As New Zealand businesses head into 2026, the opportunity for partners serving the SMB market has never been greater, or more complex. Hardware constraints, accelerating device refresh cycles, rising cyber risk, practical AI adoption and growing subscription complexity are reshaping what customers expect from their technology providers. For partners, success now depends on the ability to anticipate change, reduce uncertainty, and guide customers with confidence. Being voted 2025 Channel Choice Distributor of the Year at the Innovation Awards reflects what matters most to us - making sure partners have the insight, capability, and access to turn market disruption into opportunity. As we head into 2026, that commitment remains, we're here to help partners move forward with confidence and grow their businesses.
Why Hardware Planning is Now a Competitive Advantage
For technology partners in New Zealand, hardware availability has shifted from an operational detail to a critical business risk. Global component restraints, particularly the ongoing DRAM memory shortage that surfaced in late 2025, have reshaped how devices are shaped, produced, and delivered across the market.
As manufacturers manage limited component supply, premium devices are being prioritised, while choice, flexibility, and volume availability are becoming increasingly constrained. The knock-on effect is being felt locally, with device and server pricing trending upward and lead times becoming less predictable as we move through 2026.
In a tight supply market, uncertainty is costly. Every adjustment to configuration, specification, or delivery timing introduces risk. Partners that perform best in these conditions are those that treat hardware planning as part of their overall project strategy. That means building longer planning horizons, engaging distributors early, and having honest conversations with customers about what is realistically achievable within current supply conditions.
"2026 represents a significant growth opportunity as organisations continue to modernise their IT environments. The device refresh cycle is accelerating - driven by the need for higher performance, stronger security, and seamless hybrid work experiences. Businesses are no longer just replacing ageing hardware; they're investing in platforms that enable productivity, resilience, and scalability.
At Dicker Data, we're focused on helping partners capture this opportunity. Through our depth of expertise, strong vendor relationships, and end-to-end hardware portfolio, we give partners the confidence to deliver the right solutions at the right time. From commercial notebooks and desktops to premium devices and AI-enabled PCs, we provide access to leading brands including Apple, Dell, Dynabook, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface, all backed by a team dedicated to partner success.
With pricing remaining volatile and supply continuing to fluctuate, early engagement is key. Partners who adopt longer planning cycles, forecast accurately, and maintain clear communication with both their customers and their distributor are the ones best positioned to perform. We're already working closely with every vendor to support partner orders, but to protect your place in the queue and keep rollout timelines on track, minimising late changes matters. The partners who share visibility into their pipeline and engage with us early are consistently the ones who come out ahead." Richard Harri - General Manager, Hardware.
What NZ Partners Should Do Now:
- Secure critical hardware early: engage your distributor as soon as possible to lock in supply for upcoming projects and refresh cycles
- Plan contingency configurations: identify approved alternate device options in advance to protect delivery commitments if availability changes
- Set clear expectations with customers: share market context, confirm realistic delivery times, and keep communication open as conditions evolve
Whilst global supply pressures remain outside local control, the way NZ partners respond is not. Greater discipline around forecasting, clearer alignment on device requirements, and earlier commitment to rollout plans all help reduce exposure to potential disruption. The earlier demand is understood and shared, the easier it becomes to secure supply and deliver outcomes with confidence.
Our New Zealand Dicker Data team is working closely alongside vendors and partners to secure inventory and plan confidently in a constrained market. Reach out to your Dicker Data representative about your anticipated device requirements for the months ahead to ensure your projects stay on track despite ongoing global DRAM shortages.
Building Cyber Resilience as a Business Enabler in New Zealand in 2026
Cyber resilience in New Zealand is entering a new phase, with New Zealand organisations facing a familiar mix of challenges:
- Rising cyber threats targeting identity and critical systems
- Lean security teams stretched across hybrid and cloud environments
- Increasing pressure to demonstrate operational resilience, not just prevention
At the same time, investment priorities are shifting. While cyber security spend continues, AI‑driven capabilities are accelerating even faster. For New Zealand partners and service providers, this signals a clear direction for how security practices need to evolve in 2026.
Many New Zealand organisations are being asked to do more with less. Headcount growth is constrained, yet expectations around availability, recoverability, and regulatory accountability continue to rise — particularly across critical infrastructure, healthcare, financial services, and the public sector.
This is driving a stronger move toward AI‑assisted security and resilience platforms that:
- Reduce alert fatigue and false positives
- Clearly signal where human intervention is required
- Improve response times without increasing operational overhead
The outcome? More focus, faster decision‑making, and a growing reliance on trusted technology partners to close capability gaps.
In New Zealand, it’s increasingly about:
- Maintaining trust with customers
- Protecting business continuity and essential services
- Enabling growth in an environment where disruption is expected
Organisations that embed intelligent, AI‑enabled resilience into their strategy can recover faster, maintain uptime, and make confident, risk‑informed decisions.
Five ways partners can guide customers toward stronger cyber resilience in 2026:
- Lead with business outcomes - Anchor conversations around uptime, recoverability, regulatory obligations, and operational assurance, not tools
- Deliver outcome‑based solutions - Move beyond resale to solution‑led services that integrate detection, protection, response, and recovery into measurable business value
- Expand managed security and resilience services - With limited internal resources, New Zealand customers are looking for managed offerings
- Design for hybrid and multi‑cloud environments – New Zealand organisations are rarely “all‑in” on one platform. Resilience must work consistently across on‑prem, cloud, and distributed workloads
- Unify cyber security and recovery readiness - Identity, access control, and Zero Trust are critical, not just for preventing breaches, but for enabling rapid, confident recovery
Practical AI Adoption for SMBs
Whether we’re ready for it or not, AI is already embedded in the tools and workflows businesses use every day. For many SMBs however, AI can still feel complex, risky or out of reach. Governance concerns, skills gaps, and uncertainty around where to start often lead to one of two outcome's: AI is avoided together, or it’s adopted informally without structure or oversight. Neither approach delivers real value.
For the channel, this presents a clear opportunity. Research from Microsoft’s report ‘New Zealand’s opportunity in the new AI economy’ highlights that generative AI could contribute between $76 and $108 billion to our local economy each year by 2038. In 2026, the partners who succeed will be those who help customers adopt AI in safe, simple and practical ways that solve real business problems. SMBs aren’t looking for advanced experimentation – they want tangible outcomes: faster processes, better insights, improved security, and productivity gains without added complexity.
Limited internal skills, unclear use cases, and concern around unintended consequences continue to slow adoption. This is where trusted technology partners play a critical role – simplifying choices, reducing risk, and turning AI from an abstract concept into something businesses can confidently use.
Dicker Data takes a grounded, practical approach to supporting this journey. Through AI Accelerate, our dedicated enablement practice, we’re helping partners move beyond AI theory and into real-world deployment. AI Accelerate equips partners with the foundational knowledge, structured assessments, and access to specialist expertise, enabling you to guide customers toward controlled, governed AI adoption – reducing shadow AI while still unlocking meaningful business value.
Turning Subscription Complexity and Sprawl into Opportunity
As organisations layer more SaaS, cloud and cybersecurity services into their environments, many are starting to feel the impact of subscription complexity. What begins as incremental adoption often results in limited visibility, rising operational costs, ad unnecessary security and compliance risk. Overlapping tools, unused licenses, and unclear ownership all add complexity – without delivering proportional value.
Partners who can help businesses review, rationalise, and align their subscriptions to actual usage and business priorities will deliver immediate value and build long term trust.
Where Partners Can Add Value:
- Identify and remove under used or duplicated subscriptions
- Simplify environments through consolidation and smarter licensing models
- Strengthen compliance and reduce audit risk
- Improve return on investment by aligning subscriptions to real business needs
Looking ahead, 2026 is about moving beyond one-off transactions and into longer term transformation. Every customer conversation is an opportunity to introduce more considered solutions – from device and identity management to security, backup, automation, and ongoing license optimisation.
As AI, cloud and cybersecurity continue to increase complexity, partners need to do more than recommend – they need to design, integrate, and deliver. Those who invest in technical capability and take ownership pf outcomes will differentiate themselves, building deeper relationships and positioning their business as essential to their customers success.
New Zealand partners can't shape global disruption - but they can shape their response to it. The partners who will lead in 2026 are those who plan earlier, design smarter solutions, and take ownership of outcomes – from hardware availability and cyber resilience to AI adoption and subscription optimisation. Dicker Data remains committed to standing alongside our partners as a trusted enabler, combining deep vendor relationships, practical enablement programs, and a comprehensive portfolio to help you deliver with confidence. As SMBs look for clarity in an increasingly uncertain environment, partners who lead with insight and discipline won’t just keep up – they’ll set the pace.
Laura Margetts
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