According to an Omdia survey of 378 global partners, 46 per cent expect revenue growth year-over-year, but 58 per cent expect profit decline, including 51 per cent forecasting a double-digit drop year-over-year. Omdia chief analyst Jay McBain attributed this to a dozen simultaneous factors, including geopolitics such as tariffs, Middle East war, and Strait of Hormuz issues, as well as vendor program changes from companies like Cisco, Dell, Lenovo, and HP that pulled back on price protection and terms. McBain noted that customers are pulling back, laying off people, or shifting money into AI, cutting managed services contracts and normal spend. EDGE Program changes from Microsoft and Cisco introduced points systems that reduce the 20 per cent margin for transacting a deal down to 3 per cent, requiring partners to earn the other 17 per cent back through consulting and management. McBain stated that only one of these reasons is AI-related (memory-cost increases), while the rest are structural changes in the economics of partnering.