By Doug Green

“Last year, AI was being talked about like candy. This year, it’s under the hood—and that’s where it belongs.”

At the close of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026, I spoke with Dean Manzuri of UniVoIP about what changed from last year to this year—and what that means for partners navigating the evolution of AI and voice.

Manzuri’s perspective reflects a broader industry shift. A year ago, AI dominated the conversation as a headline feature. Today, it’s becoming embedded—less visible, but far more impactful. Instead of being marketed as a standalone capability, AI is increasingly integrated into platforms and workflows, quietly improving performance, automation, and user experience.

That shift aligns closely with UniVoIP’s core mission: to be the best voice provider for Microsoft Teams. The company’s value proposition is straightforward—help organizations migrate their phone systems into Teams seamlessly, while ensuring reliability and a strong user experience.

From a channel perspective, the event delivered what many providers were looking for: new partner engagement and clearer signals on where the market is heading. Manzuri noted that UniVoIP connected with a range of new partners and used the event to validate its direction, particularly around Teams voice and integrated communications.

The AI conversation reinforced that direction. As AI becomes embedded within platforms like Teams, the opportunity shifts from selling “AI features” to delivering better outcomes—smarter routing, improved call handling, automation, and enhanced customer interactions, all happening behind the scenes.

For partners, this changes the sales motion. Instead of leading with AI as a buzzword, the focus moves to business results: smoother migrations, better call quality, more efficient operations, and tighter integration with the tools customers already use.

In that sense, AI isn’t replacing the core value of voice—it’s strengthening it.

And as the show wrapped up, that may have been the most important takeaway: the future isn’t about adding more technology on top. It’s about making the technology already in place work better, more intelligently, and more seamlessly than before.

Learn more at: https://www.univoip.com/