Monday Morning Impact – April 13
Omdia: US PC Market Returned to Growth in Q4 2025
The latest research from Omdia shows that US PC shipments (excluding tablets) grew 3% year-on-year in Q4 2025 to 18.2 million units, reversing two consecutive quarters of annual decline. The report says the return to growth was driven by a combination of the peak of Windows 11 commercial refreshes, holiday-season demand, and vendor efforts to secure inventory ahead of anticipated memory and storage supply constraints in 2026. Full-year 2025 shipments reached 71.5 million units, up 3% from 2024, but 2026 shipments are now forecast to decline 13% year-on-year due to highly constrained supply of memory and storage products.
“Q4 marked a meaningful inflection point for the US PC market,” said Kieren Jessop, Research Manager at Omdia. “After two quarters of year-on-year decline, the market returned to growth driven by solid performances across both the consumer and commercial segments. Consumer shipments rose 6% to 8.2 million units – the fourth consecutive quarter of annual growth – underpinned by holiday spending and a product mix shift to more affordable price ranges. The commercial segment grew 4% as enterprises continued their Windows 11 migration, particularly in the final stretch before the Windows 10 end-of-support deadline in October.”
The education segment remained a weak spot, declining 11% in Q4, although this was a notable improvement from the 29% drop in Q3 and the 16% decline in Q2. Reduced federal and state funding continues to weigh on school procurement, but Omdia believes much of the inventory overhang that characterized the middle of the year has now been cleared. Government shipments edged up 1%, stabilizing after the sharp pullback earlier in 2025.”
“Looking ahead, the outlook for 2026 is significantly more cautious,” Jessop added. “Memory and storage costs have risen 40–70% since the start of 2025, and Omdia expects at least a further 60% increase in mainstream PC memory and storage costs in Q1 2026. These supply constraints are expected to have the greatest impact on the sub-$500 segment, which includes most education and entry-level consumer devices. As thinner margins and lower allocation priority constrain the low-end market, smaller vendors are especially at risk of being squeezed out of the market.” Jessop added.
Omdia forecasts US PC shipments to decline 13% in 2026 to approximately 61.9 million units before recovering modestly in 2027.
Channel Impact®
The data provide a favorable outlook for channel partners competing in these areas.
Gartner Predicts More Than Half of Customer Service Organizations Will Double Their Technology Spend By 2028
By 2028, over 50% of customer service organizations will double their technology spend, without an equivalent reduction in talent, according to Gartner, Inc.
“Leaders are hoping that AI will deliver immediate cost savings, but most organizations are understating the talent required to make AI successful,” said Kathy Ross, Vice President Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. “Technology spend is rising rapidly, yet talent needs are evolving – not disappearing.”
Although many service and support leaders anticipate smaller frontline workforces over time, few organizations are successfully reducing headcount today. According to a Gartner survey of 321 customer service and support leaders conducted in October 2025, just 20% of organizations reported reduced agent headcount due to AI, indicating that AI’s current impact remains modest.
The research also suggests that nearly 80% of organizations plan to shift at least some agents into new roles, and 84% plan to add new skills to frontline positions, underscoring the expanding scope of human work in AI‑enabled service environments.
“Organizations aren’t cutting agents because AI is fully ready to take over,” said Emily Potosky, Senior Director, Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service and Support practice. “They’re cutting agents to fund AI. Instead of replacing the workforce, leaders should prioritize reshaping it – shifting resources toward higher‑value activities that support growth.”
Channel Impact®
Despite mounting pressure to use AI to cut labor costs, organizations cannot rely on automation alone to replace the customer service workforce. Those that attempt rapid headcount reduction risk operational disruption, degraded customer experience and expensive rollbacks. Channel partners are often ideally suited to help manage this transition successfully.
SonicWall Updates Partner Program
SonicWall, a Milpitas, California-based cybersecurity company, has rolled out updates to its SecureFirst Partner Program, introducing new enablement offerings designed to help partners drive predictable growth.
Updates include revamped partner specializations, now awarded at the partner firm level. Areas of focus include Network Security, Security Service Edge, SonicSentry XMDR, Managed Protection Security Suite and Endpoint Security. The company has introduced role-based accreditations across sales, pre-sales, and post-sales roles, delivered through on-demand, self-paced learning paths. These accreditations are designed to reduce dependency on a few senior specialists and help partners build scalable teams faster.
Additional investments include an improved partner onboarding experience with guided checklists and curated training; AI-enabled tools and resources; and expanded access to the CSE Catalog, enabling partners to instantly book live sessions with SonicWall experts to support active deals.
The announcement also marks the introduction of Patrick O’Donnell as SonicWall’s new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). O’Donnell will lead SonicWall’s global sales, partner, and revenue strategy, with a strong focus on partner success as the company continues to expand beyond firewalls into platform-driven cybersecurity and managed services.
“The SecureFirst Partner Program updates are about removing friction and helping partners move faster, attach more services and build profitable, long-term customer relationships,” said O’Donnell. “We’re aligning our enablement, incentives and support to ensure partners can scale confidently and win in a market that increasingly values outcomes over products.”
Channel Impact®
The revised program is expected to provide partners with faster, more predictable profitability through subscription-driven revenue, deal protection, and programs that increase service attachment rates, as well as enhanced operational scale and accelerated expertise-to-revenue.
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