Here’s a look at why five of the best and brightest solution provider CEOs expect 2025 to be a breakout year for AI sales growth.

Top solution provider CEOs, who have successfully navigated big technology transitions including cloud computing, are predicting a breakout year for AI sales growth in 2025.

“From an infrastructure perspective, we are looking to grow the AI business from 200 [percent] to 250 percent in 2025—that includes the GPUs, software and networking,” said C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Independence, Ohio-based Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners Company. “On the AI services side, we expect to grow the business 400 percent.”

Howdyshell called the AI revolution the “biggest opportunity and challenge” in the 50-year history of Advizex, which has created a separate high-performance compute and AI unit that has already captured a number of blockbuster AI deals.

“You can’t dip your toe into this,” Howdyshell said. “You have to be full on in the game with the resources and ability to execute. That is where Advizex has a big advantage as a result of a multimillion-dollar investment in AI with Fulcrum Labs.”

Jason Wright, the CEO of Houston-based Avatar Managed Services, who was one of the early proponents of the MSP model, said he sees 2025 as a “pivotal inflection point” for his company’s AI sales charge.

“Our first priority is to leverage AI to improve service to our customers,” he said. “At the same time, we are driving AI revenue with a data architect we hired this year.”

Wright said the company is putting in place a formal AI budget to drive the business forward in 2025. “Our plan is to utilize AI to scale the business and grow without adding positions,” he said.

Allen Falcon, the founder and CEO of Westborough, Mass.-based Cumulus Global, one of the pioneering born-in-the-cloud service providers, said he is working toward revenue growth in AI in 2025 by focusing on AI security and compliance.

“Most customers don’t understand that Microsoft 365 Copilot could put their data into the wild both internally and possibly externally,” he said.

“We have moved 2,000 businesses, schools and governments into the cloud,” he said. “As a channel partner today, we are racing to get our head and arms around AI and what it means for our customers and our business.”

Just as there were born-in-the-cloud solution providers that came on the scene with the cloud computing revolution, there are sure to be a new generation of born-in-AI solution providers, said Falcon.

“I can’t envision what a born-in-AI solution provider is, but it is definitely going to happen,” he said.

Michael Kanan, chairman and CEO of Southfield, Mich.-based InaComp Group Holdings, who was an early pioneer of the the modern sales channel at the start of the PC revolution, said his company is not just committed to “riding” the AI wave but “leading” it.

“InaComp’s 2025 vision for AI is ambitious and transformative, grounded in empowerment through education and strategic integration,” said Kanan, who is also a mentor to a new generation of entrepreneurs. “We are equipping our teams with advanced AI tools like AI PCs and Copilot, embedding AI into everything we do. AI is more than just another tool; it is a catalyst, reshaping industries, redefining governmental operations and transforming education. Its rapid growth is staggering, and to ignore its power is to risk being left behind.”

InaComp’s 2025 game plan includes the creation of commercial AI training centers designed to empower individuals and businesses. “Just as the cloud era demanded comprehensive retraining across sales, engineering and accounting teams, AI calls for a similar, if not more extensive, approach,” said Kanan.

Paul Benson,founder and president of Virtual Communication Specialists, Athens, Texas, which was designed to deliver breakthrough IT solutions nationwide with a virtual warehouse model, said he expects the shift to AI solutions to drive “unprecedented growth” in 2025.

In fact, Benson is predicting an AI edge computing explosion with dramatic AI PC sales growth sparked in part by end-of-life support for Windows 10. “Since customers have to refresh their systems with the end of Windows 10 support, why wouldn’t they move to an AI PC?” he asked.

Benson said his company is investing more in the AI market shift than any other technology transition. “I’ve never seen a technology wave like this move so fast,” he said. “When you are in the technology industry you have to jump on the next wave. This is a real wave that every solution provider needs to pay attention to.”

C.R. Howdyshell

C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners Company, has transformed Advizex into an an everything as a service market leader and an AI powerhouse.

Since taking the helm at Advizex nearly eight years ago, Howdyshell has driven a recurring revenue renaissance at the company. As a result, Advizex, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, No. 115 on the CRN SP500, was acquired by Fulcrum IT Partners in March 2023.

Howdyshell- a 40 year IT veteran, was previously vice president and general manager of Advizex overseeing Midwest operations for the company. He started his career as a standout sales rep at Xerox.

“From an infrastructure perspective we are looking to grow the AI business from 200 to 250 percent in 2025, that includes the GPUs, software and networking.On the AI services side, we expect to grow the business 400 percent.

I have said before many times AI is the biggest opportunity and challenge that I have seen in the history of our company.

We have created a separate high performance compute and AI business unit under (Vice President and General Manager) Steve Kucker and have completed three AI deals with cloud service providers. Now we are seeing that opportunity trickle down into enterprise customers. That is a whole new level of opportunity for us.

You can’t dip your toe into this. You have to be full on in the game with the resources and ability to execute. That is where Advizex has a big advantage as a result of a multimillion dollar investment in AI with Fulcrum Labs. That Fulcrum Labs investment with the acquisition of Razor -a leader in AI for specific vertical market business use cases- gives us a big AI advantage.

The Razor investment provides us a proven AI services portfolio with a team of 50 data scientists, developers and analytic experts focused on repeatable vertical market business use cases. We have those resources in place right now. Our goal is to work with them at a faster pace for the benefit of our customers.

Another key for us is our Nvidia partnership. We see Nvidia stepping up and partnering with us to help us grow the business. Our executive team and the Fulcrum leadership are meeting with Nvidia the first week in January to put together a comprehensive go to market by vertical for our AI strategy. That is going to help us really understand the full Nvidia technology stack and to bring to market more AI services from assessments to implementations to managed services around the Nvidia infrastructure. The other areas we have invested in with our AI strategy is security and governance. Our capabilities in those two areas have also been key to winning over customers.”

Jason Wright

Jason Wright, the CEO of Avatar Managed Services, Houston Texas, has been one of the early proponents of the MSP model.

The 22 year channel veteran acquired Avatar in 2022 and has transformed it into a next generation MSP. Before acquiring Avatar, Wright was director of technology and management consulting for RSM US, the US arm of the midmarket consulting, tax and audit behemoth; a managing director for MSP behemoth All Covered and a vice president of sales for Techcess Group, which was acquired by All Covered in April 2015.

“We see 2025 as a pivotal inflection point for our AI strategy. Our first priority is to leverage AI to improve service to our customers. At the same time we are driving AI revenue with a data architect we hired this year. That was the first big AI investment we made along with an AI center of excellence as part of a plan to drive business use cases for AI.

In 2025, we’re putting a formal AI budget in place for our AI programs. Our plan is to utilize AI to scale the business and grow without adding positions.

We have already started this year to explore what we can do with AI from an internal automation standpoint. Our aim is to automate the business – do more with less human intervention- with everything from preventive maintenance to monitoring.

Once customers found out we had an experienced data architect on board with business intelligence and analytics expertise they ended up pulling him into a bunch of projects. That customer work halted some of our own internal AI development projects.

What we have also started doing is implementing a data strategy within the company – identifying all our data silos and classifying our data along with the tools and integration we are currently using. What we are doing is putting in place the data strategy to support AI business use cases.

Essentially what we are doing is building a data warehouse and a large language model that operates with our tool sets. Then we’ll start working on AI use cases like self service capabilities for our customers. That is going to disrupt the old client experience model with AI search and chats that will provide resolutions for customer issues. What we are planning is to allow customers to query a chatbot and our internal database and knowledge base.

There is a whole new generation of MSP customers that prefer the self help chatbots and search to resolve issues. Many younger people do not want to call into the service desk. They have grown up with technology so they are used to searching for answers. Our goal is to build a truly autonomous MSP next generation model.

I see AI ultimately leading to a role for us helping customers drive growth and reduce costs with business productivity applications. If as an MSP in the next five to ten years you are just offering infrastructure monitoring and management and service desk you are going to be in big trouble. Those services are all becoming highly commoditized.

You are going to have to use AI to provide more value to customers with new business use cases and managed services for those use cases. This is all about playing a role in business productivity applications and security.”

Allen Falcon

Allen Falcon is the founder and CEO of Cumulus Global, one of the pioneering born in the cloud service providers.

Falcon founded Cumulus Global 18 years ago and has built it into one of the top MSPs in the country providing “secure cloud forward” solutions for small and medium business customers, education and government clients.

Cumulus Global, headquartered in Westborough, Mass, is a CRN Fast Growth 150, MSP 500 and Tech Elite 250 award winner.

Falcon, a 37 year IT veteran, started his career as a software engineer and team leader for Data General. He was also a consultant for Onsett International and a CIO for GetConnected, a platform connecting consumers to digital services.

“We are working toward revenue growth in AI in 2025 focused on AI security and compliance. Most customers don’t understand that Microsoft 365 Copilot could put their data into the wild both internally and possibly externally.

I was recently at (CRN parent The Channel Company’s) Xchange NexGen show and I don’t even think that most MSPs really understood the security and compliance aspects of Microsoft 365 Copilot until a demonstration by (attack surface management software provider) Cavelo on the issues that come with sharing documents with Microsoft 365 Copilot. There was a jaw-dropping reaction from MSPs who saw the demonstration. Calevo has a solution that can identify and block that kind of unauthorized document sharing.

We have moved 2,000 businesses, schools and governments into the cloud. As a channel partner today we are racing to get our head and arms around AI and what it means for our customers and our business.

No one thought there was going to be a born in the cloud generation of partners. And of course there were. I can’t envision what a born in the AI solution provider is but it is definitely going to happen!

I think AI is going to be the tide that rises all boats. It is going to lead to a new generation of accounting systems, a new generation of document management, a new generation of phone and service tools, and ERP software. AI is an enabling technology that is going to generate new versions of legacy software and even heretofore unknown software applications.”

Michael Kanan

Michael Kanan, the chairman and CEO of InaComp Group Companies, headquartered in Southfield Michigan, helped pioneer the modern channel at the dawn of the PC era and has continued to lead the company through all the major technological shifts over the last four decades including the internet and cloud computing. Besides his continued role at InaComp, Kanan is a serial entrepreneur with holdings in other businesses and a mentor to a number of entrepreneurs.

“The emergence of cloud computing was a defining moment in the evolution of technology. Companies like InaComp were called to respond swiftly, rethinking business models and strategies to harness the power of this new platform. This transformation was not just about adopting new technology; it meant re-educating teams and redefining how we connected with clients. Now, we face an even more profound shift: artificial intelligence (AI). The stakes are higher, the pace is faster, and the potential impact on the global business landscape is unprecedented.

InaComp’s 2025 vision for AI is ambitious and transformative, grounded in empowerment through education and strategic integration. We are equipping our teams with advanced AI tools like AI PCs and Co-Pilot, embedding AI into everything we do. AI is more than just another tool; it is a catalyst, reshaping industries, redefining governmental operations, and transforming education. Its rapid growth is staggering, and to ignore its power is to risk being left behind. At InaComp, we are committed to not just riding this wave but leading it.

Central to our 2025 strategy is the creation of commercial AI training centers. These centers will be designed to empower individuals from all backgrounds, from seasoned professionals to students, teaching them how AI will redefine personal and professional workflows. Just as the cloud era demanded comprehensive retraining across sales, engineering, and accounting teams, AI calls for a similar, if not more extensive, approach.

InaComp, alongside its group of companies, will also strategically leverage the AI enablement tools of our distribution partner, TD Synnex, to power our collective strategies.

Looking to 2025 and beyond, we anticipate significant growth for AI. It will be the backbone of business intelligence and operational excellence, driving efficiencies and strategic insights. Every department—from sales to accounting to supply chain management—will be transformed, reshaping how we think, work, and create value.

The message is clear: we must embrace and lead this technological wave or risk being overtaken by it. InaComp is committed to proactive leadership, innovation, and action. Our strategic AI initiatives and training centers will empower countless businesses and individuals to thrive in this fast-moving era. AI isn’t just the future; it is the present. We are ready to teach, embrace, and lead with it, setting a new standard.

At InaComp, we are determined to ride this wave, not be swept under by it!”

Paul Benson

Paul Benson is the founder and president of Virtual Communication Specialists, Athens, Texas, a company he founded 21 years with virtual warehousing and other resources to provide breakthrough IT solutions nationwide with a more agile and efficient business model than larger competitors.

Virtual Communication Specialists has also relied heavily on resources from distribution communities like TD Synnex CommunitySolv. In fact, Benson is a long time supporter of the community model and is co-president of CommunitySolv.

Before founding Virtual Communication Specialists, Benson was a sales rep for solution provider Blue Wave Micro and account rep for CompuCom and Sarcom.

“We’re investing more in AI than we ever have for any other technology transition. We are providing all our employees with AI enabled PCs at the edge. If our employees don’t utilize the technology how are they supposed to sell it and help customers? I have always been a believer that if you want your team to sell products and services you have to enable them so they can test and try the technology.

As a technology leader, it is our responsibility to guide customers through this AI technology wave. I believe this shift to AI is going to be a lot bigger than anyone thinks.

We expect this shift to AI solutions to drive unprecedented growth in 2025 with the Windows refresh (Windows 10 support ends October 14, 2025). Since customers have to refresh their systems with the end of Windows 10 support why wouldn’t they move to an AI PC?

We want our customers to start with AI at the edge, getting them to understand they are going to be more efficient by creating virtual assistants, scheduling their meetings, using Teams meetings and creating action items. You have to look at this AI technology as an executive assistant. That is going to give employees of what AI can accomplish.

I’ve never seen a technology wave like this move so fast! When you are in the technology industry you have to jump on the next wave. This is a real wave that every solution provider needs to pay attention to.”