Contract failures, MSSP mis-steps and agentic opportunity on agenda at Day 2 of Pipeline 2025

Tech partners unpacked customer needs shaping their alliances yesterday at Pipeline on the Gold Coast.

David Beal, senior advisor at Australian ICT and digital advisory firm IBRS, opened the day's proceedings by revealing why tech firms often lose business they could have kept, the common missteps incumbents make, and how to approach re-engagement with the right mindset. 

Microsoft MVP and Copilot/AI consultant, Daniel Anderson, and Dion Castle, Gold Coast-based owner of infrastructure advisory Struber, then showcased practical insights, working examples, and a clear playbook for the partners in the audience to start building and monetising Copilot Agents.

Anderson delivered a full end-to-end demo of how Copilot Agents are created using natural language prompts, triggers, and M365 integrations, before Castle showed how his company used Copilot Agents to slash admin time and improve stakeholder engagement, and scale their operations. 

What do organisations really want from their technology partnerships – and what gets in the way? 

That was the topic Domino’s’ Stephen Bennett, Neumann Steel's Andrew Selwood and Chris McLaren, from High Impact Academy, tackled in a panel that explored what drives meaningful engagement, where trust is built or broken, how to approach onboarding and offboarding and what distinguishes a standout partner from the rest.

Next, Brad Clarke convened a panel of his Channel Gurus together to share actionable insights about overcoming profitability challenges, optimising go-to-market strategies, and enhancing business processes for sustained growth.

Huntress’ sales manager Jimmy Wang used his Lightning Talk to share how Huntress equips and supports businesses and partners to outsmart cyber threats and protect what matters most, from identifying vulnerabilities to deploying actionable defense strategies.

The power of IT Nation Evolve Peer Groups was next up on the agenda as Norm Jefferies, MD of Truis, and Steve Constantinou, co-founder of Emerging IT, shared how joining IT Nation Evolve transformed both their businesses and lives. 

Attendees then headed to breakout sessions and lunch hosted by Aussie Broadband, GuardWare, ManageEngine and HaloPSA, covering topics as diverse as how MSPs can take advantage of Australia's next generation broadband and ensuring compliance through data-centric security through to the future of IT management and how founders and managers of channel firms can achieve growth and scalability.

After the breakout sessions, Pipeline guests got to take part in either barefoot bowls or golf for the afternoon before heading to the La Luna Beach Club for the Galactic Gala, sponsored Superloop - an evening of cosmic connection, sci-fi splendour, and high-impact networking under the stars, with the community donning their best interstellar-inspired costumes.