Leader EXPO 2025 arrived in Sydney last week, bringing together the largest number of partners ever to attend the company’s annual IT distribution showcase.
Ubiquiti kicked off the day with a presentation from Alex Bantjes, Leader’s National Presales and Training Specialist for Ubiquiti, who spoke about the advancements in Ubiquiti’s product range and how its position is evolving from SMB-focused products to now providing a full enterprise solution.
“In addition to providing a range of new products and features, Ubiquiti’s enterprise program is not exclusive to large customers. It helps partners with customers of all sizes to increase profitability and secure projects,” he said.
These new products include high-performance gateways and switches, Wi-Fi access points, enterprise network video recorders, surveillance cameras, and more. Bantjes also noted that Ubiquiti partners can now utilise the company’s offerings such as UI Care extended RAs, CyberSecure enhanced security, and Pro-Support for enhanced 24/7 support.
3CX then took to the stage to present what it sees as a major opportunity for partners: the integration of AI across its platform. With powerful features like sentiment analysis and automated call summaries, 3CX is enabling businesses to gain deeper insights into customer interactions, uncover trends, and identify operational bottlenecks—all in real time.
Nicolas Fraenkel, Senior Product Manager, emphasised that these AI tools aren’t just technical upgrades—they represent a strategic shift for partners.
“By offering these services, whether individually or as a bundled solution, partners can evolve from traditional VoIP providers into true providers of business intelligence,” he said.
The session also offered a look at what’s coming next, including AI-powered agents such as digital receptionists and the ability to deploy AI on-premises. This latter option directly addresses growing concerns around data sovereignty and cost control—two increasingly important considerations for businesses worldwide.
“These capabilities open up significant new revenue and profit opportunities that simply didn’t exist within the 3CX ecosystem before,” Fraenkel added, underlining the transformative potential for partners ready to embrace AI.
Ash Perkins, Microsoft Australia’s Commercial Master Trainer, joined Symon Ten, Leader’s Business Manager, to remind partners that Windows 10 end of support is fast approaching, with a deadline of 14 October. They warned that failing to upgrade could lead to serious implications, including security vulnerabilities, Microsoft 365 no longer being supported on Windows 10, and potential compliance or contractual risks.
However, they emphasised that this challenge also presents a significant opportunity—particularly in the SMB space—where many existing devices are ineligible for a Windows 11 upgrade. Refreshing these ageing devices opens the door for resellers to deliver next-generation solutions.
With the rise of Copilot+ PCs, partners can future-proof their customers by offering devices designed for AI-powered productivity. Leader is making this transition easier with its own Leader Brand Copilot+ PCs, available on both Intel and AMD platforms, ensuring partners can meet diverse customer needs. The message was clear: if you’re going to upgrade, make it count—choose devices that are ready for the future with Copilot+ PC capabilities.
Microsoft Cloud’s Jahan Sheikh, Partner Solutions Lead for Copilot, then revealed the findings of the company’s Journey to the Frontier Firm report, in which the vendor surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries.
He shared Microsoft’s vision for AI transformation, progressing from Phase 1—where every employee has an AI assistant—to Phase 2—where agents join teams as “digital colleagues” taking on specific tasks—through to Phase 3, where humans give direction and agents run entire business processes and workflows.
His presentation also highlighted what he termed the “capacity gap,” with Microsoft research showing that nearly four-fifths (79%) of the Australian workforce agreed they don’t have enough time or energy to complete their work, and nearly half (47%) of Australian leaders surveyed agreed productivity must increase—with business demands outpacing human capacity. However, 75% of Australian leaders were confident they would use digital labour to expand workforce capacity.
“We’re at this interesting point where, on one hand, the managers and leaders are looking to get more out of their teams—they’re expecting more—but at the same time, the workforce is saying we’re stretched to capacity, almost to the point of burnout. These leaders are now looking at AI as that workforce extension,” Sheikh told the audience.
“It’s not about replacing one with the other. It’s about understanding the opportunity to use AI and agents to extend the capacity of your workforce.”
Lenovo Notebook & Server’s presentation focused on the complete portfolio of the company’s AI infrastructure and devices, ranging from mobile devices and PCs to edge and data centre solutions.
The company also highlighted its Lenovo 360 MSP Boost program—a rewards-based initiative designed exclusively for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). This program, which applies across Lenovo’s entire device and server portfolio, offers valuable incentives to registered MSP partners and is available exclusively through Leader, reinforcing its commitment to empowering the MSP community.
ViewSonic Commercial closed out the day by showcasing its “comprehensive visual solutions,” including pen displays, monitors, presentation displays, interactive displays, projectors, and an all-in-one direct view LED display.
With over 10 million users of its software worldwide, Jack Hun, Country Manager, also spoke about the future of the ViewSonic range, including new projectors, presentation signage, collaboration solutions, and LED displays—most notably a foldable, preassembled, plug-and-play 138” screen.
Following the presentations, guests had the opportunity to engage with a wide range of vendors, resellers, and industry experts showcasing their solutions.
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