Two years ago, when Anthropic shifted from developing large language models to selling enterprise-grade AI tools, it began seeking professional partners with real-world deployment experience in the channel. In early March this year, Anthropic officially launched the Claude Partner Network, and Caylent was among the first IT services companies to be included.

"Our partnership with Anthropic has spanned two and a half years," Jason Cutler, Senior Vice President of Anthropic Consulting and Engineering at Caylent, told Channel Dive.

Caylent's Anthropic business stems from its existing partnership with AWS. The cloud infrastructure giant had earlier formed a strategic alliance with Anthropic, integrating Claude into the Amazon Bedrock AI service platform.

"After Claude Code was released last year, we started using it internally and helping customers understand how to use it," Cutler said.

The launch of the Claude coding tool and the Claude Cowork assistant has significantly boosted Anthropic's profile in the enterprise market. According to the Ramp AI Index, Anthropic surpassed OpenAI in enterprise adoption in May.

Becky Trevino, Chief Product Officer at IT asset management firm Flexera, felt Anthropic's momentum at the FinOps X conference in San Diego in early June. "90% of the conversations I heard at the event revolved around Claude Code," she said. "The shift from ChatGPT being the most talked-about to Claude taking center stage is quite remarkable."

However, the AI boom has not yet delivered real business value to many enterprises, creating a significant market opportunity for partners who can provide guidance and expertise.

"No one in the market today has more than 10 years of Claude implementation experience—that simply doesn't exist," Cutler said. "The help enterprises need far exceeds what the market currently offers. We're meeting customers where they are, which is, 'We need help, can you come assist?'"

Building an Anthropic-focused team

As demand for Claude surged, Caylent established a dedicated Anthropic business unit in April. At the time, the company stated that Claude Enterprise was the most in-demand technology among its AWS customer base.

"We have extensive cross-collaboration with our AWS business unit," Cutler said. "Customers can use Claude, Claude Code, and Claude Cowork on Bedrock, so many of our Anthropic customers are also AWS customers. But we also serve first-hand customers who purchase directly through Anthropic."

According to Cutler, Caylent has assembled a team of over 700 Claude product engineers. In addition to being an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner and AWS Managed Services Provider, the company is also a preferred Anthropic services partner. This status gives Caylent access to the $100 million fund Anthropic has reserved for partner training, certification, and field deployment engineers.

"We are deeply integrated with Anthropic's field team, marketing team, and partner team," Cutler said. "As projects increase, our collaboration with Anthropic becomes even more direct."

Cutler compared Anthropic's rapid rise and the challenges of AI deployment to the opportunities that emerged during the cloud migration wave.

"AWS offers customers hundreds of services, and we see a very similar dynamic with Anthropic," he said. "You need to integrate models and products into existing systems, processes, and workflows, which involves complexity, change management, and technical decisions."

Last month, Anthropic expanded its channel program, adding a three-tier services track and a self-service partner portal, along with referral credits and deal protection. Gartner Vice President Analyst Adam Preset believes this move highlights the critical role of partners in the enterprise market.

"The expansion of the partner program and portal clearly signals that Anthropic wants to prioritize serving enterprise customers," Preset said. "They need experienced partners to assist because these partners are trusted advisors."

For Caylent and other companies vying for position in the emerging channel, the key lies in specialization.

"Thirteen years of experience working with hyperscalers shows that they want to define their own lanes but also leave additional lanes for partners," Cutler said. "The faster you find your lane, the more successful you'll be as a partner."