Just like cloud computing did two decades ago, artificial intelligence (AI) is fast becoming a central force in the ongoing evolution of how businesses choose to consume and use enterprise technology. For IT channel partners, this means there are immense opportunities in the making.
The benefits of AI to businesses are clear. From making business processes more efficient to powering greater productivity, businesses can use AI for a range of use cases designed to improve performance and bolster the bottom line. But with AI’s advantages come some disadvantages. Namely, cybercriminals are also tapping into AI tools to power their activities.
For businesses, this trend is leading to a technology landscape that’s proving increasingly difficult to navigate. For IT service providers, it represents an era of new revenue opportunity, with businesses looking to partners to guide them through a frequently challenging environment.
Fighting AI with AI
Fortunately for IT service providers and their customers, AI is also increasingly being used in cyber security solutions to protect against the fast-evolving threats being made possible by the technology. Sometimes fighting fire with fire is the best approach, and fighting AI-enabled threats with AI-powered security defences works to even up the playing field.
It should come as little surprise that 66% of organisations expect AI to have the most significant impact on cyber security in the coming year, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 report. This includes elements such as generative AI, malicious use of AI and AI-powered detection and response.
Specifically, detection and response solutions embedded with AI are making a substantial impact on how effectively businesses are able to fight against evolving threats, especially those also powered by AI. For instance, the ability of AI to process and analyse large volumes of data means it can establish detailed behavioural baselines for normal network and system activities.
Such capabilities are central to automated threat detection and response activities. Moreover, AI’s ability to analyse historical and real-time data to identify patterns that precede cyber threats is key to next-level predictive analysis, leading to a more proactive defence posture.
Partnering with a platform
For partners, a platform approach to security is key to being able to give businesses the seamless end-to-end protection they’re seeking. It can also broaden the portfolio of services available to offer organisations, but with the control of a centralised platform and supported by a single, structured pricing system that can help deliver on anticipated costs and profits.
Unlike a piecemeal approach made up of discrete point solutions, a platform-based approach to cyber security provides a complete ecosystem of services for partners to use and sell. This can be seen in platforms such as the Trend Vision One™ for Service Providers (xSP) offering, which brings the power of Trend Micro’s entire integrated platform to MSPs.
The platform approach made possible by Trend Vision One also helps partners gain operational efficiencies in addition to expanding their services. Moreover, the integration of Trend Cybertron, an AI model that accelerates the development of autonomous cyber security agents, into Trend Vision One, is giving partners more power to combat evolving threats within the one platform.
Platform tools like Trend Cybertron, which is underpinned by NVIDIA AI at its core, moves beyond chasing threats to applying intelligent, decision-making AI agents to predict and respond. This helps organisations proactively manage emerging risks. The platform approach means businesses can leverage threat intelligence from over 250 million sensors worldwide.
Uniqueness through unification
Building a cyber security practice on the back of a platform imbued with AI-powered defences gives partners a truly complete solution with which to meet the entire gamut of customers’ needs in an evolving threat environment. It also gives IT service providers the opportunity to deepen their market differentiation through vertical specialisation and industry knowledge.
How? By taking care of the cyber security table stakes. Comprehensive, end-to-end cyber security platforms break down the security silos within a business, meaning partners have an easier time keeping track of defensive activities and tackling threats more effectively with unified oversight and automated actions. Such capabilities are elevated even further with AI in the mix.
A platform approach can also break down data silos, meaning data compliance is also made easier which, in turn, helps to support the safe deployment of internal corporate AI applications. This frees up partners to focus on what they do best: dive deep into their customers’ businesses and industries to understand exactly what they need and how best to solve their key challenges.
In the age of an AI-enabled threat landscape, integrated platforms embedded with AI themselves are paving the way for partners to meet their customers’ evolving needs, flex their specialist talent for greater market differentiation and provide a greater range of services to their customers to provide complete cyber security coverage. Explore Trend Partner Program.
-1.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
