XChange August 2022

The XChange August 2022 conference is the largest, independent gathering of the IT channel’s premier solution providers and technology suppliers

Get all of CRN's coverage of the event here and follow along on Twitter at #XCH22.

AUGUST 2022

DataStream: Cyber Insurance Fuels MSP Sales, Security Posture
‘When you’re involved in a major incident, that may be one of the most important days of your career— it’s sort of like the Super Bowl, you just didn’t know it was going to happen that day,’ says DataStream Cyber Insurance CEO Andy Anderson at XChange August 2022.

Asigra: Taking Data Security To The Next Level
‘[Immutability and air gapping] are the really common strategies that pretty much all the backup products that have security in them utilize. Unfortunately, the bad guys know about this. They’re making a lot of money with ransomware. And so they’re not going to let that deter them,’ says Pete Nourse, Asigra’s chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer.

Xcitium Exec: MSPs Can Protect SMB Security Vulnerabilities
Security firm wants to prove that companies don’t have to go through an attack to prevent future attacks, and that the proliferation of ‘mom-and-pop’ ransomware outfits are targeting small and medium-sized businesses.

Cisco’s Ragusa-McBain: 5 Ways To Drive Success In The ‘New Normal’
‘[The pandemic] gave everybody an opportunity to pause—a forced opportunity to pause and really rethink, reimagine your people, your processes. And the way you go to market,’ says Michelle Ragusa-McBain, Cisco’s Provider Elevate leader of the Global Partner Organization.

Cybersecurity Strategist: The Real Threat Is The ‘Human Hack’
‘Technology gets the press. But it’s the person pressing the button. It’s always a human making a mistake,’ John Sileo, cybersecurity author and adviser, tells an audience at XChange 2022.

Axcient Exec To MSPs: It’s Time To Tackle ‘Tech Sprawl’
‘The goal is to identify technologies that make our lives easier and reduce costs. ... If we still have guys going around checking that backups are successful and bootable, that’s an operational cost. It’s an operational inefficiency,’ says Tim Sheahen, Axcient’s vice president of sales.

Scale Computing Exec: Broadcom’s VMware Buy Creating ‘New Opportunity’
‘Scale [Computing’s] just easy, it’s cost effective, it’s fast and they have great partner support. What else could I ask for?’ says Adam Rodriguez, co-owner of Scale Computing partner Network Systems Group.

ThreatLocker CEO: More Access Controls Are Needed To Improve Overall Security
‘Having five layers of protection in your environment, without any controls is like putting five burglar alarms in your house and not locking the front door,’ says Danny Jenkins.

Schneider Electric ‘Evolves’ Partner Program From Volume To Value
‘We made an intentional shift from volume-based revenue focus, into value-based competencies,’ says Schneider Electric’s Eileen Bishop at XChange 2022.

How MSPs Can Better Retain Workers During The Great Resignation
‘You can address compensation issues. You can address employees not feeling valued, or the lack of career opportunities. I always tell my clients, I don’t want to push you to grow the company. I’m going to push you to build a company like you’re going to sell it. I don’t care if you’re gonna sell it, we’re going to structure a really good company,’ says Brett Jaffe, strategic coach at ConnectStrat.

MSPs Can Boost Profitability With Third-Party Security Assessments: Galactic Advisors
‘We don’t need administrative credentials. ... And we provide you with a report that you can sit down with [prospective customers to discuss their needs],’ says Bruce McCully, chief security officer of cybersecurity auditing company Galactic Advisors.

AMD Channel Chief Richardson: ‘We’re Taking Market Share’
At XChange 2022, Richardson touts AMD’s growth as well as a new branding program that will emphasize its prowess beyond the gaming world, its continued focus on performance and ‘the importance of partnerships.’

Brother: Hybrid Work Gives MSPs More Lanes For Print Offerings
‘This [hybrid] working environment has really given us an opportunity to address some changing needs with print and documents as well,’ says David Fisher, senior sales manager for the VAR channel for Brother USA.

DEI Leader: 3 Easy Steps To Attract Diverse IT Talent
At XChange 2022, The Channel Company’s DEI leader, Cass McMann, offers three simple tips around how solution providers can attract and retain a diverse employee base.

Lenovo Channel Exec: ‘Our Backlog Is Diminishing As We Speak’
Lenovo’s Cassie Jeppson told attendees at this week’s XChange August 2022 conference that the company is working to step up communications with partners about supply chain challenges, even as those issues continue to improve.

Nerdio CRO Sees Boost From VMware, Citrix ‘Chaos’
‘Probably 90 percent of our customers are coming over from Citrix or VMware,’ said Nerdio’s CRO Joseph Landes.

2022 Annual Report Card Winners: Solution Providers Give Top Grades To Key Vendors
For the 37th year, solution providers scored vendors across 25 technology categories based on their performance in product innovation, support, partnership, and managed and cloud services. Here’s a roundup of the companies with the highest overall scores.

MARCH 2022

ConnectMeVoice Takes Telecom Billing Out Of The Cloud VoIP Selling Equation
The cloud VoIP provider that works exclusively through the channel can handle billing and taxation on behalf of MSPs, one of the biggest barriers to entry in selling voice, according to ConnectMeVoice’s Channel Chief Frank Seltzer.

10 Big Cybersecurity Bets Solution Providers Are Making In 2022
From multifactor authentication and least privileged access to unified dashboards and employee training, here’s where 10 solution providers attending this week’s XChange 2022 conference plan to place their biggest cybersecurity bets.

MSPs Speak Out: How Changing Market Dynamics Are Influencing IT Investment
With cybersecurity, hybrid work, and supply chain challenges top of mind, CRN reporters ask MSPs from all over the country: changing market dynamics influenced the technology areas your business is investing in today?

15 Hot Technology Products For SMBs
Vendors showed off their latest and greatest products at CRN parent The Channel Company’s XChange 2022 event in Dallas this week.

Wasabi Executive: We Beat AWS On Price
‘A lot of folks don’t like the biggest service providers – AWS, Google, Azure,’ Drew Schlussel says. ‘They have great systems. They do a fantastic job … But the fact of the matter is, they really are catering to the biggest, heaviest and most expensive workloads.’

Cisco Channel Leader Michelle Ragusa-McBain: 5 Marketing Tips For SMB-Focused MSPs
Cisco’s Michelle Ragusa-McBain at XChange 2022 shares five tips for SMB-focused MSPs as they craft marketing strategies, build their company culture and implement sales outreach efforts amid the hybrid work demands of employees and brand-new buying behaviors from customers.

MSPs: How To Use QBRs As A Path To Customer Success
‘If you’re in the mode of being reactive, you’re definitely walking into “no’s” because you didn’t see it coming. If you’re not able to be proactive, it’s very easy to walk in unprepared for the situation. So, enter the QBR,’ Marnie Stockman, CEO of Lifecycle Insights tells an audience of MSPs at Xchange 2022.

OpenText: ‘We Want To Help You Plan Out Your Transition To Microsoft’s New Commerce’
‘With New Commerce Experience, we’ve been helping our partners not just navigate some of the murky waters of that but actually come out better than they were before. Microsoft is just our entry. It’s what we start talking to partners about. We’re here to help you grow your business,’ OpenText’s Justin Gilbert tells an audience at XChange 2022.

‘Backups Are Dead,’ CEO Of Backup Vendor Axcient Says
‘As a backup vendor, I’ll tell you, backups are dead. If you only do backups, you will be out of business,’ says Axcient CEO David Bennett.

Check Point: We Offer Much Better Margins Than Competitors
‘Compared to some of our competitors, we can do things financially for you that we don‘t believe the competition can do,’ says Check Point global channel chief Frank Rauch at XChange 2022.

Microsoft Channel Chief Rodney Clark: ‘Unintended Business Models’ Led To NCE
‘The 20 percent is not meant to penalize anyone or to shift and change business models,’ Microsoft Channel Chief Rodney Clark says at CRN parent The Channel Company’s XChange 2022 event. ‘The reality is that we had a program in CSP that actually created some unintended business models for us – and one of which was this notion of monthly.’

Microsoft Channel Chief Rodney Clark’s Boldest Statements From XChange 2022
“The whole thought premise, then and now, is to simplify and make it easier for our customers to engage, to simplify and make it easier for our partners to bring value to customers,” Channel Chief Rodney Clark says.

State Of Partner Profitability Study: Services-Led Business Driving The Most Growth
The Channel Company CEO Blaine Raddon reveals the results of the State of Partner Profitability study and leads a discussion with a panel of solution provider executives around how they’ve changed their business models and where they see the most growth ahead.

ThreatLocker CEO: ‘Zero Trust Doesn’t Have To Be A Heavy Lift’
‘The people trying to exploit these vulnerabilities aren’t schoolyard bullies anymore. They are big, organized organizations, and they don’t care if you’ve only got 10 employees,’ says CEO Danny Jenkins at XChange 2022.

MSPs Are Bracing For Increase In Cyberattacks In Wake Of Russia Invasion of Ukraine
‘Everybody needs to be aware of the potential for increased attacks,’ says Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ‘Everyone is fair game. We have tightened up all our policies and rolled out a cloud based SSL VPN.’

A ‘Gold Rush’ For MSPs: Government And Higher Education
‘We can get our infrastructure built to where it needs to be, but at the same time, you’re going to make some money,’ Holly Davis, founder of business consultancy Komplement, tells MSPs interested in starting a SLED practice.

DataStream: Having A Cyber Insurance Partner Can Change The Conversation
“We get to come in and be your partner and we get to come in there and say, ‘Guess what, Mr. Customer, without those things, you’re virtually uninsurable.’ And when the CFO, CIO hears those words, they open the checkbook,” Larry Meador, DataStream’s channel partnerships and alliances director, tells an audience at XChange 2020.

How To Harness Compliance To Boost And Differentiate Security Solutions
Solution providers should be highlighting compliance as a way to elevate their security offerings in an increasingly crowded market, Compliancy Group’s Paul Redding tells an audience of solution providers at XChange 2022.

Russia Invasion of Ukraine Poses Grave Threat To MSPs: Lt. General Russel Honore’
Retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore, a decorated 37 year U.S. Army veteran, says he expects the Russia invasion of Ukraine to lead to increased ransomware attacks here at home.

Area 1 Security: ‘We Believe It’s Possible To Have A Clean Inbox’
‘Email is the single biggest attack surface out there, and it will remain so. Email is the most mission-critical application. The threat actors know it and they will take full advantage of it,’ says Area 1 CRO Steve Pataky at XChange 2022.

Cynet’s Royi Barnea: Our XDR Platform ‘Connects All The Dots’
‘We’re focused on XDR to provide a much more simple solution for your clients, a much easier way to approach them. We reduce your buying costs and your investment costs and enable you to get a much higher win ratio,’ says Cynet’s Royi Barnea at XChange 2022.

Sherweb Aims To Help Partners Scale, Tackle Cloud Challenges
‘You need to be able to work with the clients you have today and be able to never say no to an opportunity in the future,’ said Michael Slater, head of sales and marketplace at cloud distributor Sherweb. ‘Scale should never be a problem for you if you pick the right vendors to work with.’

Security Assessments Can Shift Clients From ‘Basic’ To ‘Advanced’ Security Stack
Security-focused MSPs need to be able to illustrate the need for an advanced security stack, which can be done through security assessments, Galactic Advisors’ CSO told solution providers at XChange March 2022.

MSPs: Microsoft Is Fastest Growing Partner In Managed Services ‘Golden Era’
‘COVID and the pandemic changed everything,’ said David Stinner, president of USitek, a Buffalo, N.Y., MSP. ‘Our Microsoft business is up 400 percent since the pandemic. Microsoft is on top of the world again.’

The Channel Company Expands Its Global Footprint With bChannels Acquisition
“With The Channel Company’s U.S. best-in-class channel database and bChannels’ unmatched global channel database, we are now the undisputed global channel leader for to and through partner marketing services,” said The Channel Company CEO Blaine Raddon.