GRC partnerships and IT cost pressures take centre stage at CRN Kickstarter breakfast

GRC partnerships and IT service firms' cost pressures were among the topics discussed at this morning’s CRN Kickstarter report launch in Sydney.

The NinjaOne, Netskope, LastPass, Ingram Micro Cloud and AWS-sponsored event at the Four Seasons Hotel gave attendees a preview of the CRN Kickstarter report, which looks at business opportunities for IT and digital services providers in FY22-23.

Those taking part in discussions on stage included Damon Rees, former Services NSW CEO and now Managing Principal & CEO of professional services firm Better as Usual, who spoke about the move toward digital enablement, rather than all-encompassing transformation, and the failings he has seen by technology companies working with government, among other topics.

He was joined by Malcolm Alder, Principal, GHD Digital, who touched on why the idea of digital transformation should give way to more pragmatic approaches to digital change.

Ongoing corporate governance issues in the wake of the Medibank privacy breach was a big topic of discussion.

KordaMentha Executive Director Tony Vizza and Avocado Consulting CEO Gerardo Barranquero were among several panellists laying out partnership opportunities and their view of how the IT channel can rise to this challenge.

Matt Paull, VP of Channels & Alliance, APJ at Netskope, spoke about how security has morphed into a much broader consideration, beyond traditional security teams, and security vendor consolidation.

Guest speakers also answered questions about how MSPs can deal with the increasing cost pressures some are predicting will impact the IT channel even more in the year ahead.

Michael Robotham, Director of Sales, APAC at NinjaOne, gave examples of how partners are using automation to increase efficiency, while Jaideep Thyagarajan, Senior Principal Analyst at Gartner, spoke about how MSP engagement models are evolving.

MSP marketing was also a topic of discussion. Nigel Murphy, Regional VP at The Channel Company, talked about how savvy partners are using marketing dollars to better effect.   

Logicalis Australia CEO Anthony Woodward shared his view of government IT, including changes to whole-of-government IT sourcing.

Guests also heard from IoT Alliance Australia CEO Frank Zeichner, who explained the edge IoT  integration opportunity there for the taking.

Thank you to all the attendees, speakers and sponsors.   

The 2023 CRN Kickstarter report will be available later this week.