5. Channel Mainstays Will Shed Low-Performing Business Units

Solution providers will continue separating the more robust areas of their business from the less robust ones by splitting, selling off or shutting down struggling practices.

Dell, Xerox and Hewlett Packard Enterprise all announced plans in 2016 to spin off or sell their IT outsourcing practices, essentially undoing acquisitions that occurred less than a decade ago.

Avnet in September said it would unload its Technology Solutions group, which suffered an 8.8 percent sales decline and 2.4 percent operating income decline in its most recent fiscal year, by selling the business to Tech Data for $2.6 billion.

One company to watch is Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Ciber, No. 43 on the CRN SP 500, which brought on a strategic adviser in October to assess whether the firm should sell out or sell off a portion of the company. Ciber's CEO said in August that the company will explore potential business divestiture opportunities in Europe as international revenues fell by 28 percent in the first nine months of 2016.