AI Is Commoditizing Technology. Where Does Value Go Next?

Three technology leaders weigh in on where providers can still create value as AI reshapes infrastructure, managed services and security.

(Image: Getty)

AI is quickly changing not just what technology providers deliver, but also where customers see the value in those services.

As a result, technology vendors may be increasingly asked by midmarket customers: What are you offering today that AI won't commoditize tomorrow?

I put a version of that question to three tech leaders, and their answer revealed three very different ideas about where durable value may come from.

George Crump of VergoIO pointed to control. He described brining AI infrastructure in-house through GPU virtualization as a way for customers to take greater control of AI, citing both data sovereignty and token costs as motivators.

Jason Wright, CEO of Avatar Managed Services, approached the question from the services side. He said his MSPs transition toward what he calls a "managed intelligence provider," with an emphasis on identifying new AI use cases tied to customer outcomes and continually evolving those solutions.

The CEO and co-founder of Kipling Secure, Saurabh Sandhir, took the question somewhere else entirely: the human element. After describing the company's expansion from shadow AI and data–leak detection into AI-agent governance, he argued that empathy and human interaction will remain difficult for AI to commoditize.

The answers all differ, but that's what makes the question interesting.

As AI makes more technology capabilities widely available, where will the value that customers are willing to pay for come from?

Watch the video below to hear their answers.