Podcasts

Delivering digital transformation, without the elephant sandwich Matthew Irish, General Manager, Digital Services at Apogee Corporation, explains how and why many companies still find the idea of digital transformation overwhelming with multi-year projects that cost a fortune and never seem to end. Too often, businesses try to swallow the entire ‘elephant’ at once, leading to a massive, expensive, company-wide overhaul that creates more chaos than it solves. Matt outlines an alternative, smarter, less stomach-churning way to approach digital transformation. Instead of a huge, high-stakes project, he recommends a step-by-step approach that tackles one process at a time, making it easier to manage, less disruptive, and way more effective.

General disillusionment with GenAI, but (other) AI can help Maxime Vermeir, Senior Director of AI Strategy at ABBYY, discusses the results from ABBYY’s State of Intelligent Automation: GenAI Confessions 2025 survey, which reveals challenges in implementing Generative AI (GenAI) – prompting the use of other AI to improve outputs. He explains that businesses are spending money on GenAI tools that promise more than they can provide and advises that before moving forward with leveraging GenAI tools for agentic AI, companies need to first evaluate their current processes and create a visibility map of their workflow with data analytics tools such as process intelligence.

AI continues to drive UK datacentre market expansion Daniel Thorpe, Head of EMEA Data Centre Research at JLL, discusses the scale of demand for UK data centre real estate driven by AI, alongside the challenges and opportunities around power availability.

Rethinking MSP Partnerships: Paul Hettesheimer on Building True Support for Service Providers Paul Hettesheimer, VP Enterprise Sales (US), Hexnode, discusses how many vendors still treat MSPs like resellers, but such a model doesn’t really work – hence, the importance of building a dedicated MSP program that supports how MSPs operate. Hexnode has taken this approach with its Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) for MSPs solution, recently enhanced with an XDR capability. Paul explains how Hexnode supports MSPs in delivering value to their customers as they address the complexities of cybersecurity and more general IT operations.

Park Place Technologies launches 1st ever channel programme in Europe for Entuity Software™ solution Ian Anderson, Senior Director, Partner Sales, EMEA at Park Place Technologies, outlines the thinking behind the launch and shares his excitement as to the growth opportunity which exists in this space. He explains that, while Entuity Software - available as an on-prem solution as well as cloud based - might be the best kept secret in the world of IT infrastructure monitoring and management, by adding Entuity to the Park Place services portfolio, partners have the opportunity to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, and grow their professional services capabilities as well as software licence revenue, supported by the Entuity technical team.

Westcon-Comstor cuts carbon emissions, accelerates shift to renewables Laura Mozden, Global Head of ESG at Westcon-Comstor, discusses the company’s recent Responsible Business Report, which reveals that it now sources 50% of electricity globally from renewables and that Scope 1 and 2 emissions – those that Westcon-Comstor owns or controls either directly or indirectly – fell by 8% and 29% respectively year-on-year, with a total reduction of 24% since FY22, meaning the company is nearly halfway to its 2030 target of a 50% reduction. Having joined Westcon-Comstor earlier this year, Laura outlines how her role will in the coming months at an organisation which prioritises an ESG focus – both as an individual organisation and a as a key influencer within the IT channel.

A unified standard of cybersecurity excellence Daniel Ciobanu, CEO & Co-Founder of CyberGlobal, explains how the cybersecurity industry has become overcrowded and fragmented, making it challenging to differentiate between top-tier providers and generic vendors. The lack of standardisation further adds to this issue, leaving businesses uncertain about the effectiveness of their cybersecurity measures. CyberGlobal was founded to address these challenges - with a vision to create a unified, high-quality cybersecurity brand with a global presence by establishing local offices in every country and maintaining consistent delivery standards.

The 3 Rs define Netwrix’s channel expansion priorities Stuart Robson-Frisby as Vice President, Worldwide Channel at Netwrix, outlines the company’s plans to scale its channel-first go-to-market strategy, with his appointment and that of Frank DeCicco as Head of Americas Channel a statement of intent. Stuart explains how Netwrix’s investment in its partner community, combined with its clear vision for identity-first security – delivered via its Netwrix 1Secure™ platform - creates a powerful opportunity for partners and end users alike.

AI, services and specialisation drive the next wave of IT growth Bobby Eagle, Senior Director, Global External Communications at TD SYNNEX, discusses the findings of the company’s Fourth Annual Direction of Technology Report, which highlights how blending AI-driven transformation with resilient cybersecurity frameworks, deep specialisation and automation-enabled talent drives growth despite persisting macroeconomic challenges. Bobby explains how this year’s edition offers a more thorough look at the market than ever before, with a new structure that provides in-depth data for geographic regions, partner types and technology sectors – creating a sharper lens on how to deliver value across the global technology ecosystem.

GTIA acts as a collaboration catalyst for the global channel community Dan Wensley, CEO, GTIA, talks about the role of the association as it unites ITSPs, MSPs, vendors and distributors as they address the challenges, and opportunities, of AI, cybersecurity and cloud, alongside an ongoing focus on both sustainability and digital transformation. Dan also looks forward to the first ChannelCon EMEA which very much represents the best of the GTIA - bringing the channel ecosystem together to discuss the key technology and business topics which are impacting their customers’ day to day operations and future plans.

Tool overload driving agent fatigue and missed threats Adam Pitton, Heimdal Security cybersecurity advisor and former UK cyber detective, discusses the findings of the company’s recent survey 80 North American MSPs, showing that fragmented security stacks drive fatigue, missed threats, and business inefficiency. Security tools meant to protect managed service providers are instead overwhelming them. Adam explains what’s going wrong and what needs to happen in order to ensure that MSPs can make agent fatigue a thing of the past.

Cybersecurity and AI – helping SMEs understand an exciting future Mike DePalma, VP, SMB Business Development, OpenText Cybersecurity, discusses the continuing evolution of cybersecurity alongside rapidly emerging AI solutions - with agentic AI gaining significant momentum - explaining where Endpoint Detection + Response (EDR) sits in this rapidly evolving landscape and how OpenText is developing its Partner Program to ensure that MSPs and MSSPs can best position themselves to deliver expert advice and technology solutions to address SME concerns around many of their current pain points.

Chainguard launches Global Partner Program to accelerate trusted open source software adoption Rob Finn, VP International Sales at Chainguard, discusses the company’s new Global Partner Program, offering flexible incentives, technical enablement, and go-to-market support to empower channel resellers and distributors to lead in secure software delivery. He also provides updates on Chainguard’s recently announced partnerships with both Azul and Orca Security, as well as sharing some insights into the company’s future plans.

Abstract Security launches PAINT Program to accelerate channel growth Michael Anderson, VP, Business Development at Abstract Security, discusses the launch of the company’s PAINT Partner Program (Partnerships, Alliances, and INTegrations), designed to empower resellers, MSPs, MSSPs, and technology integrators to deliver differentiated cybersecurity solutions and accelerate revenue growth. Abstract Security’s AI-native modern security operations platform decouples data sources and destinations, offering customisable pipelines, real-time analytics and an AI-powered assistant that simplifies threat investigation and detection across environments.

How to deliver better outcomes for SMB’s business continuity and disaster recovery priorities - the full video Adam Salley, Sr. Director, Solutions Specialists, Kaseya, provides a comprehensive, insightful overview of the many topics and technologies impacting the Business Continuity Disaster Recovery (BCDR) landscape at the present time, with particular reference as to the ways in which MSPs can get to grips with cybersecurity threats and risk mitigation, consolidated data protection, the shift to cloud workloads and hybrid working, commercial flexibility, service productization and MSP enablement, the future outlook and strategic planning, as they work alongside their SMB customers.

AI adoption prompts major cybersecurity adjustments Mike Arrowsmith, CTO at NinjaOne, shares valuable insights into a number of cybersecurity issues, explaining how AI adoption itself isn’t problematic when done thoughtfully – but lack of cyber awareness in this context is a cause for concern; how traditional IT and security silos are collapsing as AI demands more collaboration across the enterprise; and how AI brings with it likely challenges around shadow IT. Mike also highlights some non-AI related cybersecurity topics, before sharing a few highlights of the NinjaOne roadmap.

Not just another vulnerability scanner! Ian Schenkel, Chief Revenue Officer, Cyber Intelligence House (CIH), explains how the company’s intelligence-driven Cyber Exposure Platform is designed for MSSPs to deliver high margin, high value services without the overhead. Analysts scour the deep and dark web, tracking over 2,500 threat actors, nation states, and malware families to uncover customers' real cyber exposure - from rapid exposure assessments to continuous breach and malware monitoring, the white label solution provides MSSPs with the insights clients actually care about.

Cynomi launches ELEVATE Partner Program David Primor, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Cynomi, discusses the launch of ELEVATE, a new partner program purpose-built to drive growth, scalability, and success in the delivery of cybersecurity, compliance, and vCISO services, explaining how ELEVATE is more than just a partner program - it’s a growth engine that enables the company’s partners to scale their cybersecurity offerings, differentiate their services, and unlock new value streams with speed and confidence.

Agentic AI that benefits everyone Caroline Monfrais, Global VP Strategy & Transformation, Wipro Consulting, looks at, for all the talk around cohesive AI implementation strategy and the evolution of AI Agents, what needs to be done now so that this technology helps rather than hinders human workers? Caroline shares multiple examples of how organisations, from banking to telecoms, are already using agentic AI as the catalyst to reimagine their businesses.

Hidden economics of AI: balancing innovation and reality Chris Carreiro, CTO, Park Place Technologies, explains why so many AI ambitions are faltering and how organisations can navigate this complex landscape. Core issues to address include the underestimation of AI's total cost of ownership, flexible strategies to account for potential future compliance costs, managing hidden implementation costs and balancing infrastructure with sustainability. Technology-wise, Chris explains the increasing importance of liquid cooling within the data centre.

Unlocking more personalised customer experiences with AI, RCS, and integrated omni-channel strategies Sophie Cheng, Sinch’s SVP of Product Marketing, discusses the findings of the company’s recent report, the state of customer communications, which explores how brands are adapting their engagement strategies as customer expectations rise, and AI adoption accelerates globally. She explains that the businesses that lead are putting the customer at the heart of their communication strategies, letting them choose how and where they want to connect and using AI, and channels like RCS, to make every interaction smarter, faster, and more meaningful.

Transformation drivers which can deliver for the channel Rakesh Parbhoo, Executive Vice President Middle East and Africa at Westcon-Comstor, outlines how the company is marking its 40th birthday by sharing key channel trends and a future-ready vision. Hybrid IT, cybersecurity, AI, data orchestration, cloud, networks and SMBs all feature in terms of opportunities for a future-ready IT channel.

Breach silence, attack surface reduction, and AI threats top security agenda Nicholas Jackson, Director of Cyber Security Services at Bitdefender, discusses the company’s recent 2025 Cybersecurity Assessment Report, explain that businesses face mounting challenges and pressures as the attack surface expands and becomes harder to defend - from hardening environments and optimising security solutions to navigating regulatory compliance and retaining skilled professionals. He explains that organisations must adopt modern security strategies that address a new reality where adversaries use AI to exploit vulnerabilities, sharpen social engineering, and accelerate the speed of attacks.

Unlocking the power of Industrial AI Michelle Buckingham, VP of Channel at IFS, discusses the company’s recent acquisition of TheLoops and its recent collaboration with TomTom before explaining how IFS is building a digital-first partner ecosystem, enabling channel partners to deliver AI-driven customer value.

Overcoming complexity - the global payments platform opportunity Gina Archbold, Channel Business Manager at BlueSnap, provides an update on the company’s Partner Program - explaining how the BlueSnap global payment orchestration platform provides an integrated, single solution to address the intricacies of global payments as many end users continue to struggle with multiple, legacy solutions. With BlueSnap’s comprehensive support, the ultimate objective is to enable the channel to become global payment experts.

How to become a high growth MSP Chase Doelling, Principal Strategist & Director at JumpCloud, discusses the company’s recent 2025 MSP Performance Report which looks at the challenges and opportunities for MSPs - outlining a strategic roadmap to sustainable growth, highlighting AI adoption, vendor flexibility, and streamlined SaaS management as critical factors.

WOMEN IN THE CHANNEL – SAL KING, SCALEFUSION Sal King, Channel Sales Manager for the UK and Ireland at Scalefusion, discusses the company’s expansion into a new region as part of the company’s commitment to meeting the growing demand for enterprise mobility and security solutions across Europe - as more organisations embrace hybrid and remote work models, managing distributed endpoints has become a mission-critical priority. Sal also reflects on her Channel career in terms of equality and inclusion, sharing her thoughts as to how the industry has changed over time and what more needs to be done to ensure that women and minority groups are seen as an important, valued work resource as the industry addresses the ongoing skills shortage.

How to survive M&A mayhem and drive MSP growth Andy Venables, CEO at MSP platform, POPX, discusses the opportunities and challenges of mergers and acquisitions in the Managed Service Provider (MSP) space. On paper, the strategy is simple: buy, integrate, grow. But in practice, the post-acquisition reality is far more complex – and often far messier. A growing number of MSPs are struggling to meet the growth expectations of their investors. While the allure of rapid expansion is strong, MSPs without a clear operational strategy and the right technology, people, and processes to underpin it often find themselves in the chaos of M&A mayhem.

Compliance as a Service (CaaS) Tim Golden, CEO of Compliance Scorecard, explains that the company, a Compliance as a Service (CaaS) platform provider, has partnered with Pax8 to help managed service providers (MSPs) streamline policy management, stay current with regulations, and reduce the risks tied to ongoing compliance. With Compliance Scorecard, MSPs now have a comprehensive solution for policy development, implementation, and compliance monitoring. Beyond ensuring compliance, this partnership enhances risk management, defensibility, and customer engagement.

Network Group’s three-year growth strategy focuses on education, collaboration and benchmarking Peter Strahan, Member Director at Network Group, the peer-to-peer community group for IT resellers and managed service providers, provides an update on the organisation’s activities, covering the recent appointment of Jenny Langelaan as Business Development Manager to support an ambitious three-year growth strategy designed to further enhance the member experience through targeted educational and event content, benchmarking opportunities and wider outreach. In addition, the development of structured peer groups will facilitate deeper collaboration and information sharing amongst the community’s members.