Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are keen on AI, but many still don’t know where it will actually pay off. Tec D wants its partners to be the ones who show them.
Tec D, a TD SYNNEX company, has announced new capabilities within its Destination AI™ framework to help partners in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) build and scale AI practices for SMB customers.
Announced in Malaysia on 28 October 2026, the expansion adds SMB-specific experiences in AI Game Plan and Tec D Cloud Labs, a new AI Skills Marketplace in StreamOne®, and dedicated AI Skills training.
“SMBs aren’t short on enthusiasm for AI, but what they often lack is guidance on where it can deliver real business value,” said Anand Chakravarthy, Vice President, Advanced Solutions at Tech Data Asia Pacific and Japan.
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Why SMBs Need a Faster Path to AI
As AI adoption accelerates across the region, SMB customers want solutions that deliver measurable business value without lengthy implementation cycles.
IDC reports that SMBs are prioritising solutions that are easy to implement and demonstrate clear value. That is driving demand for offerings that shorten the path from concept to deployment.
Partners, meanwhile, need a repeatable way to move customers from early interest to proven business outcomes. Destination AI for SMBs is designed to close that gap with a faster, more accessible approach to adoption.
“Technology adoption is only part of the story,” said Chakravarthy. “Partners play a critical role in identifying where AI can make a measurable difference, validating the use case and helping customers put it to work. Our goal is to equip partners to turn that opportunity into measurable outcomes for their customers.”
The 5 Pillars of Destination AI for SMBs
The framework is organised around five connected pillars:
- Enablement
- Discovery
- Proof of value
- Delivery
- Adoption
Together, they give partners a structured path from identifying customer needs to validating and deploying AI-powered solutions through integrated digital tools.
Available globally, the framework helps partners scale successful engagements across SMB customers, while creating more consistent customer outcomes and recurring revenue opportunities.
4 New Destination AI Capabilities for Partners
1. SMB-Specific AI Game Plan
New AI Game Plan experiences help partners identify and prioritise AI use cases that align with each customer’s priorities and desired business outcomes.
2. SMB-Focused Cloud Labs
Partners and customers can validate AI use cases and AI Skills through hands-on proof-of-value engagements before anything is deployed.
3. AI Skills Marketplace in StreamOne
The new marketplace offers reusable AI Skills across key SMB domains, including sales, marketing, customer support, operations and knowledge management. These prebuilt capabilities are designed around common business tasks and workflows, helping partners deploy faster.
The AI Skills are available at no cost. Even so, they can create revenue opportunities by driving AI licence adoption, increasing consumption and expanding demand for AI services across the customer base.
4. AI Skills Foundations Course
A dedicated course helps partners build the foundational knowledge and confidence needed to identify, position and support AI opportunities.
Moving AI Beyond Emails and Presentations
Together, these prebuilt capabilities lower the barrier to AI adoption for resellers. Partners can begin with targeted use cases and expand over time, bringing customer solutions to market faster.
“To drive AI adoption among SMBs, the focus needs to shift beyond ordinary productivity use cases like improving emails, documents, and presentations and toward solutions that address core business needs and processes,” Chakravarthy added.
He said the new Destination AI capabilities let partners across the region take their consultative approach further and faster, from identifying the right AI solutions to validating and implementing them in line with each organisation’s strategic priorities.
“As adoption grows, we will continue expanding the skills, domains, and use cases available through the Destination AI framework,” he said.
Partners can explore the available resources on the Destination AI landing page. Read more on why AI is a powerful equaliser for SMEs going global, and how SoftwareOne and Crayon unified their APAC channel.
About Tec D
Tec D, a TD SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) company, is a global distributor and solutions aggregator supporting more than 150,000 customers in over 100 countries. Its edge-to-cloud portfolio spans cybersecurity, analytics, AI, mobility and Everything-as-a-Service. Find out more at mytecd.com.
