SolarWinds Partner Changes Reflect a Bigger Shift In Midmarket IT Delivery

How vendors and partners work together is becoming a critical risk—and decision point—for midmarket IT leaders.

Midmarket IT teams are relying more heavily on partners—not less—as infrastructure complexity, AI initiatives and persistent budget constraints converge.

That shift is already reflected in midmarket IT spending plans.

According to MES Computing’s IT Leaders Spending Intent 2026 survey, midmarket organizations are poised to make heavy investments in value-added resellers, MSPs and cloud service providers in 2026.

[RELATED: Midmarket IT Leaders Optimistic For 2026, Make Plans To Spend Big On Service Providers]

Now vendors are restructuring around that reality.

SolarWinds this week updated its partner program with new pricing models, enablement incentives and specialization tracks. But the changes point to a broader trend: Vendors are aligning more closely with partners because midmarket IT increasingly depends on them to deliver outcomes.

“We see the value that partners bring,” said Barb Huelskamp, global vice president of channels and alliances at SolarWinds, in an interview with MES Computing. “They help drive better customer outcomes, and in a lot of cases, they’re an extension of our organization.”

(Barb Huelskamp, Global Vice President of Channels and Alliances, SolarWinds)

Midmarket IT Is Shifting Spend Toward Partners—Not Just Platforms

MES’ survey makes one thing clear: Spending isn’t just increasing—it’s moving.

Even as AI dominates industry headlines, midmarket IT leaders are dedicating budget dollars to resellers, MSPs and systems integrators.

In fact, 26.5 percent of respondents said their IT budgets are already allocated to these partner ecosystems, reinforcing their role as a core part of IT delivery.

[RELATED: Yes, Global IT Spending Is Rising—But Here’s The Catch]

Yet, most organizations are still early in AI adoption, with more than 75 percent reporting less than 5 percent of their IT budget going to GenAI.

That gap between rising complexity and limited in-house capability is driving more reliance on outside expertise.

“They have to do more with less,” Huelskamp said. “They’re outsourcing a lot more to partners, especially around network operations and managed services.”

That pressure is compounded by a shortage of in-house expertise.

“Technical resources are scarce ... and keeping up with everything that’s going on is hard, especially for that midmarket customer,” said Carlos Rodrigues, president of North America at Climb Global Solutions, a SolarWinds partner.

(Carlos Rodrigues, President of North America at Climb Global Solutions)

What Vendors Are Trying To Fix

SolarWinds’ program update focuses on four areas: pricing predictability, partner incentives, enablement and specialization.

At a surface level, those are standard channel updates. What’s different is the context.

“We’ve introduced structured tier-based discounting so partners have a consistent, predictable pricing framework,” Huelskamp said.

That predictability matters because it shapes how partners engage customers—often before pricing is even formally quoted.

“They need to understand, as they grow, what benefit they’re going to get—and how to position that in an opportunity,” she said.

That shift is also reflected in how vendors are designing programs with more partner input.

“The fact that they ... involved the channel and got feedback on what the program should look like ... truly meant they’re serious about a partner-first strategy,” Rodrigues said.

For midmarket buyers, that doesn’t necessarily mean lower costs. But it may affect pricing consistency, proposal accuracy and how solutions are delivered.

The Channel Is Becoming The Delivery Layer

Another shift is how vendors are formalizing partner capabilities.

SolarWinds is expanding specialization around managed services, vertical expertise and service delivery.

The goal is to match IT buyers with partners who can deliver outcomes—not just products.

That aligns with broader midmarket demand. As workloads become more complex—particularly around hybrid infrastructure and AI—partners are increasingly acting not only as operators and integrators, but as trusted advisers.

“That midmarket segment is relying more and more on partners for thought leadership and technical expertise,” Huelskamp said.

That role is also becoming more specialized.

“End customers are going to benefit by working with more specialized resellers who understand the solution [and] what’s good for their company,” Rodrigues said.

The Ongoing Friction: Visibility And Control

Even as vendors double down on partners, the model introduces new challenges.

Midmarket IT leaders often work through middle parties, which can create friction—particularly when issues arise.

“We’re not running parallel paths,” Huelskamp said. “We’re talking with partners and customers together to make sure we’re delivering the right outcomes.”

But for IT leaders, the shift raises practical concerns:

• How accessible is the vendor if something goes wrong?
• How aligned is the partner with vendor priorities?
• With whom does accountability sit?

As a result, partners are also becoming more involved in the early stages of solution planning, not just the implementation.

“SolarWinds is focused on bringing in partners early on into the selling motions ... to create visibility and education,” Rodrigues said.

What Midmarket CIOs Should Take Away

The takeaway isn’t the details of one partner program refresh. It’s that the delivery model is changing.

MES survey data shows midmarket IT leaders are already committing more budget to partners, even as spending on emerging technologies like AI remains relatively constrained.

More IT execution is moving into the channel. More needed expertise comes from external sources.

The growing reliance on partner relationships means midmarket CIOs are likely to continue to focus on not just the technology of a solution, but on partner specialization, pricing and how well a vendor works with its partners.