Pipeline 2026 Day 1: Partner accountability, leadership & Brisbane 2032

The ICT channel received a wake-up call about the realities facing firms wanting a slice of Brisbane 2032 Olympics spending, and about clients’ need for better accountability for technology benefits, at techpartner.news Pipeline 2026 today.

The annual event, held on Hamilton Island for the first time this year, is being attended more than 200 people from the ICT channel, including business coaches, cyber consultants, M&A advisors, MSPs, cloud, cyber, biz-apps, data analytics and telco specialists, integrators, and hosting and data centre companies. 

David Beal, senior advisor at IBRS, discussed clients’ need for better accountability for technology benefits.

"A true strategic partnership is not defined by proximity; it's defined by shared responsibility for outcomes," he noted, unpacking what that meant in practise.

Brad Howarth, contributing editor at techpartner.news, unpacked his findings from techpartner.news' upcoming State of the MSP Report.

With the economics of managed services changing, Howarth explored what that means for the future of MSP software, especially as more MSPs automate their operations, as monitoring and management technology evolves, as a new generation of savvier end-users arrives, and as partners question the financial return from 'keeping the lights on'.

"What are the future revenue streams going to be?” he asked. “Where are they going to come from and how are you going to cater to that? If you live in a world where pretty much everyone's clients are requiring security services, if you aren't [offering that], you are probably leaving money on the table," Howarth said.

While the Brisbane 2032 Olympics is years away, issuing of tenders is already underway. Mark Lloyd, COO of Gillard Group, took to the stage at Pipeline to share his view of the challenges for Australian technology SMEs and innovators.

Mark's view of this was informed by his experience over the years on both sides of the procurement desk. The tech opportunity is significant, but it will be a “conga line of ever-diminishing opportunities”, he has predicted.

Jennifer O'Brien, contributing editor at techpartner.news, shared some of what channel partners had been telling her about the realities of a growth in cloud spending on third party solutions and services through marketplaces.

Rugby league great Brad Fittler shard his views on leading high performing teams, in a celebrity session sponsored by NinjaOne.