The Polish IT sector is entering the second half of 2026 with strong demand for infrastructure, AI and cybersecurity. The problem today is not a lack of sales. A far more interesting question is what proportion of the growing expenditure on technology can translate into sustainable profitability for distributors and partners.
The market offers favourable conditions for this. According to CONTEXT, in April 2026, revenues from the Polish IT distribution sector rose by 19.7 per cent year-on-year. Sales of desktops rose by 72.6 per cent, servers by 40.9 per cent, and storage systems by 40.3 per cent. Poland’s growth was notably faster than that of many European markets.
Globally, IT spending is also accelerating. Gartner forecasts a 14.2 per cent increase by 2026, to $6.37 trillion. Spending on data centre systems is expected to rise by as much as 62.5 per cent, and on IaaS by 29.3 per cent. At the same time, analysts point out that rising prices for hardware and memory, along with a shift in budgets towards AI, mean that the benefits of this economic upturn are being distributed very unevenly.
TD SYNNEX is a good example. In the second quarter of the 2026 financial year, the group’s revenue rose by 31 per cent to $19.6 billion, whilst gross profit increased by 28 per cent. However, the gross margin fell from 7 per cent to 6.84 per cent. At the same time, the operating margin rose from 2.2 per cent to 2.65 per cent.
Sales growth therefore does not provide a straightforward answer to the question of profitability.
Where is value really created in distribution today?
Just a few years ago, the distributor’s core function was relatively straightforward: product, availability, logistics and transaction financing. Today, however, customers are increasingly purchasing an entire technology ecosystem, and resellers must combine hardware, software, cloud services and service expertise.
This raises a fundamental question: does the greatest scope for improving profitability still lie in the sale of products and infrastructure, or is it already shifting towards services, the cloud, financing and specialist solutions?
“Customers today expect comprehensive business solutions, not individual products; that is why the greatest value is created by partners who can combine technology with implementation services, IT environment management, financing and support for the adoption of new technologies, such as AI or the cloud. In this model, the distributor’s role is also evolving towards that of an aggregator of solutions, expertise and services that help partners scale their capabilities, sales and profitability more easily. The distributor supports partners not only through product availability and logistics, but also through training, financing, cloud marketplace platforms, subscription management tools and white-label services – in other words, it provides tools for the comprehensive management of the IT solutions lifecycle.” – says Piotr Niedźwiedź, Sales Unit Director at TD SYNNEX.
This shifts the focus of the business. The distributor is not abandoning the product, but is seeking to increase the number of revenue streams and services surrounding the transaction.
Is Central and Eastern Europe changing in the same way as Western Europe?
Poland finds itself in a specific situation in this regard. Sales of infrastructure are currently growing very strongly. CONTEXT data show that servers, storage and computers remain key drivers of the market.
This leads to the next question: are Poland and the CEE region really transitioning towards a service-based, subscription model as quickly as the more mature markets of Western Europe, or does infrastructure still define the economics of our channel?
“Poland and the CEE region are moving in the same direction as the most developed markets in Western Europe, although the level of maturity and the pace of change vary from country to country. The importance of service-based, cloud-based and subscription models is growing. Partners are investing more and more heavily in expertise related to cyber security, AI, data and analytics. It should be noted, however, that in many CEE countries, infrastructure projects and the modernisation of IT environments still account for a significant share of the market. This does not, however, necessarily mean that the pace of our partners’ business transformation is slowing. Many of them see this as an opportunity for a smooth transition to a consultancy and service-based model capable of delivering repeatable value to the client,” says Piotr Niedźwiedź.
It is therefore not a simple transition ‘from hardware to services’. A more likely model is one in which infrastructure still kick-starts the project, but an increasing proportion of its economic value is generated later on.
How is the partner’s business model changing from the manufacturer’s perspective?
A similar shift can be seen on the vendors’ side. In 2026, Dell is restructuring the mechanisms of its partner programme to reward the sale of strategic solutions – including those related to private cloud, cyber resilience, storage and networking – more heavily. The manufacturer is also developing automation for project registration, pricing and the transmission of purchase signals to partners.
This raises a more fundamental question: from the manufacturer’s perspective, how is the very economics of the partner’s business changing today, and where does the greatest scope for building profitability lie?
“We are seeing a clear shift: from one-off transactions to an economy based on the entire customer lifecycle. The greatest scope for profitability today lies in services — implementations, migrations, modernisation, managed services, cyber resilience and AI — because that is where the partner builds margins and recurring revenue, whilst simultaneously strengthening the long-term relationship with the customer. This is particularly evident in the Polish market: the hardware itself still opens doors, but real value is created when the partner combines it with a service, financing, maintenance or a simple billing model. “Dell supports this approach through the APEX model, the inclusion of advanced services and programmes that reward ‘more than just the hardware’ sales,”says Dariusz Okrasa, Senior Channel Sales Manager at Dell Technologies.
In such a model, the manufacturer cannot limit itself to simply supplying technology and a discount schedule. If a partner’s profitability is to be built up over several years of the relationship with the customer, the vendor’s responsibility for developing the channel’s capabilities also changes.
Has the manufacturer actually taken on a greater role in building partners’ profitability over the last two to three years?
“Yes — today, the manufacturer is no longer just a supplier of hardware, but the ‘driving force’ behind the modernisation of the channel. Dell expects its partners to have service expertise, a readiness to co-sell solutions, and the ability to guide the customer through the entire lifecycle: from design, through implementation, to maintenance and development. On the Polish market, there is also a very practical consideration: partners want simple, predictable rules and a quick translation of their efforts into results — which is why effective monetisation of opportunities, expertise and support from the distribution network are key. “Anyone who wants to move beyond traditional hardware sales must have their own services and a strategy for recurring revenue – Dell provides such opportunities,” says Dariusz Okrasa.
Why would a partner need a VAD when they can build up their own expertise?
The more complex the market becomes, the greater the challenge posed by the cost of expertise. Cybersecurity, SASE, the cloud and managed services all require specialists, training, certification and technical infrastructure. Not every reseller has the scale to justify building everything in-house.
Exclusive Networks is developing just such a model. In May 2026, the company launched a SASE package for MSPs in partnership with Netskope, combining the technology with its own services, support and a per-user licensing model. The aim is, amongst other things, to shorten a partner’s time to market and ensure a more predictable service economics.
So where, then, does a VAD’s value actually lie, and why would a reseller buy expertise from a distributor rather than developing it themselves?
“Today, the value added by a VAD is generated primarily through expertise, services and economies of scale, rather than the product itself. For vendors, this means developing the channel, educating partners and building a sales pipeline. For resellers, the most important factor is access to specialist services and know-how, which would be too costly to develop in-house. This applies particularly to areas such as cybersecurity, MSSP, SASE, the cloud and digital marketing. “The role of a VAD is to identify areas where outsourcing expertise benefits all parties, by leveraging experience, local market knowledge and economies of scale,” says Mariusz Kochański, Regional Director for CEE.
The value of a VAD therefore does not stem solely from having a more specialised portfolio. It stems from the ability to spread the cost of experts, infrastructure and services across multiple partners. This is classic economies of scale applied to knowledge.
Does the customer really want to pay for this added value?
However, the most important test of the entire model remains. The manufacturer may offer incentives for services, the distributor may develop a marketplace, the VAD may provide expertise, and the reseller may build managed services. All of this is economically justified only if the customer on the other side genuinely considers these elements to be of value.
From a CIO’s point of view, the issue looks different than from the channel’s perspective. The customer is not interested in the partner’s margin structure. What interests them is whether an additional layer of services reduces risk, improves the return on investment, or enables the organisation to do something it cannot do as well on its own.
So what really determines the value of a technology partner today from the perspective of a large organisation — apart from the price of the solution itself?
“The technological solution itself – be it infrastructure, software or a cloud service – is increasingly becoming the market standard. A partner’s real value is determined primarily by their ability to link technology to the organisation’s business objectives. Practical expertise is of key importance: the ability to solve problems collaboratively, seamless integration with existing architecture, security factored in right from the design stage, and responsibility for implementing the solution in a way that does not disrupt the company’s operations. We are also placing increasing emphasis on the quality of post-implementation maintenance and optimisation. It is no longer just about basic technical support, but about a partner who is ready to share responsibility for the project’s success. In practice, a good technology partner becomes an extension of the in-house team – bringing specialist knowledge and helping to ensure a real return on investment.” – emphasises Alicja Rybczyńska, CIO, Veolia Polska Group.
This response draws the line between genuine added value and a mere extension of the offering. Simply adding a service to a product is not enough. It must reduce complexity for the client, improve security, mitigate risk or support business outcomes.
Do companies choose their IT partners differently today?
Changes to the channel’s offering are occurring in parallel with changes to the procurement processes themselves. Technology accounts for an ever-increasing share of business continuity, cybersecurity is becoming a management risk, and migration to the cloud or AI is increasing interdependencies between systems and suppliers.
The next question, therefore, is: have the criteria by which large enterprises select and evaluate their technology partners changed over the last two to three years?
“Yes. The process of selecting IT partners has clearly changed. Price and functionality still matter, but data security, compliance with increasing regulatory requirements, and operational flexibility are playing an ever-greater role. Large organisations are also much more cautious today about becoming dependent on a single supplier. They increasingly expect alternative scenarios, the ability to change direction quickly, and partners who can respond to changing project conditions. Meanwhile, one of the most important criteria is trust in the competence of the specific individuals who will actually be responsible for the implementation.” – says Alicja Rybczyńska.
The margin shifts where responsibility grows
The responses from the manufacturer, distributors and the client paint a fairly consistent picture. This does not signal the end of traditional distribution or the demise of hardware. On the contrary: infrastructure is currently one of the fastest-growing segments of the global IT market, and in Poland, sales growth for servers and storage remains very high.
However, the economics of this business are changing.
Distributors are attempting to take on some of the complexity associated with financing, subscriptions, marketplaces and services. VADs spread the cost of specialist expertise across multiple resellers. Manufacturers reward partners who are able to guide the customer through the entire technology lifecycle. Partners, in turn, are expected to act less and less as mere product sellers and increasingly as entities responsible for implementation, maintenance and results.
On the other hand, however, the customer sets a condition: this additional layer must offer real value. It must reduce risk, improve security, minimise complexity or help achieve a business outcome.
That is why the question ‘where do distributors look for profit margins?’ has a fairly specific answer today. The margin is shifting towards those areas where the partner assumes a greater share of the client’s responsibilities, risks and accountability. Hardware still kick-starts many projects. However, it is increasingly rare for it alone to determine their value.
