With the confluence of cloud, big data, social networking and mobile, the IT industry is at a major inflection point that requires solution providers to adapt in order to survive, said SAP channel chief Kevin Gilroy, speaking Tuesday at the Best of Breed Conference in Orlando, Fla.

When Axispoint CEO Dan DiSano talks about transforming his company in order to capitalize on value opportunities in the fast changing IT industry, it sounds familiar to Kelly Ireland.

Ireland, CEO of Washington-based CB Technologies Inc., also brought her firm through a major transformation in order to emphasize services and value, and she hasn't looked back.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions said Tuesday its channel strategy has progressed leaps and bounds since the launch of its partner program in 2013, but promised solution providers that the best is yet to come from the U.S. telecommunications and cloud services giant.

Cisco Systems sees a massive opportunity for its channel in the emerging Internet of Everything, but urged partners this week not to try to seize it alone.  

Addressing solution providers Tuesday at The Channel Companny's 2014 Best of Breed event, taking place this week in Orlando, Fla., Cisco's senior director of partner programs, Steve Benvenuto, said aligning with ISVs and app developers is a must for partners to succeed in the new Internet of Everything era.

Partners saw this train coming, and now it's time to get on board, says IBM channel chief Marc Dupaquier in Orlando for the Channel Company's Best of Breed Conference.

In an effort to keep up with the pace of transformation in the technology industry, IBM is trying to bring its partners around to focus on high-value recurring revenue software and services business.