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“Conversations Are Becoming the Operating System of the Enterprise,” 8×8 Podcast, “The real shift is that conversations are no longer just moments in time,” says says Dhwani Soni, Global Vice President of Product Management at 8×8. “They are where work is coordinated, decisions are made, risks are surfaced and customer relationships are understood.” @Doug Green 8×8 is moving beyond communications as simple connectivity and into a broader role for communications as a source of action, intelligence and accountability. In this podcast, we look at two recent 8×8 announcements posted on Technology Reseller News: 8×8 Resolve, a mobile-first critical communications and incident management solution for deskless and distributed workers, and 8×8 Pulse, a conversational intelligence solution that turns business conversations into insight. “The real shift is that conversations are no longer just moments in time,” says Dhwani Soni, Global Vice President of Product Management at 8×8. “They are where work is coordinated, decisions are made, risks are surfaced and customer relationships are understood.” 8×8 Resolve addresses a practical enterprise problem: when something goes wrong, the people most affected may be the hardest to reach. Frontline employees in healthcare, retail, logistics, utilities, manufacturing and field services often do not sit at a desk, may not have corporate email, and may not be connected to the same tools used by office-based teams. As outlined in the TR-posted announcement on 8×8 Resolve, the solution reaches workers through channels they actually use, including SMS, voice, WhatsApp and the 8×8 Work mobile app. Resolve can escalate until acknowledgment is confirmed and produce an exportable audit trail showing who was notified, when they responded and how the incident was handled. The conversation also explores 8×8 Pulse. Businesses already generate valuable intelligence in calls, meetings, chats, emails, support tickets and customer conversations. Too often, that information remains scattered across recordings, transcripts, inboxes and systems of record. “With Pulse, the conversation itself becomes a source of business memory,” says Soni. “That changes how leaders, account teams, customer success teams and frontline managers understand what is actually happening across the organization.” As described in the TR-posted announcement on 8×8 Pulse, the product is built around the idea that business decisions increasingly happen inside conversations — and that those conversations can become a source of insight, context and action. Taken together, Resolve and Pulse point to a larger platform strategy. Communications are becoming the place where organizations detect problems, coordinate responses, capture commitments, understand customers, manage risk and create a record of what happened. For service providers, MSPs, channel partners and enterprise IT leaders, the message is clear: the next wave of cloud communications value will come from helping customers act on communications data, not simply move it from one endpoint to another. 8×8 Resolve: https://telecomreseller.com/2026/06/03/8×8-announces-8×8-resolve-a-critical-communications-solution-built-for-the-deskless-workforce/ 8×8 Pulse: https://telecomreseller.com/2026/06/03/8×8-introduces-8×8-pulse-conversational-intelligence-built-for-where-decisions-are-made/ Learn more at www.8×8.com.

By Doug Green “Governance is absolutely necessary. It's no longer optional.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Rajesh Kari, Senior Director of Products and Solutions at Versa Networks, about the emerging security challenges created as agentic AI moves into live network and security operations. Kari says Versa Networks is a leader in SASE, offering a unified platform that brings together networking, security and operations across enterprise infrastructure. As AI becomes more embedded in operations, Versa is focused on a new zero trust challenge: controlling not only users and devices, but also the hidden AI-driven sub-actions that can touch production systems. Kari explains that agentic AI is different from traditional AI because it can take action on behalf of users. Rather than simply answering a prompt or returning information, an agent may break a task into sub-queries, call APIs, use credentials, access systems and make changes inside the infrastructure. Those hidden sub-queries can create risk if organizations cannot see, validate and govern what the agent is doing. “People build agents. They know what the objective of the agents are,” Kari says. “But under the hood, what the agent actually deploys, which APIs it accesses, and what kinds of authorization and authentication it leverages can be unknown.” The podcast explores how this creates new exposure for enterprises, MSPs and channel partners. If an AI agent gains access to credentials or production systems, organizations need constant verification, validation and governance around each action. Kari says agentic AI can also hallucinate or generate unnecessary sub-queries, creating additional security and operational risk. Versa is addressing this through Versa Verbo and its Zero Trust MCP architecture. Verbo is designed to help network practitioners gain visibility, management and analytics through natural language interactions. Instead of searching through hundreds of alerts or dashboards, operators can ask questions about outages, performance issues, configuration changes, security incidents and branch health. The Zero Trust MCP architecture extends that capability by applying governance and access control to AI-driven actions. Kari says this enables AI models and agents to query Versa infrastructure securely, while maintaining controls around authentication, authorization, APIs and operational workflows. For MSPs and channel partners, Kari sees an important opportunity. Many organizations want to deploy AI quickly but do not have the internal capability to build governance infrastructure around it. Partners that develop practices around policy architecture, deployment, ongoing governance and human-in-the-loop approval can help customers adopt agentic AI more safely. Kari says AI operations copilots are becoming standard in SASE and network platforms. Network teams, infrastructure managers and executives increasingly want to use natural language to understand the health of their infrastructure instead of relying only on dashboards. But as those tools become more powerful, governance becomes the deciding factor in adoption. “If the agent has gained access into certain files or visuals which has violated any particular compliance standards, it becomes the responsibility of the organization to prove it,” Kari says. For Versa, the message is clear: agentic AI can simplify operations and accelerate decision-making, but it must be governed from the beginning. Zero trust principles need to be built into every AI agent connection. Learn more at www.versa-networks.com  

By Doug Green “Running a business, running a network, is really about making good decisions. And to make good decisions, you have to base that on good data.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Jezzibell Gillmore, General Manager and Vice President, Service Provider at Kentik, about how AI workloads, rising data volumes and infrastructure complexity are creating new operational challenges for service providers. Gillmore describes Kentik as a network intelligence company that uses NetFlow, SNMP, synthetic testing, streaming telemetry and data enrichment to provide actionable insights for organizations that rely on networks to run their businesses. As networks generate more data than humans can easily interpret, Kentik helps service providers understand what traffic means, where it is coming from, where it is going, and how it affects customers, performance and profitability. The conversation focuses on the growing infrastructure demands associated with AI. Gillmore says the industry is preparing for a significant rise in AI-driven traffic, particularly east-west traffic between servers and data centers. While the full impact has not yet arrived, service providers are already seeing signs of what may be ahead as GPU deployments, data center power demands and high-capacity interconnect requirements continue to grow. Gillmore notes that service providers will face pressure not only from higher traffic volumes, but also from the physical realities of network expansion. Adding capacity is not always as simple as turning up another wavelength. Providers may need to plan new fiber routes, obtain permits, expand conduit capacity and manage the long timelines associated with physical infrastructure. The podcast also explores where service providers are likely to encounter operational blind spots. Gillmore says resiliency is moving from a “good to have” to a mission-critical requirement. At the same time, traditional observability tools were built for an earlier era and may not provide enough visibility into encrypted traffic, hybrid cloud, east-west AI traffic, GPU-to-GPU telemetry and increasingly complex routing environments. For Gillmore, the shift is from passive observability to actionable network intelligence. Traditional tools may show what happened over the last 30 days, but AI-era networks require near real-time insight that can help operators make better decisions immediately. She also points to a growing skills challenge. Many of the engineers who helped build the internet are retiring, while newer engineers may be strong in automation and code but have less deep operational experience. Machine-assisted insight can help bridge that gap by giving teams clearer guidance and better context. For service providers, the message is clear: AI-driven demand will require better visibility, stronger resiliency and more intelligent operations. Gillmore says providers should begin by identifying gaps in their networks and evaluating how network intelligence can improve efficiency, customer experience and business value. Learn more at kentik.com  

By Doug Green “Infrastructure is increasingly becoming a control point for AI enablement and productivity.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Shashi Kiran, Chief Marketing Officer at Nile, about why infrastructure is moving back to the center of enterprise strategy, budgeting and AI readiness. Kiran says Nile is modernizing enterprise networks with what it describes as the world's most secure network delivered as a service. The company provides wired and wireless local area networking for mid-size and large enterprises, with security built in and operations managed across the lifecycle. The conversation focuses on a growing reality for enterprises: AI may appear to live in applications, cloud platforms and user devices, but its success depends on the infrastructure underneath. As organizations rethink AI adoption, infrastructure decisions are becoming long-term strategic decisions again. Unlike software, Kiran notes, infrastructure cannot simply be changed overnight. Network decisions often shape cost, security, agility and business performance for years. A poor infrastructure choice can become a drag on the rest of the organization's technology investment. Kiran says this is driving renewed interest in network as a service. In the modern model, he says, network as a service is not simply a managed provider operating someone else's technology. Instead, Nile builds, owns and operates the technology, giving customers a single accountable partner across the full value chain. For Nile, the focus is the enterprise edge: campuses, branches, users, devices, IoT and, increasingly, AI agents. Kiran says that part of the network has often been overlooked while much of the industry focused on data centers and cloud. Yet it is also where complexity, operational cost and security exposure are often highest. Nile's approach is built around simplifying that environment. Kiran describes a clean-slate architecture with wired and wireless connectivity, zero trust principles, identity-based authentication, security built in, and autonomous operations. Nile also backs its service with performance SLAs and financial penalties. Kiran says the results can include lower complexity, faster change management, reduced breach exposure and significant savings. He says customers typically see cost reductions of 30% to 50% at a minimum, along with faster deployment and change cycles. As enterprises plan for the next several years, Kiran says infrastructure will become even more important as organizations work to become more AI-native. The companies that move away from legacy models and adopt more agile infrastructure approaches will be better positioned to support AI, improve productivity, reduce cost and strengthen security. Learn more at nilesecure.com  

Philipp Heltewig, Chief AI Officer at NICE and co-founder of Cognigy, joined Moshe Beauford on the Technology Reseller News Podcast at NICE World to discuss how Cognigy is being integrated into the broader NICE platform and what that means for the next generation of customer experience technology. Heltewig describes Cognigy as becoming an enterprise AI layer across the NICE technology stack, bringing conversational and agentic AI capabilities deeper into the company's products. The discussion looks at the progress of the integration, the strategic thinking behind the move, and how Heltewig's team is helping shape NICE's broader AI roadmap. The conversation also points to a larger shift in customer experience. AI is moving beyond isolated tools and standalone chatbots toward embedded capabilities that can support automation, orchestration and intelligent engagement across enterprise operations. For NICE, the integration of Cognigy is part of that broader move toward AI operating across the stack. Heltewig also discusses current AI initiatives, product innovation and the future of enterprise AI inside the NICE ecosystem. As customer experience platforms become more AI-driven, the focus is shifting from experimentation to real-world deployment, enterprise readiness and measurable business outcomes. For partners and technology providers, the podcast highlights an important channel opportunity. As AI becomes more central to contact center, service, workforce and analytics strategies, customers will need help understanding where AI fits, how it connects to existing systems and how it can improve both customer experience and operational performance. Learn more: https://www.nice.com/

By Doug Green “It's the first time we've had a really global effort around bringing our partnerships together.” Dorothy Copeland, Chief Channel Partner Officer at NiCE, joined the Technology Reseller News Podcast at NiCE World to discuss her vision for the company's partner strategy following her appointment earlier this year. Copeland joined NiCE in January as the company's first partner officer, a role created to bring together the company's global partner efforts and strengthen its channel organization. NiCE is leaning more deeply into its partner ecosystem as both a source of growth and a source of scale. Copeland's work includes building a global partner organization, growing partner revenue, strengthening enablement, and ensuring partners have the capabilities needed to support customer implementations. The conversation also explored the changing role of agents, trusted advisors, and MSPs as customer needs evolve. Copeland noted that AI is creating greater demand for managed services and end-to-end customer support. “One of the changes with AI is that customers need more of a managed services approach,” Copeland said. For channel partners, that shift creates an opportunity to move beyond initial customer relationships and participate more fully across the customer's CX journey, from strategy and deployment to ongoing support and optimization. Copeland also discussed the development of NiCE's first formal channel program, the importance of partner enablement, and the company's broader commitment to building an ecosystem that supports long-term partner success. Learn more at NiCE.

By Doug Green “The best learning is actually to learn by doing.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Carlos Pereira, Cisco Fellow and Chief Architect, Customer Experience, about Cisco IQ and how Cisco is using AI, lifecycle intelligence and customer experience to help enterprises better understand, secure and future-proof their environments. Pereira says Cisco IQ reflects a broader shift in how customer experience is being delivered. At Cisco, CX is not treated as something that begins after a product is deployed. It spans the full lifecycle: land, adopt, expand and renew, with support embedded throughout. That lifecycle view is especially important because more than 95% of Cisco's business is indirect through partners, and more than half of Cisco's revenue is recurring. Cisco IQ, which became generally available in April, is designed to give customers visibility across the Cisco assets they own, including devices that may be approaching or past end of sale or end of support. Pereira notes that many Cisco products remain in production for years because they are reliable, but long-running environments can create risk if older software, unsupported assets or unpatched vulnerabilities remain in place. With Cisco IQ, customers can see more of their environment, understand lifecycle status, assess security exposure and receive AI-driven insights tied to their own deployments. Pereira says that visibility becomes more important as AI accelerates the speed of both operations and threats. “The speed has changed because the adversary is now faster than what you think your ability to move,” Pereira says. The podcast also looks at how Cisco IQ fits with Cisco Cloud Control, announced at Cisco Live. Pereira explains that Cisco Cloud Control brings product operations together through an agentic interface, while Cisco IQ focuses on lifecycle visibility, entitlement, assets, security assessments, performance and operational insight. Together, the two offerings reflect Cisco's effort to combine AI-driven operations with full lifecycle intelligence. A major theme of the conversation is future-proofing the enterprise. Pereira says Cisco IQ can help customers identify assets that may pose security or operational risks, including devices past last day of support or software exposed to newly discovered vulnerabilities. Cisco IQ can also support assessments around emerging concerns such as quantum readiness, including hardware, software and cryptographic materials. Pereira also discusses why Cisco designed Cisco IQ to support multiple deployment models from the beginning. Cisco IQ can run as SaaS, on-premises tethered, or on-premises air-gapped. That matters for customers with government, sovereignty, security or isolation requirements who still need AI-driven insight without compromising deployment constraints. For partners, Cisco IQ creates a new way to engage customers around lifecycle management, security posture, renewals and modernization. Instead of waiting for problems to emerge, partners can use Cisco IQ to help customers understand what they have, where risks exist and how to prioritize action. Looking ahead, Pereira says the second half of 2026 will be less about AI hype and more about applying AI to business workflows with measurable ROI. In areas such as security and identity operations, the need for speed, visibility and lifecycle intelligence will only increase. Pereira encourages Cisco customers with support entitlements to begin using Cisco IQ directly at iq.cisco.com. Because Cisco IQ includes personalized, AI-driven documentation and insights, he says the best way to understand the platform is to self-onboard and begin using it. Learn more at cisco.com Cisco IQ: iq.cisco.com  

By Doug Green “Everything is fighting for your attention.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Gerry Christensen, trusted industry strategist at ICA AI, about the future of business-to-consumer communications, AI-powered voice solutions, and how enterprises, carriers, MSPs and channel partners can prepare for a post-agentic AI communications environment. Christensen says ICA AI is focused on making it easier for consumers and businesses to engage with the calls and messages they actually want, while filtering out the unwanted traffic. The company uses AI, including deterministic AI, to help determine whether a call should be allowed through, blocked, or handled through an AI-powered interaction layer. The conversation looks ahead to a future where AI is increasingly used for outbound calls, contact center interactions, appointment setting, collections, notifications and even person-to-person communications. Christensen says AI-to-AI interactions are likely to become more common, where one person's AI assistant may interact with another person's AI assistant before a human conversation ever takes place. That future, he says, will require governance, transparency and trust. Consumers may accept AI-driven communication, but they will want to know when AI is being used and whether the entity behind the call can be trusted. “What matters is, do you trust who's calling you?” Christensen says. The podcast also explores the risks of AI being used by bad actors. Agentic AI can automate useful workflows, but the same capabilities can also be used to create more convincing fraud, impersonation and scam attempts. Christensen says that is why solutions such as ICA AI will become increasingly important as AI-powered communications become more common. For enterprises, the implications are significant. Contact centers, collections teams, healthcare organizations, appointment-setting operations and customer service groups may all use AI to reach consumers more efficiently. At the same time, they will need systems that help ensure legitimate calls get through while unwanted or harmful traffic is blocked. Christensen describes ICA AI's current approach in three parts: allow calls that should go through, block known bad calls, and use AI to handle the middle ground where additional screening or interaction is needed. That middle ground may become especially important as consumers increasingly rely on their own AI tools to manage communications. For MSPs, channel partners and carriers, Christensen says there is also an opportunity. ICA AI is developing channel partnerships and licensing its technology to carriers, creating a path for providers to bring AI-powered call protection and engagement tools to their customers. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in communications, Christensen says the industry needs to prepare now. The future may include dynamic AI-to-AI exchanges, more intelligent call handling, and new ways for consumers to control their attention. But that future will also demand trust, accountability and stronger protections against abuse. Learn more at icatrusted.ai  

By Doug Green “AI can be perfect, but it can't care.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Dan Rochon, author of Teach to Sell: Why Top Salespeople Never Sell and What They Do Instead, about trust, influence, and why the best sales conversations begin with teaching rather than pitching. Rochon says Teach to Sell is about ethical influence. For MSPs, service providers, technology resellers, and channel partners, that means moving beyond product-first selling and becoming a guide who helps customers understand their own needs, problems, and desired outcomes. The conversation comes at a time when AI is changing how buyers are approached, how salespeople prepare, and how marketing messages are created. Rochon says AI can help with research and preparation, but it cannot replace the human connection that creates trust. “Technology can give us more information than ever before,” Rochon says. “But only human beings can give us trust.” Rochon outlines a sales approach built around rapport, deeper questions, and active listening. Instead of telling a customer what their problem is, the salesperson should guide the customer to discover it. He argues that the product or service should be presented as the bridge between the customer's pain and the result they want to achieve. For channel partners and MSPs, Rochon's message aligns closely with the long-running idea of becoming a trusted advisor. Customers do not simply need another vendor selling tools, subscriptions, or services. They need someone who understands their business, asks the right questions, and helps them make better decisions. The podcast also explores renewals and recurring revenue. Rochon says salespeople should not be afraid to revisit customers when they believe their product or service is genuinely helping. Maintaining an existing customer is often easier than winning a new one, but it still requires confidence, communication, and a commitment to guiding the customer. Rochon says Teach to Sell is designed for people who are tired of pitching and want better conversations, shorter sales cycles, stronger trust, and more consistent revenue. Learn more at www.teachtosellbook.com  

By Doug Green “We want everybody to be a spam reporter.” In this special Cloud Communications Alliance and Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, about the launch of the National Spam Reporting Center, a new consumer-facing resource designed to make it easier to report spam, scam calls, robotexts, and other suspicious communications. The new site, spamreporters.com, is intended to give consumers one simple place to report unwanted or fraudulent communications. Quilici says the problem today is confusion. If a consumer receives a text, robocall, or email impersonating a bank, retailer, insurance provider, or government agency, it is not always clear where that person should go or who should be notified. YouMail created the National Spam Reporting Center to simplify that process. Consumers can go to spamreporters.com, upload a screenshot or report, and YouMail can then use that information to help identify patterns, alert carriers, and support faster action against abusive campaigns. “The key thing is we act on them,” Quilici says. The podcast explores how these reports can benefit multiple groups. Consumers get a simple reporting path. Carriers can receive evidence about numbers or campaigns that may need to be shut down. Banks, e-commerce companies, insurers, and other frequently impersonated brands can gain better visibility into abuse targeting their customers. Quilici points to current scam activity around health insurance, Medicare, preapproved loans, and impersonation campaigns as examples of where consumer reporting can provide important signals. In some cases, consumer reports can help distinguish between legitimate communications and suspicious campaigns. The discussion also looks at the challenge facing legitimate businesses. Many organizations depend on calls and texts to reach customers about appointments, service updates, reminders, and other important matters. But when those calls are mislabeled as spam, consumers do not answer. That has led some legitimate businesses to use large pools of numbers in an effort to reach customers, a technique that can resemble the behavior of scammers. Quilici says better reporting and faster analysis can help reduce that confusion, protect consumers, and improve the ability of legitimate businesses to reach customers. YouMail does not expect the National Spam Reporting Center to eliminate the entire scam and spam problem. The goal is to reduce the damage by moving faster, using consumer-submitted reports, carrier relationships, and YouMail's existing data to identify abuse and support action before larger enforcement processes run their course. For service providers, enterprises, brands, and consumers, the message is clear: spam and scam prevention improves when more people can report what they are seeing and when that information can be acted on quickly. Learn more at spamreporters.com Learn more about YouMail at www.youmail.com  

Expereo: Enterprises Are Racing Into AI, But the Network Still Has to Carry the Load, Podcast, “AI is no longer a debate. Enterprises are already using it. The question now is whether the network is ready to support what comes next,” says Marek Wasilewski of Expereo @Doug Green “AI is no longer a debate. Enterprises are already using it. The question now is whether the network is ready to support what comes next,” says Marek Wasilewski of Expereo. In this Cisco Live 2026 podcast, Doug Green speaks with Marek Wasilewski of Expereo about the company's 2026 Enterprise Horizons report and what it reveals about enterprise AI adoption, network readiness and the growing pressure on global connectivity. This is one of several Cisco Live podcasts worth revisiting after the initial wave of show coverage. The conversation provides interesting insights into how AI is changing the network conversation for enterprises, service providers and channel partners. According to Expereo's research, 92% of enterprises are using AI in some form, while 30% are already using it extensively. At the same time, 70% are investing in AI without carefully measuring ROI. That combination creates both opportunity and risk: enterprises are moving quickly, but many are still building on networks that were not designed for the scale, performance and resilience demands of AI-driven operations. Expereo, a global Network-as-a-Service provider, helps enterprises simplify and manage connectivity across complex international environments. In the podcast, Wasilewski explains why AI success depends not only on models, applications and cloud platforms, but also on the underlying network that connects users, data, workloads and business locations. For channel partners, MSPs and enterprise technology leaders, the message is clear: AI is making the network strategic again. Connectivity is no longer just plumbing. It is becoming a core part of digital transformation, customer experience, automation and business continuity. The conversation also explores how enterprises can think more clearly about AI investment, how global connectivity strategies are changing, and why network visibility, flexibility and reliability will matter even more as AI moves from pilot projects into production environments. Learn more: expereo.com

Network Is Hot Again: Stackpane's Sarbjeet Johal on Cisco Live, AI Infrastructure and Systems Economics, Podcast, Johal brings a unique mix of technical, business, and economics experience to the discussion @Doug Green, Publisher, Technology Reseller News “The network is hot again because a lot more data is traversing on it, and a lot more data will traverse on it,” says Sarbjeet Johal of Stackpane. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Sarbjeet Johal, Founder and CEO of Stackpane, technology analyst, cloud strategist and go-to-market specialist, about why the network has moved back to the center of the enterprise technology conversation. Johal brings an unique mix of technical, business and economics experience to the discussion. A veteran of VMware, Oracle and Dell EMC, Johal has spent decades building and deploying enterprise systems, advising technology providers, and helping buyers understand cloud strategy, infrastructure modernization and digital transformation. At Cisco Live, Johal says the biggest theme was simplification. Cisco, he argues, is working to reduce infrastructure complexity for customers operating across public cloud, on-premises systems, AI workloads and increasingly distributed environments. That includes a renewed focus on infrastructure as code, platform control, and AI-assisted tools such as Cisco IQ, which Johal says can help customers and partners troubleshoot, configure and operate Cisco environments more effectively. The conversation then turns to Johal's recent observation that “the network is hot again.” His point is that AI, real-time systems, digital services, autonomous agents, and API-driven interactions are all placing new demands on network performance. As more data moves across enterprise systems, latency, memory, compute, and connectivity become more strategically important. Johal notes that during AI inference, latency is especially critical, making the network, chips, CPUs, and memory all part of the same infrastructure story. Johal also frames the issue through systems economics. Enterprises are not simply buying more technology for the sake of modernization. They are being forced to ask whether cloud, AI, on-prem infrastructure, and automation actually pencil out in terms of total cost of ownership, return on investment, and operational value. For MSPs, channel partners, and technology providers, that creates an opportunity to help customers make better architecture decisions, not just consume more tools. The podcast closes with a look ahead to a future conversation on token economics, AI infrastructure costs, and where MSPs and channel partners can find real business opportunity as enterprise technology becomes more automated, more data-intensive, and more dependent on resilient network infrastructure. Editor's note: This podcast was recorded at Cisco Live in Las Vegas and is being posted later. With time, the conversation has become even more notable. Johal's central point — that the network is “hot again” — has only gained relevance as AI, automation, cloud infrastructure and real-time digital services continue to place new pressure on enterprise networks. Learn more: Stackpane at stackpane.com

By Moshe Beauford We sat down with Jake Wilcox, Omni-Channel Solutions Architect at Geisinger, to discuss the critical role of context in delivering exceptional customer and patient experiences. Wilcox explained how organizations can reduce friction by ensuring information flows seamlessly across departments and touchpoints, enabling more personalized and efficient interactions. The conversation also examined the business impact of disconnected experiences, the risks friction poses to customer satisfaction and organizational performance, and key considerations for deploying AI-powered solutions in healthcare and other highly regulated environments.

By Moshe Beauford In this episode, Dan Belanger, President of the Americas at NiCE, reveals how strategic partner enablement drives success in the technology channel. He shares NiCE's go-to-market approach, emphasizing how equipping partners with the right tools, preventing overlap, and aligning sales teams creates scalable growth across the Americas.

By Moshe Beauford At NiCE World 2026, Moshe Beauford, Technology Editor at Technology Reseller News, sat down with Justin Robbins, CEO and Founder of Metric Sherpa, for a wide-ranging conversation on the evolving role of AI in customer experience and decision-making process during the technology purchasing phase. Robbins shared insights into his entrepreneurial journey, the growth of Metric Sherpa, and his participation at the event. The discussion explores the current state of AI adoption, practical implementation challenges, strategies for evaluating AI investments, and how organizations can make smarter technology purchasing decisions in an increasingly crowded market.

By Doug Green “We're absolutely on the path, and we're not talking five, six, seven years. We're talking in the next 18 to 24 months.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Josh Kindiger, COO and co-founder of Grokstream, about the company's new L1 Agent and what it means for the future of AI-driven network and IT operations. Grokstream is the company behind Grok, an AI-powered predictive agent platform for network and IT operations. The platform comes out of the event intelligence and AIOps space and is designed to help operations teams identify, triage, and resolve recurring issues more efficiently. Kindiger says Grokstream recently released its first role-based agent, the L1 Agent, in beta. The full production release is expected in Q2. The agent is already being used with customers to prove out real-world capabilities. Because many organizations remain cautious about AI-driven automation, Grokstream is starting with low-risk, repeatable use cases. In many operations centers, Kindiger notes, the same incidents occur repeatedly, sometimes accounting for as much as 70% of activity. The L1 Agent is designed to recognize those patterns and guide operators through triage and resolution. For example, if a recurring issue requires a service restart, the system can recommend or automate that step. If a pattern points to a commercial power outage at a site, the agent can help avoid unnecessary dispatches while monitoring backup power systems. Kindiger says the goal is not to remove human oversight immediately, but to build trust through guardrails, staged automation, and operator control. Low-risk automations can be handled end to end, while higher-risk actions may require human approval. The podcast also explores the broader opportunity for enterprises, MSPs, and CSPs. Kindiger says service providers and managed service providers face growing pressure to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and differentiate in competitive markets. AI-driven operations can help them respond faster, lower manual workload, and deliver better service outcomes. The long-term direction is clear: autonomous network operations are coming. Kindiger says companies should begin now because foundational work is needed before they can fully benefit from automation. For MSPs and CSPs, he says the urgency is even greater. Cost pressure is shaping renewals and new customer wins, and AI-powered operations may become a competitive advantage. Learn more at www.grokstream.com

By Doug Green “AI is generating code, but it's not generating secure code.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Jonathan Kozimor, Vice President of Channel Americas at Checkmarx, about the company's next-generation SAST engine and the growing opportunity for MSPs and channel partners in application security. Kozimor says software development has changed dramatically. Developers are producing more code, AI is accelerating that process, and traditional security models are struggling to keep up. The old approach of writing code, scanning it, and fixing issues later is no longer enough. Checkmarx's new SAST engine is designed to reduce noise, false positives, and lack of context by helping teams focus on the vulnerabilities that matter most. “The industry does not need more vulnerability data,” Kozimor says. “Security teams already have plenty of findings. What they need is intelligence, and they need faster fixes.” The podcast also explores findings from recent Checkmarx research, including the gap between security awareness and execution. Kozimor notes that many organizations understand the risks, but still struggle to operationalize security at the speed of modern development. Looking ahead, Kozimor says AppSec must become more automated, more intelligent, and more deeply embedded in the development lifecycle. AI will play a role, but it must be paired with governance, security policy, and human oversight. For channel partners, the opportunity is clear. Customers need help modernizing AppSec, managing change, and embedding security into development workflows without slowing innovation. “This is where the partner ecosystem is fundamental to customer success,” Kozimor says. Learn more at www.checkmarx.com

“Trust is built through very small moments,” says Julie Thiel of TTS Company. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Thiel about how MSPs, channel partners and growing technology businesses can strengthen leadership, retention and performance through everyday interactions with employees. Thiel says HR is often misunderstood as paperwork, compliance or “the fun police.” In reality, she says, effective people practices are about leadership and helping businesses grow. For smaller entrepreneurial companies, that means building trust with employees through regular conversations, follow-through, recognition and simple moments of human connection. The discussion focuses on the idea that leadership is not built only through major decisions or formal speeches. It is built through small, repeated actions: asking how someone is doing, remembering what matters to them, listening a little longer, and making time for regular one-on-one conversations. Thiel says those small moments can make difficult conversations easier later, whether a manager needs to give feedback, address a client issue or ask an employee to take on new responsibilities. When trust already exists, employees are more likely to hear feedback constructively and bring forward ideas, concerns and opportunities. For MSPs and channel companies that may not be able to compete with larger employers on compensation alone, Thiel says relationship-building can become a competitive advantage. Smaller businesses can often offer flexibility, development opportunities and direct access to customers in ways larger organizations cannot. The conversation also connects leadership and trust to company value. Thiel says businesses with stable teams, low turnover and developing leaders are better positioned for growth, succession and potential acquisition. Learn more at thettscompany.com.

“If you're not moving forward, you're moving backwards,” says Elie Katz, CEO of National Retail Solutions. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Katz about National Retail Solutions, its relationship with IDT, and the continuing opportunity for telecom resellers, MSPs and channel partners to serve independent retailers. Katz explains that National Retail Solutions was built to help independent merchants gain access to the tools they need to compete, including point-of-sale systems, credit card processing, cash advance, payroll and related business services. The company now serves more than 35,000 locations. Katz says NRS grew out of IDT's long-standing relationship with independent retailers, many of which were already selling telecom products. That connection helped NRS recognize that small merchants needed practical, easy-to-use technology to remain competitive as e-commerce, delivery, AI and digital payments reshape retail. The discussion also looks at the importance of local stores in their communities. Katz says independent retailers often have close relationships with their customers, giving them a level of service and flexibility that larger chains may not offer. For telecom resellers and channel partners, Katz says the retail community remains a strong opportunity. Many already have relationships with small businesses and can add value by bringing them technology and services that help them operate more efficiently. Katz also discusses NRS retailer networking meetups, which bring merchants and business partners together to share ideas, learn from one another and identify new opportunities. Learn more at NRSplus.com.  

“If your AI agent failed today, would you know before your customers do?” asks Sophie Cheng, Chief Marketing Officer at Sinch. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Cheng about Sinch's new research on what the company calls the “AI production paradox.” While many enterprises have moved beyond AI pilots, the bigger challenge is keeping AI agents reliable once they are live. Cheng says Sinch surveyed more than 2,500 global enterprise executives and found that 62% already have AI programs in production. But 74% also reported having to roll back a live AI agent because of operational reliability issues, including exposed data, hallucinations, tone-of-voice problems, auditability gaps and compliance concerns. The discussion focuses on why AI agents often perform well in controlled testing, but encounter problems when exposed to real customer interactions. Cheng says enterprises need stronger governance, clearer guardrails and communications infrastructure that can support secure, reliable, multichannel customer engagement. “More monitoring means more failures are detected,” Cheng says. “It does not mean more failures are created.” Cheng also explains why infrastructure is becoming central to enterprise AI strategy. If messages are not delivered, channels cannot be connected, or customer context cannot move across SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, voice and email, AI-powered customer engagement can break down before the model itself becomes the issue. For enterprises operating across markets, industries and regulatory environments, Cheng says Sinch helps provide the communications foundation needed to support scale, compliance and customer experience. Visit sinch.com.  

“What this industry needs is a fundamentally different approach, not probabilistic, deterministic,” says Gerry Christensen, Plus Trusted Industry Strategist at ICA AI. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Christensen about ICA AI's Plus Trusted platform, an AI-based communications assistant designed to help manage unwanted, suspicious and trusted calls. Christensen explains that Plus Trusted is built around three basic call treatments: block known bad calls, interrogate questionable calls using AI, or allow trusted calls to pass through normally. The platform uses caller behavior, number reputation and the relationship between the calling and called parties to determine whether a trusted relationship exists before the phone rings. While ICA AI can use probabilistic AI in gray-area situations, Christensen says the company emphasizes deterministic AI because many calls can be handled based on known patterns and trusted relationships. The discussion also looks at the growing threat of AI-enabled robocalls, voice cloning and social engineering. Christensen says that as bad actors use AI to automate and personalize attacks, users and organizations will need AI-based protection on their side of the call. For UCaaS providers, MVNOs, MSPs and channel partners, Christensen says Plus Trusted creates a new opportunity to help customers reduce unwanted calls while preserving legitimate communications. The platform is designed to interoperate with existing carriers and communications platforms. “We consider ourselves Switzerland,” Christensen says. “You don't have to be on a specific UCaaS platform. You don't have to have a specific carrier.” Visit icatrusted.ai.

By Doug Green “We're a partner-first company. It is in our DNA,” says Patrick Sheehan, Vice President of Channel Development and Distribution at Intermedia. In this episode of Technology Reseller News, recorded for the CCA community, I spoke with Patrick Sheehan, Vice President of Channel Development and Distribution at Intermedia, about a new approach to helping channel partners grow recurring revenue while reducing operational complexity. Intermedia describes itself as an intelligent cloud communications provider, bringing voice, video, messaging, contact center, collaboration and related services into one seamless, AI-powered platform. Sheehan noted that Intermedia supports thousands of partners and more than 150,000 businesses, with a strong focus on helping partners look good and keeping customers happy. The central topic of the conversation was Intermedia's Co-Op Partner Model, a program designed for partners who want to retain control over customer relationships and pricing, while Intermedia handles many of the back-end operational burdens that can slow growth. For many partners, cloud communications, AI, Microsoft Teams integration, and contact center services represent significant opportunities. But traditional models can also add complexity to billing, taxation, collections, support and administration. The Co-Op model is designed to remove much of that friction. With Co-Op, partners can maintain ownership of the customer relationship while Intermedia provides the operational infrastructure behind the scenes. That allows partners to focus on selling, serving customers and expanding existing accounts into new recurring revenue streams, with the potential to earn up to 2X more in profit compared to traditional models. Sheehan also discussed where partners may be leaving money on the table. Existing customer relationships often contain opportunities for voice, collaboration, AI-enabled communications, customer experience tools and Microsoft Teams-related services. By simplifying the path to offer those services, Intermedia is encouraging partners to revisit accounts they already know well. The conversation also covered Intermedia's broader partner-first strategy, including its focus on customer service, technical support and reliability. Sheehan highlighted Intermedia's ninth consecutive J.D. Power recognition for assisted technical support, along with the company's financially backed 99.999% uptime service-level agreement. For partners that have not engaged with Intermedia recently, Sheehan's message was direct: the opportunity has changed. Cloud communications is no longer just about replacing phone systems. It is about helping customers modernize communications, improve customer experience, adopt AI-enabled tools and create more flexible ways to work. The Co-Op model gives partners another way to participate in that opportunity without having to rebuild their own operations. Learn more about becoming an Intermedia partner. Read more about Intermedia's Co-Op program.

At NiCE World 2026, Moshe Beauford, Technology Editor at Technology Reseller News, sat down with Rachael Schaeffer, VP of Growth and GTM Execution at Concentrix, for a candid discussion about AI’s growing role in customer experience and business operations. Schaefer cautioned against organizations pursuing wholesale workforce replacement strategies, arguing that removing humans from the equation often creates new challenges rather than solving existing ones. Instead, she emphasized the importance of keeping people in the loop and leveraging AI to augment, rather than replace, human expertise. The conversation also explored channel opportunities, practical AI deployment strategies, organizational change management, and how businesses can strike the right balance between automation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

By Doug Green “EnvisionDX helps you from the entire lifecycle — from adding a new site and getting a quote going, all the way through service delivery, monitoring and management.” In this Technology Reseller News Podcast, I spoke with Laura Lehman, Director of Digital Experience Product Management at GTT, about GTT EnvisionDX and how the platform is changing the way enterprises and partners quote, order and manage complex networking and security services. For enterprise IT teams and channel partners, one of the persistent challenges in global networking has been fragmentation. Quoting new services, validating site addresses, checking availability, managing installs and monitoring service performance have often required multiple systems, manual processes and repeated follow-up. Lehman explained that EnvisionDX was built to bring those workflows into a single digital experience. The platform provides visibility across the full lifecycle of a customer's network services, from initial quote through delivery and ongoing management. A key part of the discussion focused on real-time information. EnvisionDX allows users to see site-level details, service status, utilization and other operational data in one place. That matters because enterprise networks are increasingly distributed, with customers managing multiple locations, providers, security requirements and service types. Lehman also discussed one of the most common pain points in telecom quoting: address validation. EnvisionDX uses multiple address-validation tools, map-based views and latitude/longitude data to help users confirm exactly where a service is needed. The system allows a user to adjust a location pin on a map, helping improve quoting accuracy and reduce the risk of rework later in the process. The platform also highlights GTT's use of AI-powered tools to streamline partner and customer workflows. EnvisionDX supports more automated quoting and ordering processes, while giving users clearer visibility into the location, service and operational details that often determine whether a deployment goes smoothly. For partners, the result is a faster, more transparent quoting process. For enterprises, the benefit is greater confidence that services are being quoted, ordered and delivered based on accurate location and site-level information. The broader message is that enterprise networking is moving away from fragmented service portals and manual workflows toward unified digital platforms. EnvisionDX is GTT's effort to simplify that experience, giving customers and partners a clearer view of what they have, what they need and what is happening across their network. Learn more at: https://www.gtt.net/

Wipro Brings Enterprise Perspective to Cisco Cloud Control, Podcast Wipro's Uday Kiran discusses what Cisco's new platform means for enterprise customers, global partners and the shift to unified, AI-ready operations By Doug Green “Cisco Cloud Control unifies all of these domains.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, recorded virtually during Cisco Live, Doug Green speaks with Uday Kiran of Wipro about Cisco Cloud Control and what the announcement means when viewed from the front lines of enterprise transformation. For Wipro, the announcement represents a logical evolution in Cisco's portfolio. Kiran says enterprise customers are often managing separate domains across networking, security and observability. Those domains have historically operated as “multiple islands,” creating complexity for IT teams that need visibility, speed and control across distributed environments. Wipro brings a global systems integrator's view to the conversation. The company serves enterprise customers in more than 64 countries, has more than 250,000 employees, works with more than 1,000 enterprise customers, and has partnered with Cisco for more than 30 years, according to Kiran. That scale gives Wipro a practical view of what customers are asking for now. Enterprises are not simply looking for another dashboard or another tool. They are looking for ways to simplify operations, improve resilience, bring security and networking closer together, and make AI useful inside complex production environments. Cisco Cloud Control is important because it points toward a more unified operational model. Instead of treating network, security and observability as separate disciplines, the platform is designed to bring those areas together. For partners such as Wipro, that creates a larger opportunity than product deployment. It creates a consulting, integration and managed services opportunity around helping enterprises modernize operations, rationalize toolsets, and prepare for AI-enabled infrastructure. The discussion also reflects a broader Cisco Live theme: AI is moving from concept to operations. As enterprises adopt agentic AI, infrastructure must become more observable, more secure and more automated. Wipro's role is to help customers make that transition in real environments, where legacy systems, global operations and business continuity all matter. In this podcast, Kiran offers a partner's view of Cisco Cloud Control: not just what was announced, but why it matters to enterprise customers trying to turn fragmented IT operations into a more unified, intelligent and resilient operating model.

Centaris Helps SMBs Bring AI Into the Business Without Letting Risk Come Along for the Ride, Podcast, According to Centaris, 86% of SMB workers are using AI tools, with 80% bringing their own tools into the workplace. At the same time, 80% of leaders cite leakage of sensitive data as their main concern. By Doug Green “We think there's a tremendous opportunity for us to shine where we've thrived for years.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Mike Nowak, Chief Revenue Officer at Centaris, about the challenges small and midsize businesses are facing as AI adoption moves faster than many IT and security programs can manage. Centaris provides cybersecurity and managed IT services for small and midsize organizations, with a focus on the Great Lakes region and companies with roughly 50 to 5,000 employees. The company works across key verticals including manufacturing, healthcare and financial services, where security, compliance and operational continuity are central business concerns. The conversation focuses on a problem that is becoming urgent for SMB leaders: AI is already inside the organization, whether or not it has been formally approved. According to Centaris, 86% of SMB workers are using AI tools, with 80% bringing their own tools into the workplace. At the same time, 80% of leaders cite leakage of sensitive data as their main concern. That creates a new challenge for MSPs, IT leaders and business owners. The question is no longer whether employees will use AI. They already are. The question is whether companies can create a secure, consistent and manageable way to use AI without exposing customer data, intellectual property or regulated information. Nowak outlines Centaris' role in helping organizations move from uncontrolled AI experimentation to structured deployment. For many smaller companies, AI adoption is happening at the employee level first. Staff members are using publicly available tools to write, summarize, research and automate work. That can create productivity gains, but it can also create risk when sensitive information is pasted into tools that are not governed by company policy. Centaris is positioning its AI and cybersecurity work around practical deployment. Rather than treating AI as a separate technology trend, the company sees it as part of the broader managed services and cybersecurity conversation. SMBs need policies, training, tool selection, identity controls and security frameworks that match the way employees are already working. The podcast also looks at the broader cybersecurity posture of the small and midmarket. These organizations face many of the same risks as larger enterprises but often lack the same internal resources. That makes consistent managed security, compliance guidance and trusted IT leadership especially important. Centaris is also in growth mode. Nowak says the company is looking to expand across the Great Lakes footprint, particularly in areas where it already has experience and vertical expertise. “The ones that we're looking for and where we're looking to expand is really the Great Lakes footprint,” Nowak says. “We think there's a tremendous opportunity for us to kind of shine where we've thrived for years.” The acquisition strategy is focused on fit and execution. Centaris is interested in organizations that align with its strengths in manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and cybersecurity-driven managed services. The company works with larger clients and clients in other regions, but Nowak emphasizes that Centaris is careful about ensuring it can execute well before expanding. For MSP owners, the message is direct: Centaris is open to conversations with firms that may be considering their next step. For SMB leaders, the message is equally clear: AI is already arriving inside the business, and the time to secure and standardize that adoption is now. Centaris can be reached through LinkedIn, at info@centaris.com, or through the Centaris website. Learn more at centaris.com.

Cisco Partners Move Into the AI Era with Cloud Control and AI Security, Podcast Cisco Live conversation with Alex Pujols highlights the partner opportunity around AI, security, and infrastructure operations By Doug Green “Tons of excitement. Having the entire portfolio anchored on Cloud Control is something that has everybody really excited.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast recorded at Cisco Live, I spoke with Alex Pujols, Vice President, Global Partner Engineering at Cisco, about what Cisco's latest announcements mean for Cisco Partners and their customers. Pujols said partners are responding with strong enthusiasm, especially around Cisco's move to bring more of its portfolio together around Cloud Control. He also pointed to the growing importance of security in the AI era, noting, “Security in the AI era is an area that we've invested heavily in. The entire market is moving that direction.” For partners, the opportunity is practical. Customers are hearing about AI everywhere, but many are still working through where to begin, what to secure, and how to move from experimentation to real deployments. Pujols framed the partner role around helping customers simplify the conversation, identify real use cases, and connect AI to infrastructure, security and business outcomes. That message is especially important for Cisco Partners serving customers who did not attend Cisco Live or who are only beginning to absorb the announcements. The AI opportunity is not simply about adding another product to the portfolio. It is about helping customers understand how AI changes the way networks are operated, how infrastructure is protected, and how organizations prepare for a more automated, agentic future. Pujols also emphasized that Cisco Partners have an important advantage: they already understand the customer environment. They know the installed base, the pain points, the security gaps and the operational realities. That gives partners a meaningful role as trusted guides in the transition to AI-enabled infrastructure and operations. As AI becomes more central to business operations, customers will need help making decisions about readiness, governance, security and deployment. For Cisco Partners, that creates a path to deeper advisory conversations and new services opportunities. In the podcast, Pujols makes the case that the next wave for partners will be about simplicity, trust and execution. The customers who win with AI will need more than technology. They will need partners who can help them put it to work securely, intelligently and at scale. Learn more at Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/

GEODIS Brings an End-User View of Cisco Infrastructure Modernization to Cisco Live, Podcast, GEODIS shares how Cisco IQ, Cisco Services and SD-WAN are helping a global logistics company move from reactive IT to proactive lifecycle management By Doug Green “I'm just a guy in IT that's using an extraordinary product that I feel deserves the attention that it's getting.” In this Cisco Live podcast, I spoke with Scott Malone, Vice President of IT Infrastructure for GEODIS, about how a global supply chain and logistics company is using Cisco technology to strengthen visibility, resilience and operational control across a complex enterprise environment. GEODIS is an end-to-end supply chain company supporting freight forwarding, contract logistics, distribution, express delivery and road transport. For a company operating across multiple lines of business and global markets, infrastructure reliability is not just an IT concern. It is part of the company's ability to serve customers and keep logistics operations moving. Malone brought a valuable end-user perspective to the conversation. Speaking shortly after presenting on stage at Cisco Live, he described GEODIS as a company working to modernize critical IT infrastructure while giving teams better tools to understand, manage and secure the environment. A central theme of the discussion was the shift from reactive maintenance to proactive lifecycle management. Through Cisco IQ, GEODIS has gained greater visibility into infrastructure health, vulnerabilities and areas requiring attention. That insight helps the IT team prioritize work, focus resources and move faster on remediation. Malone also discussed how GEODIS is working with Cisco Services and Cisco SD-WAN to build a more resilient architecture. The company's goal is to support high availability across a distributed footprint while continuing to modernize remote access and LAN core infrastructure. For Technology Reseller News readers, the GEODIS story offers a clear look at what enterprise IT buyers value in today's environment: visibility, security, uptime, lifecycle intelligence and trusted support. The conversation also shows how Cisco's broader portfolio can help large organizations move beyond point solutions toward a more proactive operating model. As logistics, data, applications and customer expectations become increasingly dependent on always-available networks, GEODIS provides a practical example of how infrastructure modernization is becoming a business requirement. Learn more at: https://www.geodis.com/

Olathe Unified School District: Cisco Helps K-12 Build Secure, Resilient, AI-Ready Infrastructure, Podcast, Umphrey brings a distinctive perspective to the CTO role. Before moving into technology leadership, he was a high school history and government teacher at Olathe East High School, where he also coached football and boys golf By Doug Green “For partners, the message is simple: don't bring a cookie-cutter approach. Understand the district, understand the mission, and tailor the solution.” At Cisco Live, Technology Reseller News spoke with Joshua Umphrey, Chief Technology Officer for Olathe Unified School District in Kansas, about how one of the state's largest school districts is building a secure, resilient and AI-ready digital foundation for K-12 education. Olathe serves nearly 30,000 students across 51 schools. Like many school districts, Olathe faces enterprise-level technology challenges in a public-sector environment: protecting students and staff, keeping systems available, managing limited resources and preparing for emerging demands such as AI in education. Umphrey brings a distinctive perspective to the CTO role. Before moving into technology leadership, he was a high school history and government teacher at Olathe East High School, where he also coached football and boys golf. “Definitely an atypical route,” Umphrey said, reflecting on his move from the classroom into IT leadership. That background still shapes how he views technology. For Umphrey, the network is not simply infrastructure. It is part of the learning environment. Technology has to protect students, support teachers, keep learning moving and help the district plan for what comes next. In the podcast, Umphrey discusses how Olathe is using Cisco networking, security, Splunk, Cisco UCS, Call Manager and Cisco CX offerings to improve visibility, cybersecurity and resilience across the district. The goal is to move from reactive support to a stronger model of operational control, where IT teams have better insight into what is happening across the environment and can respond more effectively. The conversation also turns to what Cisco Partners and technology providers should understand about serving K-12. School districts are not interchangeable. They have different budgets, facilities, staffing models, security needs and educational priorities. For partners, Umphrey's message is clear: K-12 customers need practical, secure and manageable solutions that are aligned with the mission of education. The sale is not simply about products. It is about helping schools protect learning time, reduce risk and build a technology foundation that can support students, teachers and staff over the long term. Learn more about Cisco education solutions at cisco.com.

TRN caught up with Anant Kale about the evolution of AppZen, its channel program and the growing role partners play in helping organizations manage increasingly complex financial and operational data. Kale outlined how companies are looking beyond basic automation toward tools that can surface insights, improve compliance and provide greater visibility into spending. He also discussed the opportunity for channel partners to act as strategic advisors and add value helping customers integrate new technologies, streamline processes and extract more value from their data. The conversation highlights how AI-driven financial operations are becoming a larger part of enterprise modernization efforts and determine.

“Customer experience is not about selling a product anymore. It's about selling trust.” Cisco Webex: Turning Agentic AI Into Trusted Customer Engagement, As Cisco Live spotlights agentic AI, security and observability, Vinod Muthukrishnan explains why Webex Customer Experience sits at the front line of AI adoption By Doug Green “Customer experience is not about selling a product anymore. It's about selling trust.” That was the larger message from Vinod Muthukrishnan, Vice President and General Manager of Webex Customer Experience at Cisco, in this Technology Reseller News podcast recorded at Cisco Live. Muthukrishnan connects several of the biggest themes at Cisco Live — agentic AI, observability, security and the network — to the place where they ultimately become real: the customer experience. As AI moves into customer-facing environments, the stakes change. An autonomous agent may access corporate data, customer information, PII and confidential systems. It may then act autonomously and communicate directly with customers, partners and outside entities. Put those steps together, Muthukrishnan says, and the threat surface becomes potentially “infinite.” That is why he argues that AI-powered customer experience cannot be treated simply as a front-end application opportunity. “For me, it's an infrastructure game,” says Muthukrishnan. The ability to observe, secure, manage and respond to AI-driven systems at machine scale becomes essential. The conversation reflects a larger shift in the contact center and customer experience market. AI is no longer just a tool for routing calls, answering routine questions or assisting agents. It is becoming a new operating layer for customer engagement. That creates major opportunities for better service, faster resolution and more personalized interactions. But it also raises new questions about trust, governance, data access and operational control. For Cisco Partners, MSPs and enterprise teams, that changes the conversation. The question is not simply how to add AI to the contact center. The question is how to build a secure, observable and trusted CX environment where AI can operate safely and effectively. Muthukrishnan's message is that Webex Customer Experience is positioned at that intersection. CX is where the promise of AI meets the expectations of real customers. It is also where enterprises will need to prove that autonomous systems can be useful, secure and trusted. In this podcast, Muthukrishnan outlines how Cisco Webex is approaching that challenge and why trusted customer engagement may become one of the defining measures of success in the AI era. Learn more at: https://www.webex.com/contact-center.html

Cisco Splunk: Agentic Observability, Token Economics and the Smaller War Room, Podcast, Cisco and Splunk are focused: helping customers bring the right information together, with the right context, so AI can be useful rather than overwhelming By Doug Green “The real opportunity is helping customers pull together all the different sources of data into an environment where they can understand when they need to pay attention, how to find and fix problems, and how to layer AI on top of that.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, recorded at Cisco Live, I spoke with Patrick Lin of Cisco Splunk about the changing role of observability in a hybrid, AI-driven IT environment — and why the conversation now also includes token economics. As AI becomes part of everyday IT operations, enterprises are beginning to ask a new economic question: how much does it cost to reason over all this data? In an AI-native environment, every log, metric, trace, network signal and security event may become part of a larger decision-making process. That creates value, but it also creates cost. Token economics becomes part of the observability discussion because customers need to know what data matters, when to use AI, and how to get better answers without flooding systems with unnecessary context. That is where Cisco and Splunk are focused: helping customers bring the right information together, with the right context, so AI can be useful rather than overwhelming. Lin described how Cisco and Splunk are connecting observability, networking intelligence and AI-native workflows to help teams see across complex environments. A key example is the integration between ThousandEyes and Splunk Observability Cloud, giving teams the ability to understand whether a problem is happening in the application or in the network — and, if it is in the network, whether the issue is in the part of the network they own or the part they do not. That distinction matters. In hybrid environments, responsibility is often shared across enterprise infrastructure, cloud platforms, service providers, SaaS applications and third-party systems. Knowing where the problem lives can dramatically reduce the time teams spend in war rooms trying to determine what went wrong. Lin also pointed to Cisco Cloud Control and AI Canvas as part of a broader AI-native approach. Rather than forcing users to jump across separate tools and interfaces, Cisco is working toward a model where information from Splunk, Cisco platforms and the wider ecosystem can be brought into a collaborative environment. That includes human teammates as well as agentic assistants that can help teams reason across data, identify patterns and accelerate troubleshooting. For channel partners, Lin said the opportunity is significant. Customers need help bringing together data sources, building the right observability foundation and applying AI in practical ways. Partners can play a key role in making agentic observability real for customers by helping them move from disconnected monitoring tools to a more unified, intelligent operating model. The goal, Lin said, is not just more data. It is a “much, much smaller war room” when incidents happen. For Cisco Partners, that message is timely. As customers modernize applications, adopt AI, expand hybrid environments and depend on increasingly distributed infrastructure, observability becomes more than an IT operations tool. It becomes a business resilience capability. Learn more about Cisco Splunk at: https://www.splunk.com/ Learn more about Cisco at: https://www.cisco.com/

Ryan Rose of Learn with Cisco outlines refreshed CCNA, CCIE and Cisco U. programs designed to prepare networking professionals for AI-driven infrastructure “I get to help people grow their careers,” says Ryan Rose of Learn with Cisco. “I get to help people learn new things.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Ryan Rose of Learn with Cisco about Cisco's latest updates to its certification and training portfolio, including refreshed CCNA and CCIE programs, expanded Cisco U. learning resources, and new AI-focused training designed to help networking professionals stay current as infrastructure evolves. Rose describes his role at Cisco as one of stewardship. Cisco's certification program has been a fixture in the networking industry for roughly 30 years, and Rose says the goal is to make sure the program continues to reflect the skills people actually need in the field. “What we've done and what we announced is really our intention of how we evolve both CCNA and CCIE,” says Rose. A central theme of the conversation is that AI is changing the skills map for networking professionals, but it is not replacing the need for core networking expertise. Instead, Rose explains that professionals will need to understand how to use AI tools effectively, evaluate AI-generated recommendations, and combine automation with sound technical judgment. The updates include a refreshed CCNA blueprint, new AI-related training in Cisco U., and changes to the CCIE Practical exam that reflect how AI tools are beginning to show up in real-world network operations. For partners, MSPs, resellers and enterprise IT teams, the message is clear: AI fluency is becoming part of the networking skill set. Rose also points to Cisco U. as a practical learning platform for professionals who need to build new skills while continuing to work in the industry. Rather than treating certification as a one-time milestone, Cisco is emphasizing continuous learning, hands-on training and career development. For the channel community, the certification updates arrive at a moment when customers are asking more from their technology partners. AI-ready infrastructure, secure operations, automation and resilient networks all require people who understand both the fundamentals and the new tools entering the market. In this podcast, Rose outlines how Cisco is refreshing its learning and certification programs to help professionals prepare for that future. Learn more at Cisco U. and Learn with Cisco.

Qumulo and Cisco Launch Bridge-to-Cloud Architecture to Help Enterprises Beat the Flash Crunch at Cisco Live 2026 By Doug Green “Capacity extends to the cloud instantly. Users and applications never know that the systems have been extended into the cloud.” At Cisco Live 2026, Doug Green spoke with Brandon Whitelaw of Qumulo about the company's new Bridge-to-Cloud architecture with Cisco, a solution designed to help enterprises respond to one of the most urgent infrastructure challenges of the AI era: fast-growing data workloads, constrained flash supply, longer hardware lead times and rising demand for high-performance storage. Qumulo describes itself as an accelerated data company. In the podcast, Whitelaw explains that Qumulo helps organizations store and manage mission-critical file and object data across data centers, edge environments and the major public clouds. The goal is to unify those datasets into a consistent, AI-enabled data fabric that can support both today's high-performance applications and tomorrow's AI pipelines. Qumulo's customers include autonomous driving companies, media and entertainment organizations, special effects shops, sports broadcasters, life sciences organizations, genomic research teams, hospitals, public sector agencies and government entities. The common thread is data: large, high-capacity, high-performance datasets that must be available, protected and ready for use. The Cisco announcement focuses on Cloud Native Qumulo Enterprise combined with Cisco Unified Computing System through Qumulo's Cloud Data Fabric. The solution is designed to let enterprises extend file workloads from on-premises Cisco UCS infrastructure into the cloud without forcing a disruptive migration, application refactoring or a rebuild of existing workflows. For enterprise IT teams, the problem is practical. AI infrastructure demand is reshaping the market for memory and NVMe systems, creating pressure on traditional capacity planning. Instead of waiting months for new hardware or overprovisioning all-flash systems, Qumulo and Cisco are offering a bridge: keep trusted on-premises infrastructure in place while extending selected workloads into the cloud as needed. Whitelaw says the architecture gives enterprises a way to free up on-premises infrastructure for the most critical applications, while using cloud capacity to handle growth, burst demand and AI-readiness. The result is a hybrid model that is not simply about cloud migration. It is about operational flexibility. The solution also positions enterprise data for AI and analytics. Qumulo says CNQ Enterprise includes Cloud Data Fabric and NeuralProtect and can run on Cisco UCS on-premises as well as across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The architecture is intended to make enterprise datasets available for AI pipelines into services such as Microsoft AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock and Google Vertex AI. For Cisco partners, service providers and enterprise IT teams, the message from the podcast is clear: hybrid cloud is becoming a pressure-release valve for data infrastructure. The Bridge-to-Cloud model offers a way to gain capacity relief, preserve application continuity, support elastic scale and prepare data for AI without forcing customers into a disruptive replatforming project. Qumulo CNQ Enterprise is available now for deployment on Cisco UCS on-premises infrastructure and across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and OCI. It is also available through Cisco for simplified enterprise procurement. Qumulo is exhibiting at booth 4018 at Cisco Live 2026 in Las Vegas. Learn more at: https://qumulo.com/product/cisco/

Smart Out-of-Band management gives IT teams secure access when the primary network is down, “The days of designing your network assuming that it's always going to be up and not fail are over,” Quirk says By Doug Green “Visibility without control is really just awareness,” says Patrick Quirk, GM of Opengear. In this Cisco Live podcast, Patrick Quirk joins Technology Reseller News to discuss how Opengear is helping enterprises rethink network resilience as AI, edge computing, hybrid cloud and cyber threats make infrastructure more distributed and more business-critical. Opengear provides Smart Out-of-Band management: an independent, secure path into critical infrastructure when the primary network is unavailable. That means IT teams can monitor, troubleshoot and restore systems even during outages, cyber incidents or other network disruptions. “The days of designing your network assuming that it's always going to be up and not fail are over,” Quirk says. The challenge is that many traditional monitoring and management tools depend on the same production network they are meant to protect. When that network fails, organizations may lose access at the exact moment they need it most. Opengear's platform is designed to preserve control, giving engineers a way to diagnose issues, reboot devices, push fixes and recover services remotely. Quirk says AI is raising the stakes. AI workloads are moving beyond centralized data centers into edge environments, regional sites and hybrid infrastructure. As a result, every connection point becomes more important. At the same time, AI-enabled threats are moving faster, increasing the need for secure, resilient recovery capabilities. For enterprises, resilience is no longer simply a backup plan. It is becoming part of the operating architecture for AI-era networks. At Cisco Live, Opengear is showing how Smart Out-of-Band management supports secure access, automation, centralized orchestration and faster recovery across distributed environments. Visit Opengear at Cisco Live booth 5023. Learn more at www.opengear.com.

Weave Brings AI Into the Front Office for Healthcare Practices, Podcast, Rather than replacing the human relationship between patient and provider, AI can help practices respond faster, capture missed opportunities and manage routine communications more efficiently. The result is a better experience for patients and a more sustainable operating model for busy practices By Doug Green “Healthcare always has this very interesting intersection between human care and technology,” says Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, opening a conversation with Abhi Sharma, Chief Technology Officer at Weave, about how AI is changing the way small and medium-sized healthcare practices communicate with patients. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Sharma outlines how Weave is helping healthcare providers use AI to reduce administrative burden, improve responsiveness and create a more connected patient experience. For many practices, the front office remains one of the most pressured parts of the business, balancing phone calls, appointment reminders, payments, follow-ups and patient questions while also trying to deliver a personal experience. Sharma explains that Weave's approach is focused on practical AI that supports the daily workflow of healthcare offices. Rather than replacing the human relationship between patient and provider, AI can help practices respond faster, capture missed opportunities and manage routine communications more efficiently. The result is a better experience for patients and a more sustainable operating model for busy practices. The conversation also explores how AI can help healthcare organizations modernize without losing the personal touch that matters so much in care delivery. For technology resellers and service providers, the discussion points to a growing opportunity around communications, automation and workflow tools designed specifically for vertical markets such as dental, medical, veterinary and other appointment-based healthcare services. Learn more at https://www.getweave.com/

MetTel's Max Silber discusses how connected laptops, multi-carrier SingleSIM connectivity, and lifecycle management can reduce endpoint friction for enterprise IT teams. By Doug Green, Technology Reseller News In a Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Max Silber, Vice President of Mobility and IoT at MetTel, about a growing enterprise challenge: keeping laptop fleets connected, secure, and manageable as employees work across offices, homes, customer sites, and the road. The conversation centers on MetTel's Connected Laptop as a Service, or CLaaS, a new offering designed to help enterprise IT teams reduce the time, labor, and complexity involved in laptop deployment and ongoing management. MetTel announced the service as a multi-carrier, agnostic connected laptop offering powered by SingleSIM, giving organizations a way to deliver connected devices without forcing every endpoint into a single-carrier model. Silber explains that the connected laptop has become more than a convenience feature. For many organizations, it is now part of a larger mobility and security strategy. When users depend on public Wi-Fi, hotel networks or unsecured local connections, the enterprise inherits risk and inconsistency. By delivering laptops with always-on cellular connectivity, MetTel is positioning CLaaS as a way to improve both user experience and IT control. A key theme of the podcast is lifecycle management. Instead of asking internal IT teams to image, ship, activate, track and replace devices manually, MetTel's approach uses the MetTel Customer Portal and fulfillment capabilities to move more of that work into a managed service model. Devices can be requested through the portal, shipped directly to users and provisioned with connectivity and customer-specified management tools. For channel partners, MSPs and enterprise technology advisors, the discussion points to a broader opportunity. Laptop management is often treated as a hardware procurement issue, but Silber frames it as a mobility, connectivity and operational resilience issue. As hybrid work matures, the need for secure, predictable and centrally managed endpoint connectivity is becoming part of the larger managed services conversation. MetTel's SingleSIM approach is designed to support data-only devices across carrier networks, devices and geographies. That matters for distributed organizations because a single network may not perform consistently in every region, facility or remote-work location. A multi-carrier model can give enterprises more flexibility while reducing the friction of managing multiple carrier relationships. The podcast also highlights the practical pressure on IT departments. Enterprise leaders are asking for faster deployment, better security and greater employee productivity, while IT teams are already managing large numbers of endpoints. CLaaS is presented as one way to relieve that burden by combining device logistics, activation, connectivity, support and replacement into a more streamlined service. Silber also discusses the role of virtual warehousing and fulfillment. MetTel stages and ships connected laptops from its facilities, helping enterprises standardize configurations and accelerate deployment at scale. The result is a model that treats laptop connectivity as part of the enterprise network, not as an afterthought added after purchase. For Technology Reseller News readers, the key takeaway is that enterprise mobility is moving beyond phones and tablets. The laptop itself is becoming a managed, connected endpoint, and that creates new conversations for service providers, channel partners and advisors serving distributed enterprises. Key takeaways Connected laptops are becoming part of the enterprise mobility and security stack. MetTel's CLaaS offering is designed to reduce the operational burden of laptop deployment, activation, support and replacement. SingleSIM gives enterprises a multi-carrier approach for data-only devices across locations and networks. The service can help organizations reduce dependence on unsecured public Wi-Fi. For channel partners and MSPs, connected laptops create a new managed mobility conversation with enterprise customers. Learn more Visit MetTel's Connected Laptop as a Service announcement: https://www.mettel.net/press/mettel-delivers-connected-laptop-as-a-service/

Convoso Brings Outbound Sales, Compliance and Spam-Risk Management to Salesforce, Podcast, Convoso works with several hundred businesses across industries including insurance, home services and lead generation. Hakimi says the company's goal is to help these organizations connect with leads faster, improve conversion rates and reduce customer acquisition costs By Doug Green “You have the NICEs of the world, Five9s, Genesys, and they all do it. Great companies. The only challenge is they're not really purpose-built for outbound and for sales,” says Nima Hakimi, CEO of Convoso. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Nima Hakimi joins Doug Green to discuss Convoso's new app for Salesforce AppExchange and the gap the company is working to fill for revenue teams, business development centers and contact centers that depend on outbound calling for customer acquisition. The story is really about the changing outbound calling environment. For companies that rely on the phone to acquire customers, success is no longer just about dialing more leads. It is about reaching the right prospects, avoiding being mislabeled as spam, protecting caller reputation and staying compliant while still giving sales teams the speed and visibility they need. Hakimi describes Convoso as an outbound sales platform built for BDC revenue teams and contact centers. The platform brings together high-performance dialing, campaign management and number management into what he calls a revenue-generating engine for organizations that rely on calling to reach and convert leads. Convoso works with several hundred businesses across industries including insurance, home services and lead generation. Hakimi says the company's goal is to help these organizations connect with leads faster, improve conversion rates and reduce customer acquisition costs. The Salesforce connection is central to the conversation, but the larger issue is what happens after a sales team decides to call. Many organizations already use Salesforce, already have a contact center platform and already run outbound campaigns. The challenge is that outbound sales has become more complicated. Teams must reach prospects efficiently while avoiding spam labeling, protecting caller reputation and remaining compliant in an increasingly scrutinized calling environment. That is where Convoso sees its opportunity. By integrating with Salesforce, the company is positioning its platform as a purpose-built outbound layer for teams that need more than basic click-to-call or CRM logging. For sales-driven contact centers, the challenge is not simply making more calls. It is managing campaigns, improving answer rates, maintaining clean number practices, staying within compliance requirements and turning outbound activity into measurable revenue. For resellers, service providers and technology advisors working with revenue teams, the message is clear: outbound sales still matters, but it requires a different toolset than traditional inbound support. Convoso is making the case that Salesforce users need a platform designed specifically for that environment. Learn more: https://www.convoso.com/  

Julie Thiel of TTS Company explains why MSPs need to treat retention as a business-building discipline, not a last-minute response to resignations “Turnover doesn't start when someone leaves,” says Julie Thiel of TTS Company. “That's just when you get the wake-up call.” In this episode of Technology Reseller News, Doug Green is joined again by Julie Thiel of TTS Company for the latest conversation in an ongoing series designed to help MSPs understand the human resources side of building a stronger business. The discussion focuses on a common issue for growing MSPs: employee turnover. But rather than treating turnover as something that begins when an employee gives notice, Thiel argues that the warning signs often appear much earlier. Retention, she explains, is tied to leadership, employee experience, culture, communication, expectations and whether team members see a future inside the organization. For MSPs, the stakes are especially high. Losing a strong technician, account manager or operations leader can disrupt customer relationships, reduce service quality and put added strain on the rest of the team. Turnover is not only an HR problem. It can become a customer experience problem, a profitability problem and even a business valuation problem. Thiel says MSP owners should think about retention as part of building equity in the company. A stable, engaged team helps create better customer outcomes and a stronger operating model. That means leaders need to pay attention before someone starts looking elsewhere. The conversation also explores the limits of compensation alone. Thiel notes that while another employer can always offer more money, pay is not the only factor that keeps people in place. “Anyone can offer more money,” Thiel says. “I've gone to jobs where I made a lot more money and it was a terrible experience. It was combat pay.” Her point is that MSPs need to make it harder for good employees to leave by building an environment where people feel valued, supported and connected to the mission of the business. More money may get someone's attention, but a healthy workplace can be the deciding factor in whether they stay. TTS Company, originally founded as Thiel Talent Strategy, works with businesses on the people side of growth. Thiel says her goal is to make HR less intimidating for business owners who may know they need help but are unsure where to begin. “I want HR to not seem so scary,” Thiel says. “We're non-scary HR.” Learn more at thettscompany.com.

Grokstream: Predictive and Agentic AI Moves IT Operations Toward Self-Healing, Podcast, Grokstream's platform is designed to operate from signals, not noise. The system fuses telemetry across domains, learns continuously from operational data and human feedback, and creates a unified source of truth for IT operations. That allows teams to move beyond correlation and toward understanding what is happening, why it is happening and what should be done next. By Doug Green Grokstream says the next generation of IT operations will not be built around more dashboards, more rules, or faster alert routing. It will be built around AI that can learn, reason, remember, recommend and eventually act with governed autonomy. “Agentic AI must be governed by design,” said Josh Kindiger, CEO of Grokstream. “Predictive intelligence is powerful, but safe, explainable autonomy is what drives real adoption.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Josh Kindiger, Co-Founder and COO of Grokstream, about how the company is helping MSPs, CSPs and enterprise IT organizations move from reactive operations toward predictive, self-healing IT environments. The conversation comes as Grokstream advances its Grok L1 Agent, a new role-based agent designed for frontline IT operations teams. The L1 Agent is intended to reduce alert noise before incidents reach the queue, provide intelligent summaries, identify likely root causes, recommend next-best actions and trigger approved remediations inside tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and existing IT workflows. For service providers and enterprise operations teams, the problem is familiar. More tools often mean more alerts, but not necessarily more clarity. Traditional rules-based AIOps platforms can help with deduplication and routing, but they often stop short of true incident compression, causal reasoning and prevention. Grokstream is taking a different approach by combining classical machine learning, causal intelligence and generative AI into a single cognitive AI layer. Kindiger explains that Grokstream's platform is designed to operate from signals, not noise. The system fuses telemetry across domains, learns continuously from operational data and human feedback, and creates a unified source of truth for IT operations. That allows teams to move beyond correlation and toward understanding what is happening, why it is happening and what should be done next. A central theme of the podcast is the difference between AI that summarizes and AI that reasons. Grokstream argues that true agentic AI is not simply an LLM attached to a workflow. It requires memory, context, policy guardrails, procedural intelligence and the ability to improve over time. In Grokstream's model, agents begin as assisted tools, then move toward trusted operators and eventually toward predictive autonomous systems. The first practical on-ramp is the L1/NOC environment, where many organizations see the fastest measurable impact. Grokstream says its approach can deliver 2–3x more incident compression beyond traditional deduplication and rules-based correlation, while reducing L1 workload by more than 50% through noise compression, guided resolution and fewer unnecessary escalations. The timing is significant. Grokstream recently announced that Cirion Technologies selected the Cognitive Grok AI platform to support AI-driven predictive operations across Latin America's digital infrastructure. That deployment highlights the growing demand for systems that can detect emerging issues across network, transport and infrastructure layers before customer-facing impact occurs. For MSPs, CSPs and enterprise IT leaders, the message is clear: operational scale cannot be achieved simply by adding more people or more monitoring tools. The next step is an intelligence layer that can unify data, predict impact, explain cause and support governed automation. Grokstream is positioning Grok as that layer: a predictive and agentic AI platform that helps operations teams reduce noise, prevent incidents, improve engineer experience and move toward self-healing IT operations. Learn more at https://grokstream.com/ Related Grokstream Stories on Telecom Reseller Grokstream's Cognitive Grok® AI Platform Selected by Cirion Technologies to Power AI-Driven, Predictive Operations Across Latin America's Digital Infrastructure https://telecomreseller.com/2026/05/20/grokstreams-cognitive-grok-ai-platform-selected-by-cirion-technologies-to-power-ai-driven-predictive-operations-across-latin-americas-digital-infrastructure/ Grokstream Announces Grok® L1 Agent to Advance Predictive and Agentic AI for IT Operations https://telecomreseller.com/2026/04/06/grokstream-announces-grok-l1-agent-to-advance-predictive-and-agentic-ai-for-it-operations/ More Grokstream coverage on Telecom Reseller https://telecomreseller.com/?s=grokstream/

TICE Group Turns Returns, Trade-Ins and Resale Into Recovered Value, ASCDI Podcast. TICE Group designs and operates recovery systems for brands and retailers running trade-in, returns, and resale programs at scale. “Any extra dollar I can bring them back is a dollar that goes to profitability — not actually profit, viability,” says Guennael “G” Delorme of TICE Group. “Those returns do have a cost, and we all pay those costs.” In this ASCDI podcast, Doug Green speaks with Guennael of TICE Group about the hidden economics of retail returns, trade-ins, and resale programs. The conversation explores how returns can damage already-thin merchant margins, how those costs ultimately flow back to consumers, and why recovery systems can make a material difference for retailers, brands, and the broader circular economy. Delorme argues that the issue is not simply what happens after a product comes back. It is how much value can be recovered, how efficiently the process can be managed, and whether returns become a margin drain or a strategic recovery opportunity. The discussion also marks TICE Group's growing involvement with ASCDI, as the association continues to expand its coverage beyond traditional ITAD into adjacent areas of recovery, reuse, resale and lifecycle value. For merchants and brands, the opportunity is clear: better recovery can protect value, support profitability and help build more sustainable business models. Learn more at https://tice-group.com.

Deterministic AI Sets the Roadmap for Safer Communications, ICA AI Podcast. Rather than sending every word of every conversation into a large language model, Christensen describes a model where much of the decision-making is based on known patterns, trusted relationships, keywords, context, policy, and call behavior. In sensitive verticals such as financial services, healthcare, legal services, and government, that can be especially important because communications may involve private data, personally identifiable information, account details, medical information, or other sensitive content By Doug Green “As AI gets more powerful, the question is not simply whether it can answer a prompt. The question is whether it can be trusted in the communications path,” says Gerry Christensen, associate founder of ICA AI. “For high-security communications, deterministic AI is not just different. In many cases, it is necessary.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Gerry Christensen of ICA AI joins Doug Green to define an important distinction that is becoming central to the future of AI-powered communications: probabilistic AI versus deterministic AI. The conversation is less about a single product announcement and more about setting out a roadmap. Christensen explains why most people experience AI through probabilistic systems, including large language models that generate answers based on patterns, probabilities and prompts. Those tools can be powerful, but they can also hallucinate, miss context, or create outputs that sound confident while being wrong. For communications providers, MSPs, UCaaS providers, MVNOs and telecom resellers, Christensen argues that this distinction matters because voice networks are entering an era where AI will be used on both sides of the call. Legitimate businesses will use AI in contact centers. Bad actors will use AI to scale fraud, spoofing, robocalls and deepfake-style attacks. Consumers and enterprises will increasingly need AI to help determine which calls should get through, which calls should be challenged, and which calls should be blocked. ICA AI, short for Intelligent Communications Assistant, is built around that problem. Christensen describes the platform as an AI-based assistant that can support outbound calling and, perhaps more importantly, inbound call handling. The goal is to allow trusted calls from colleagues, friends, family and legitimate businesses to pass through, while filtering unwanted or suspicious calls. The core idea is determinism. Rather than sending every word of every conversation into a large language model, Christensen describes a model where much of the decision-making is based on known patterns, trusted relationships, keywords, context, policy and call behavior. In sensitive verticals such as financial services, healthcare, legal services and government, that can be especially important because communications may involve private data, personally identifiable information, account details, medical information or other sensitive content. Christensen gives the example of a financial services call. A probabilistic AI system might need to listen broadly and process the conversation through an LLM to determine intent. A deterministic system, by contrast, can look for specific markers of trust or risk: whether the caller is known, whether the call matches expected behavior, whether suspicious phrases appear, or whether the interaction moves toward unusual requests such as gift cards, new account instructions or other red flags. That approach, Christensen says, also has implications for cost, latency and scale. If most decisions can be made deterministically, the system does not need to rely on a distant AI data center for every interaction. That can reduce exposure of sensitive data, lower dependency on token-heavy AI processing, and support faster call-handling decisions. Christensen says ICA AI's approach relies on deterministic AI for roughly 85% to 95% of transactions. He connects that idea to Zipf's Law, the linguistic principle that a relatively small portion of language often carries much of the meaning. In communications, that means many call-handling decisions may not require open-ended AI interpretation. They may require the right data, the right rules, and the right deterministic understanding of what matters in the moment. The roadmap Christensen lays out is not anti-LLM and not anti-probabilistic AI. Instead, it is a layered model. Probabilistic AI can still be used when needed, especially when a conversation falls outside known patterns or requires deeper interpretation. But for high-security, high-volume communications, Christensen argues that deterministic AI should carry more of the load. For MSPs, channel partners and telecom providers, the message is direct: AI call management may become a new category of value-added service. As agentic AI increases the volume and sophistication of automated calls, enterprises and consumers will need tools that can help them determine whether a call is authentic, legitimate and safe. Christensen compares the coming environment to an arms race. AI will make fraud more scalable, but AI can also make communications more defensible. The providers that begin testing, integrating and understanding these capabilities early may be better positioned to offer customers a practical answer to a growing trust problem in voice communications. “Everybody is going to need to have an AI-based solution for consumers to handle inbound calls,” Christensen says. “In the world of agentic AI, it is conceivable that networks could be plastered with AI-generated calls.” Learn more: ICA AI: https://icai.ai/

“When you need these systems, they have to work 100% of the time,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD. “Our solution doesn't just meet the old copper standard — it exceeds it.” In part 35 of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about the hardware architecture powering modern POTS replacement and why reliability remains the most important requirement for life-safety communications. The discussion focuses on TELCLOUD's purpose-built POTScast 8 and POTScast 2 devices, which support eight and two analog lines respectively. Designed specifically for POTS replacement, the units support applications including fire alarms, elevators, emergency phones, security systems, fax lines, SCADA systems, and other legacy communications still dependent on analog connectivity. Jacoby explains that traditional copper phone lines historically delivered both dial tone and power directly from the carrier's central office, making them highly reliable during outages. TELCLOUD's approach replaces that infrastructure with a more resilient, modern design featuring battery backup, multiple WAN paths, LTE and 5G connectivity, and remote monitoring capabilities. Each POTScast unit includes a built-in 24-hour battery backup with optional expansion capability, along with support for multiple WAN connections including fiber, satellite, and cellular. TELCLOUD also supports Power over Ethernet deployments, allowing cellular routers from providers including Digi and ATEL to be placed up to 250 feet away from telecom closets where signal strength is stronger. Jacoby noted that TELCLOUD originally relied on existing analog telephone adapters but ultimately engineered its own hardware platform after determining that available solutions did not meet the company's performance standards for mission-critical deployments. “These devices are designed to sit in that telco room for the next 20 years,” Jacoby said. The episode also explores how TELCLOUD combines hardware, platform services, monitoring, field services, and channel support into a fully managed POTS replacement offering delivered through reseller partners globally. The “Shots” segment of the podcast featured Casa 1560 Private Selection Extra Añejo, a tequila aged more than three years in oak barrels and described by Jacoby as having notes of dark chocolate, dried fruit, and oak. For more information, visit telcloud.com or call 844-900-2270.

iotum named the only Canadian key CPaaS provider by S&P Global on its worldwide list of 25 platforms as company, Helping UCaaS Providers Punch Above Their Weight with CPaaS, AI and Branded Communications, Podcast By Doug Green “Let us worry about it. Let the product people do what we're good at, and you can service your customers.” iotum has been named by S&P Global as the only Canadian key CPaaS provider on its worldwide list of 25 platforms, a recognition that comes as the company is launching a new softphone for UCaaS resellers. In this CCA podcast, I spoke with Jason Martin, CEO of iotum, about what the recognition means, how iotum is helping UCaaS providers expand their offerings, and why CPaaS, AI and branded communications are becoming more important to the next phase of the channel. The conversation centered on a familiar challenge in the communications market: many providers began as PBX companies, moved into UCaaS, and then continued adding services as customer expectations changed. Today, customers want messaging, video, branded applications, automation and AI-enabled communications experiences. For many resellers, the question is how to deliver those capabilities without having to build everything themselves. Martin said iotum is helping providers solve that problem through CPaaS capabilities and through its role in the Crexendo and NetSapiens ecosystem. For Crexendo partners, he said iotum can provide services that allow resellers to “punch above their weight,” offering advanced capabilities under their own brand. Those capabilities include A2P messaging, video and a new softphone that is becoming popular with NetSapiens users. The model is designed to let channel partners stay focused on customer relationships, while iotum handles the product and platform work behind the scenes. That is an important distinction. In a market where customers increasingly expect integrated communications experiences, smaller providers often need access to enterprise-grade tools without taking on the cost and complexity of developing them internally. iotum's approach gives those providers a way to extend their offerings while maintaining their own brand identity. The S&P Global recognition also points to a larger trend. CPaaS is no longer simply an enterprise developer category. It is becoming a practical way for UCaaS providers, resellers and channel partners to add communications capabilities that can be branded, integrated and delivered as part of a broader customer relationship. Martin also discussed how the communications industry is being shaped by regulation, global market changes and AI. iotum operates in highly regulated environments, including the U.S., Canada and Europe, and Martin noted that providers have to think carefully about compliance, customer trust and the requirements of different markets. Looking ahead, Martin said agentic AI will be “massive,” but he framed the opportunity in practical terms. Rather than replacing human communication, he sees AI adding to what communications providers already do. For iotum, that means an API-focused future in which AI agents can use communications tools to help people connect, collaborate and get work done. That point matters for service providers. As AI becomes more embedded in communications, the opportunity will not simply be to sell another feature. The larger opportunity will be to connect AI, voice, messaging, video and customer workflows in a way that helps businesses communicate more effectively. For channel partners, the message is clear: the next phase of cloud communications will reward providers that can combine trusted customer relationships with new technical capabilities. iotum is positioning itself as one of the companies helping partners make that jump. Learn more: https://www.iotum.com/

By Doug Green “AI, cloud communications, and mobile-first design are reshaping what voice means in a retail setting, and why this shift represents a major opportunity for the telecom channel,” says Paul Birkin, Chief Technology and Product Officer at VoCoVo. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Paul Birkin of VoCoVo discusses how retail communications are moving beyond the traditional telephone system and becoming part of a broader connected-store environment. In that model, voice is no longer just a way to make or receive calls. It becomes the real-time interface between frontline retail associates, AI platforms, inventory systems, customer service tools, security systems and store operations. Birkin explains that retail associates often need immediate answers while they are standing in front of a customer. A shopper may ask whether an item is in stock, whether a product is vegan-friendly, whether a garment is made of cotton, or whether a promotion applies. Traditionally, the associate might need to leave the customer, find a terminal, check with a manager, or search for someone with more experience. VoCoVo's approach is to bring that information directly into the associate's ear. The associate asks a question by voice. VoCoVo converts that voice into text, connects into the retailer's AI platform, receives the answer, converts it back into voice, and delivers it to the associate in near real time. The result is a more informed associate, a better-served customer, and a faster retail interaction. The conversation also explores how this same connected voice layer can support broader store operations. Birkin describes VoCoVo as sitting at the heart of the connected store, linking associates to call points, stock systems, automated alerts, refrigeration systems, cameras, and other store technologies. A failed fridge, a low-stock alert, a customer request, or a security notification can all be routed to the right person at the right time. For telecom resellers and channel partners, the opportunity is clear. Retailers are looking for ways to improve customer service, make frontline teams more productive, and integrate AI into real-world operations. VoCoVo shows how voice can become the practical bridge between AI systems and the people working on the shop floor. Learn more at www.VoCoVo.com

By Doug Green “You've got to be building with the future in mind, and experienced people will get you there,” said Julie Thiel, TTS Company. For many MSPs and growing technology firms, hiring often begins with a familiar question: should the company hire for potential, or should it bring in experienced people who can contribute immediately? In this Technology Reseller News podcast, I spoke with Julie Thiel of TTS Company about that question and why hiring decisions should be tied to the future direction of the business, not just the immediate need to fill a seat. Thiel said that while potential matters, companies should be careful not to underestimate the value of experience. Experienced people can often see around corners, help a company avoid common mistakes, and bring structure to areas where a growing business may still be informal or reactive. That is especially important for MSPs, where owners and managers are often wearing multiple hats. A smaller company may delay hiring an experienced HR, operations, sales, or technical leader because it feels expensive. But Thiel said that the right hire can help the business mature, scale, and serve customers more effectively. The discussion also focused on the risk of hiring only for the problem of the moment. A company may need help today, but the better question is what kind of organization it is trying to become. Hiring should support that larger vision. For MSPs, that may mean looking for people who understand process, customer relationships, compliance, service delivery, and long-term growth. It may also mean recognizing when a role needs someone who has already been through similar challenges. Thiel emphasized that experience does not mean ignoring culture or adaptability. A strong hire still has to fit the company, work well with the team, and understand the pace of a growing business. But when experience and fit come together, the result can be a hire who helps the company grow faster and with fewer missteps. As we closed the conversation, Thiel said MSPs and growing technology firms should think about hiring not only as a way to fill today's needs, but as a way to build for the future. “You've got to be building with the future in mind, and experienced people will get you there,” said Thiel. For MSPs and business owners who are beginning to think through hiring, HR questions, or long-term team building, Thiel offers free 30-minute discovery calls. Learn more at: https://thettscompany.com Julie Thiel can also be found on LinkedIn as Julie M. Thiel.

By Doug Green “We're really innovating the modern desktop, and this is just the beginning of the roadmap we've got planned,” said Matt Dargis, CRO of Plugable. In a Technology Reseller News podcast, I spoke with Lynn Murphy, CEO of Plugable, and Matt Dargis, CRO of Plugable, about how the company is expanding from its leadership in docking stations and PC peripherals into a larger channel opportunity built around the modern desktop, hybrid work, fleet refresh, and local AI. Plugable, founded in 2009 in Redmond, Washington, is best known as a leading third-party docking station provider in North America. The company has built its reputation around deep compatibility testing, especially in mixed environments where businesses may be supporting different laptop brands, monitor types, operating conditions, and end-user needs. Murphy said that mixed environments are now the norm. From 4K and 8K monitors to diverse laptop fleets and hybrid workplace setups, businesses need products that simply work. That has become a defining part of Plugable's value proposition: reducing complexity at the desktop and helping partners deliver reliable solutions. The channel opportunity is expanding as organizations refresh aging fleets, prepare for AI-enabled workstations, and rethink the desktop as a productivity platform. Murphy noted that Plugable's recent minority investment from Acer Gadget will help the company scale faster, expand internationally, and accelerate new product categories. One of the most important areas of focus is local AI. Plugable has launched a secure local AI enclosure with a software stack designed to enable plug-and-play AI at the desk. Murphy said this gives partners a way to help customers begin with proofs of concept and move toward broader adoption, especially where repetitive workloads, private data, or compliance concerns make local AI attractive. “There is going to be a portion of the spend that moves to local, and that is repetitive and private data,” Murphy said. For MSPs and channel partners, the opportunity is not only in hardware sales but also in integration, support, managed services, proof-of-concept work, and ongoing customer engagement. Murphy pointed to use cases in law firms, public sector organizations, federal environments, doctor's offices, and distributed enterprises where local AI may offer a practical complement to cloud AI. Dargis said Plugable is a channel-first company and is investing in resources to create demand for partners. That includes evaluation units, public sector and enterprise support, government vehicles, K-12 contracts, and partner selling motions designed to bring opportunities back to the channel. “We view it as our job to embrace and engage with the customers and help the channel versus rely on the channel to do all that work,” Dargis said. The company is also focused on making the category easier for partners to sell. Plugable sees peripherals not as simple accessories, but as part of a broader desktop strategy involving productivity, asset management, compatibility, and support. For partners that may not yet be comfortable selling in this category, Dargis said Plugable is inviting conversations. The company's roots in digital commerce, customer education, and compatibility-driven support give it a foundation for helping partners serve everyone from small offices to global enterprises. As the workplace continues to change, Plugable is positioning the modern desktop as a growth opportunity for the channel. The company's message is that docks, peripherals, fleet refresh, and local AI are converging into a new desktop conversation—one that partners can lead. Learn more at: https://plugable.com

By Doug Green “Recovery is only the last line of defense.” That comment from Rick Hebly, Senior Director of Platform Marketing at Acronis, captures the larger strategy behind Acronis Cyber Frame. This is not simply a new infrastructure platform. It is Acronis making a clear move to help MSPs and service providers build their own Partner Cloud — and keep ownership of the customer relationship. In a recent Technology Reseller News podcast, I spoke with Hebly about the launch of Acronis Cyber Frame and why Acronis believes service providers need a more profitable, reliable and protected way to deliver infrastructure-as-a-service. The key idea is control. For many MSPs, the cloud opportunity has too often meant reselling someone else's infrastructure, under someone else's brand, with someone else owning much of the customer experience. Cyber Frame changes that equation by giving service providers a way to deliver IaaS under their own relationship, their own service model and their own margin structure. Hebly explained that Acronis has evolved over the past 23 years from backup and recovery into a broader cyber protection company. The company moved from traditional software delivery into cloud platforms, then into a managed service provider model with multi-tenant delivery from data centers around the world. The next major transition, he said, was from data protection to cyber protection. That evolution matters because infrastructure is no longer just about compute, storage and networking. For MSPs, the opportunity is to create a cloud offering that is protected from the start, easier to manage and aligned with the way service providers actually go to market. Acronis Cyber Frame brings virtual machines, storage, networking, backup, disaster recovery, security, threat protection and management into a single platform. Rather than forcing MSPs to assemble multiple tools and vendors, Cyber Frame gives them a more unified foundation for delivering infrastructure services. The larger message is that MSPs do not have to surrender the cloud relationship to hyperscalers or legacy infrastructure providers. With Cyber Frame, Acronis is positioning the service provider as the center of the customer relationship — not just the reseller, but the trusted operator of the customer's cloud environment. That may be the most important part of the launch. Cyber Frame is about more than IaaS. It is about helping MSPs create their own Partner Cloud, protect it by default, and build recurring revenue around infrastructure they can own, manage and monetize. Learn more at: https://www.acronis.com/

By Doug Green “What stands out in this research is not a lack of intent, but a gap between ambition and execution,” said Roary Stasko, CEO of Telstra International. A new Economist Impact study supported by Telstra International finds that organizations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany are materially underprepared for large-scale digital disruption. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Roary Stasko, CEO of Telstra International, joined us to discuss what that means for enterprises, service providers and the wider technology community. The study's central finding is clear: the biggest weakness is not simply outdated technology. The deeper issue is that many organizations do not yet have the governance, coordination, visibility and partner readiness needed to respond when digital disruption spreads across suppliers, infrastructure and external dependencies. Stasko described Telstra International as the global arm of Telstra, with more than 75 years of experience in international connectivity and subsea infrastructure. The company operates more than 400,000 kilometers of subsea cable and plays a major role in connecting the U.S. to Asia, Asia to the U.S., and Australia across the wider global network. That global infrastructure role gives Telstra International a front-row view of digital resilience as a business issue, not just a technical one. The Economist Impact research found that only 25% of organizations across the surveyed markets say their responses to digital disruption go according to plan. The study also found that only 21% have a dedicated team responsible for delivering digital resilience initiatives. For technology resellers, MSPs, CSPs and enterprise technology leaders, the message is important. Resilience can no longer be treated as a periodic IT exercise or a narrow cybersecurity project. It needs to become a board-level business capability that is tested across the full ecosystem, including partners, suppliers, cloud platforms, communications networks and critical infrastructure. The research also highlights a major gap between internal confidence and external readiness. Organizations may feel relatively confident about their own cybersecurity plans or regulatory frameworks, but confidence drops sharply when disruption involves external dependencies. That is where weak information sharing, limited joint testing and unclear partner governance can turn a disruption into a larger operational failure. Legacy infrastructure remains another challenge. While many organizations have modernized parts of their technology environment, older systems still support large portions of enterprise operations. That makes it harder to design resilience into systems from the beginning and harder to recover quickly when disruptions occur. The rise of AI adds another layer of urgency. As AI workloads increase demand on networks, data centers, energy systems and water resources, resilience planning must account for more than cyber threats. Physical infrastructure, climate-related risk, power availability and communications continuity are now part of the same conversation. The podcast explores why digital resilience must move from intention to execution. The organizations that perform best will be those that assign clear ownership, test across their ecosystem, modernize infrastructure, and build resilience into the way they operate every day. Learn more at: https://www.telstrainternational.com/en/news-research/articles/organisations-in-the-us-uk-and-germany-unprepared-for-large-scale-digital-disruption

“These are purpose-built devices,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD. “They're UL listed, certified, tested, and designed specifically for this business.” In the latest episode of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about the hardware that makes modern POTS replacement possible. Jacoby showcases two TELCLOUD devices: the POTScast 8 LTE PC228 LTE, which supports eight analog lines, and the POTScast 2 LTE PC222 LTE, which supports two. Both are designed to support legacy and life-safety systems such as elevators, fire alarms, security systems, fax lines, SCADA applications, modems, and emergency phones as copper lines are phased out. The POTScast platform combines analog support with modern LTE and WAN connectivity, including broadband, Wi-Fi as WAN, satellite, and cellular. Each device includes 24-hour battery backup, helping ensure that critical communications continue even when building power fails. Jacoby also explains TELCLOUD's modular design. Because cellular signal is often weak inside telecom rooms, TELCLOUD supports Power over Ethernet, allowing routers from partners such as Ericsson, Peplink, Digi, InHand, ATEL, and Seego to be placed up to 250 feet away for better reception. The episode closes with the Shots segment, featuring Herencia Historico Grand Reserve Extra Añejo, a five-year-aged, small-batch tequila from Jalisco presented in a distinctive handcrafted bottle. For more information, visit telcloud.com or call 844-900-2270.

By Doug Green “Many companies don't even realize they're out of compliance until someone takes a close look at how customer interactions are actually being handled,” said Todd Chisholm, president of IFT Solutions. In a recent Technology Reseller News podcast, I spoke with Todd Chisholm, president of IFT Solutions, about the company's new IFT Fortitude program and why MSPs have an opportunity to bring compliance-focused customer service assessments to business clients in regulated industries. IFT Solutions operates as a business process outsourcing company, providing services that range from customer service and collections to front-end sales support. The company also brings a consulting practice to the table, helping organizations assess whether their customer-facing operations, whether handled internally or outsourced, are meeting compliance expectations in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. That consulting expertise is now being packaged into IFT Fortitude, a program designed to let MSPs offer a white-labeled compliance assessment to their end-user customers. The goal is to help businesses determine whether their in-house or outsourced customer service teams are adhering to data privacy and other regulatory requirements. The timing makes sense. MSPs are increasingly serving customers in verticals where compliance is not optional, yet many of those customers may not realize how exposed they are. A company might have solid intentions and good people in place, but still fall short because processes have evolved unevenly, vendors have changed, or customer interactions are not being reviewed through a compliance lens. In many cases, risk builds quietly in day-to-day operations until an audit, complaint, or incident reveals the gap. Chisholm explained that this is where the MSP can provide more than technology support. By working with IFT, partners can bring a practical assessment service into customer accounts and help identify weaknesses before they become business problems. That creates a new advisory conversation for the MSP while addressing a real operational need for the customer. The Fortitude program is especially relevant in markets where customer communications are tightly tied to privacy, documentation, and process controls. Financial services is an obvious fit, but the broader opportunity extends to any organization handling sensitive customer information or operating in a regulated environment. Healthcare, insurance, and other service-intensive verticals are also likely candidates. For partners, the program offers a way to add value without having to build a compliance practice from scratch. IFT provides the assessment framework and expertise, while the MSP can position the service under its own brand and bring it to existing customers as part of a broader trusted advisor relationship. The larger message from the conversation is that compliance is becoming a business operations issue as much as a legal or technical one. Customer service processes, scripts, escalation paths, and outsourced workflows all matter. MSPs that help customers see that more clearly may find a strong opening for new services and deeper client engagement. For channel partners looking to expand beyond traditional IT support, IFT Fortitude points to a useful direction: practical, white-labeled services that help customers reduce risk while strengthening the MSP's role in the account. Learn more: https://telecomreseller.com/2026/04/21/integrated-financial-technologies-launches-ift-fortitude-to-assess-customer-service-compliance/