, we must be helping end customers realize value from the AI investments. The opportunity is no longer about billing hours for building static reports; it is about leading the charge on delivering high-value, outcome-based solutions. Our partners are the trusted advisors who will help enterprises navigate this new way of thinking, ensuring that “AI is the new BI” isn’t just a slogan, but a measurable engine for ROI.
What impact do you expect AI to have on the business you and your partners do together in 2026?
In 2026, AI is no longer just a feature we put in the software we sell: It is the operating system for how we run our business and our partnerships. It will impact everything, from how we deliver value to customers to the fundamental mechanics of how we collaborate.
I don’t just say this as a vendor; I say it as a user. I run my entire business on ThoughtSpot, and that includes our partnership strategy. I don’t wait for quarterly spreadsheets to tell me how the channel is performing. I use our own agents to monitor the pulse of our ecosystem in real-time.
This visibility changes the game for our partners. Instead of guessing where we should align for impact of our ecosystem on our bottom line, it pinpoints exactly where we have white space to engage deeper with specific partners and identifies the best opportunities for mutual growth and to deliver the greatest value to our joint customers.
What is the key to success for your channel partners in 2026?
The key to success is bridging the gap between technical potential and business reality. In 2026, the partners who win won’t just be implementers, they will be transformers. Our most successful partners will guide our customers in moving beyond “science project” AI experiments and into realized value. It is no longer enough to just deploy a model, partners must prove the ROI. They will help shape our customers’ AI strategies to augment their employees, effectively turning them into data-driven superheroes who can accomplish 10x more with an AI agent by their side.
Crucially, this technology shift has to be backed up with strong change management practices. As we move away from static dashboards to active AI conversations, the human element is paramount. Together with our partners, replacing fear with excitement and confidence, and ensuring that the technology is adopted, trusted and becomes indispensable.
Sridhar Ramaswamy
Snowflake
What is the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2026?
The biggest opportunity is helping customers move decisively from AI curiosity to AI that actually runs their business. In 2025, many enterprises proved they could experiment with AI. In 2026, the conversation changes. Customers are asking: Can this be trusted? Can it scale? Can I measure the impact?
That’s where Snowflake and our partners come in. We now see more than 7,300 customer accounts using Snowflake AI every week. That’s not hype—that’s real usage. But the real unlock is turning that usage into repeatable, production-grade systems tied directly to business outcomes.
As I have said before there can be no AI strategy without a data strategy and this is where partners come in. They understand industry context, operational constraints unique to specific customers and where customers truly are on their journey. Together, we’re uniquely positioned to help enterprises turn governed data into reliable AI systems—across industries and geographies—at a scale very few platforms can support.
What impact do you expect AI to have on the business you and your partners do together in 2026?
AI fundamentally changes the value equation of partner services. First, it automates large amounts of undifferentiated work, freeing partners to focus on higher-value problems. We already see customers replacing work equivalent to multiple full-time roles using agents built on Snowflake Cortex AI. Those patterns are repeatable, and our technology partners are best positioned to package and scale them across industries.
Second, AI elevates partners into true strategic advisors. AI literacy is becoming table stakes, much like basic computing skills did years ago. Partners who build practices around upskilling, adoption, and AI-enabled workflow redesign will see enormous demand. Customers need help with governance, evaluation, feedback loops, and measuring outcomes—not just deploying tools. They’re looking for partners who can take them from experimentation to production with confidence.
Snowflake provides the trusted data foundation. Partners bring business context, change management, and industry expertise. Together, we’re redesigning workflows in ways that deepen customer relationships and create entirely new revenue opportunities.
What is the key to success for your channel partners in 2026?
The most successful partners will take ownership of outcomes, not deployments. That means deeply understanding customer businesses, helping define the semantic foundations their AI systems depend on, and continuously improving performance as models and data evolve. Deploying tools is commoditized. Delivering measurable improvements in reliability, productivity, and decision-making is hard—and that’s where partners can truly differentiate.
Charles Sansbury
Cloudera
What is the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2026?
In 2026, Cloudera and its channel partners will help enterprises solve their most complex data challenges by operationalizing AI at scale, securely and reliably. As organizations increasingly support AI and machine learning in real-world production settings, they need a unified, scalable platform that can manage data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Cloudera and its partners are uniquely positioned to help enterprises address challenges like data fragmentation, governance, security, and trust. In 2026, success will be defined not by who experiments with AI the fastest, but by who can run it securely, at scale, and with confidence.
What impact do you expect AI to have on the business you and your partners do together in 2026?
Partner revenue will increasingly be driven by AI, machine learning, and outcome-based use cases that are clearly defined, operationalized, and tied to tangible results. Open-ended projects or experimentation are no longer enough to stay competitive. As enterprises move beyond pilots, they will demand solutions that improve efficiency, reduce risk, increase revenue, and enhance customer experiences in quantifiable ways. This creates a significant opportunity for partners to lead with outcome-based use cases built on Cloudera’s platform, combining technical expertise with deep industry knowledge.
What is the key to success for your channel partners in 2026?
The key to success for Cloudera’s channel partners in 2026 will be combining deep technical expertise with strong industry knowledge. Customers are increasingly choosing partners who understand their specific business challenges in sectors like financial services, healthcare, telecom, and manufacturing—not just how to deploy the technology.
Secondly, our partners will see greater success in 2026 by leveraging data-driven insights. AI helps identify opportunities, predict trends, and implement proactive strategies that strengthen collaboration and drive mutual success.
BJ Schaknowski
Couchbase
What is the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2026?
The biggest opportunity is helping customers move from experimenting with AI to operationally deploying agentic AI and AI-powered applications, without getting stymied by fragmented tooling or data silos.
Couchbase puts enterprises in control of agentic AI by delivering a unified, end-to-end database platform that brings operational data, vector search and AI models together so enterprises can build and run secure, governed, high-performance AI applications at scale. Together, with our growing AI partner ecosystem, we eliminate the complexity and fragmentation that has kept AI applications from moving from prototype to production by providing organizations with a simplified and repeatable process for agentic application development.
What impact do you expect AI to have on the business you and your partners do together in 2026?
AI is accelerating demand for comprehensive services that help customers move from experimentation to real, revenue-driving production systems. With Couchbase AI Services, solution providers can build custom applications and provide services around those applications, while ISVs can build commercial applications on Couchbase, expanding the opportunity for partners to deliver higher-value solutions as customers pursue agentic AI.
With our partners, we’re enabling a new wave of agentic AI applications that unlock value from both structured and often untapped unstructured data. This helps customers deploy, evaluate and continuously improve AI agents with confidence. The result is faster innovation, lower risk and measurable productivity gains across the business.
What is the key to success for your channel partners in 2026?
Success comes from taking a platform-first approach, helping customers reduce the complexity of building agentic AI and AI applications, and delivering packaged solutions plus services that move quickly from pilot to production. Partners who lead with secure, governed, high-performance architectures (and who can effectively operationalize AI) will be in the strongest position.
Clint Sharp
Cribl
What is the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2026?
The biggest opportunity we see with our channel partners in 2026 is helping customers re-architect their IT and security operations for the AI era without blowing up their budgets. AI is driving an explosion in telemetry—logs, metrics, traces, and events—and most organizations’ existing architectures weren’t designed to handle that scale or complexity.
Together with our solution providers, service delivery partners, MSPs, and technology alliances, we’re helping customers build a true data control plane for IT and security: a vendor-agnostic layer that can collect, shape, and route data from any source to any destination, in real time, with strong governance and cost controls built in.
That lets our partners unlock new services revenue and differentiated offers, while customers get AI-ready data pipelines, better threat detection, and richer operational insights without having to rip and replace their existing tools.
What impact do you expect AI to have on the business you and your partners do together in 2026?
As AI moves from experimentation to real-world, mission-critical deployment, customers are realizing that success isn’t just about the model—it’s about integration, governance, data flow, security, and ongoing optimization.
That’s where partners become indispensable and why AI will fundamentally deepen and expand the role our partners play in delivering customer value in 2026 and beyond. In fact, the AI partner opportunity is expected to grow to $267 billion by 2030, according to Omdia, underscoring just how central partners will be to turning AI potential into business outcomes.
We already see this shift in customer behavior today. Nearly half of customers rely on partners to deliver agentic AI rather than building it themselves or buying something off the shelf. That tells us two important things. First, customers recognize that AI is not a plug-and-play problem; it requires deep expertise across data, infrastructure, and operations. Second, they value choice and guidance, working with partners who understand their environment and can tailor solutions to their specific needs.
That’s why our partner ecosystem is so critical to our growth strategy. By investing in a broad and capable network of partners, we ensure customers aren’t forced into rigid approaches. Instead, they can work with trusted experts to implement AI in a way that fits their business, scales with confidence, and delivers real, measurable impact.
What is the key to success for your channel partners in 2026?
In 2026, we are asking partners to broaden and strengthen their capabilities across the full Cribl portfolio by committing to advanced solution training, with a strong focus on AI, new technology partnerships, and growing marketplace opportunities.
By combining professional services expertise and deep product proficiency with AI-powered intelligence, partners can deliver end-to-end solutions that meet changing customer demands while creating new avenues for growth. Cribl training and certifications continue to be offered at no cost, though we value the investment of time and effort they require.
Emphasizing portfolio-wide enablement (especially in AI) will enable partners to stand out, generate greater customer value, and build long-term success.