Channel leaders have aligned sales teams with partner-first strategies, but internal account management teams are difficult to restrain.

IT and telecom vendors are adding customers through partnerships, but customer retention is not guaranteed. As vendors cut customer support staff, channel partners are evaluating renewal strategies. In the agent sales model, vendors own accounts while technical advisors (TAs) add customers, which requires balance.

"Channel harmony is mentioned verbally but not put into practice. In my experience, we have had more conflicts with the direct sales team in the past six months than in the past six years." Eclipse CEO Dave Dyson told Channel Dive.

For Dyson, channel conflict reflects broader resistance in enterprise sales. Buying committees have grown larger and decisions have slowed—according to Eclipse data, sales cycles have extended by 40% to 50%. Dyson says vendor sales teams have become more aggressive during the economic downturn, bypassing partners to contact customers directly and renewing without agent participation.

"We are seeing aggressive or interesting renewal processes from multiple vendors that seem designed to force customers to sign without evaluating needs or the market, completely excluding TAs from renewals, or providing customer contract information to other solution providers to pitch based on renewals." ITBroker.com CEO Max Clark said in a message to Channel Dive.

In other cases, vendors are not handing off deals to TAs quickly enough. Many providers proactively contact IT services provider Top Speed Data Communications seeking co-selling opportunities, said network design consultant Allan Jaffe.

Telecom carriers are using indirect sales to optimize budgets.

AT&T has significantly reduced its direct sales team and handed accounts to trusted partners. Some of the largest communications providers are also bringing in partners, especially those offering professional services.

However, cutting sales staff often also cuts support staff.

"I increasingly see organizations so reliant on cutting costs in non-revenue-generating areas, and one of the first areas affected is support." said Forrest Knueppel, vice president of channel sales at TitanNGN.

A 2025 Informa TechTarget survey of 59 TAs found that poor support is the most common reason customers switch vendors. Knueppel says this is why fast-growing vendors lose customers. These companies are not adding enough support to match customer growth.

Additionally, Knueppel notes that customers can now "divorce" more easily.

"In the early 2000s, if you wanted to terminate a telecom contract, it was widely understood that the recipient would pursue the remaining contract amount. But as far as I know, now people are not emphasizing pursuing contract amounts as much." Knueppel said.

TAs are exploring expanded co-selling opportunities with large carriers, but they acknowledge that poor customer experiences with vendors can damage their own reputations.

"Anyone who trusts a large telecom company is a complete fool." said David Wright, CEO of Disruptive Innovations.

Contact center AI can help vendors resolve support tickets and save on staffing costs. But this strategy can also backfire, as customers demand to speak with humans while remaining employees are asked to take on more work.

"Companies must find a strategic balance between minimizing the number of tickets handled by humans and retaining human support." Knueppel said.

Longtime channel executive Jim Glackin has finally taken control of account management as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Coeo Solutions.

Account managers typically do not report to channel leaders, even when customer accounts originate from partners. As a result, account management processes and policies are not always aligned with partners.

"I am not saying they are competing with partners, but they are operating without partners." Glackin said.

One of Glackin's top priorities at Coeo is mandating that account managers keep partners informed in customer communications.

"It is really about proactively setting engagement expectations with partners. How do you want to engage? Some partners say 'you do your thing,' while others say 'no, we want to be involved in everything, all communications go through us.' We will execute accordingly."