Podcasts about Vars

Send us Fan MailJohannes 3:14-15 Moses het die slang in die woestyn hoog op 'n paal gesit; so moet die Seun van die mens verhoog word, sodat elkeen wat in Hom glo, die ewige lewe kan hê.Het jy al agtergekom hoe die kleinste dingetjie ‘n ramp kan verhoed? Een enkele bout hou 'n vliegtuig se vlerk vas. Een vuurhoutjie steek 'n vuur in die ysige koue aan. Soms verander net een klein dingetjie alles.In 1829 is 'n sekere George Wilson skuldig bevind aan die roof van 'n poskoets en ter dood veroordeel. Maar toe, heeltemal onverwags, het die President van die Verenigde State vir hom 'n volle kwytskelding gegee. Mens sou dink dit sou die einde daarvan wees, nè?Maar Wilson het die kwytskelding geweier en gesê hy wil dit nie hê nie. Die saak het tot by die Amerikaanse Hooggeregshof gegaan, wat uiteindelik beslis het: 'n Kwytskeldingsbrief is net 'n stuk papier, tensy dit aanvaar word. Wilson is tereggestel.En dit bring my by dít wat Jesus gesê het:Johannes 3:14-15: Moses het die slang in die woestyn hoog op 'n paal gesit; so moet die Seun van die mens verhoog word, sodat elkeen wat in Hom glo, die ewige lewe kan hê.Dit klink aanvanklik vreemd dat Jesus Homself met 'n koperslang vergelyk. Maar in Numeri, het God 'n plaag giftige slange oor Israel gestuur as straf vir hulle sonde, en as gevolg daarvan het hulle aan slangbyte gesterf. Toe sê God vir Moses om 'n koperslang op 'n paal omhoog te hou. Enigiemand wat daarna gekyk het, het gelewe.Wat Jesus hier sê, is dit: Dis Ék. Ek is op 'n kruis verhoog. Nie vir die vertoon nie. Nie vir godsdienstige redes nie. Maar sodat enigiemand wat in My glo, en My aanneem, kan lewe.Die kwytskeldingsbrief is reeds met Christus se bloed aan daardie kruis geteken. Die geskenk lê en wag, maar dit red jou eers wanneer jy dit aanvaar.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan Mail2 Tessalonisense 2:13 Maar, broers en susters, geliefdes van die Here, dit pas ons om God altyd oor julle te dank. God het julle immers gekies om as eerstes verlos te word. Hy verlos julle deur die Gees wat julle aan Hom toewy en deur geloof in die waarheid. (NLV) Het jy jouself al as “spesiaal” beskou? Nie op 'n selfsugtige manier met 'n groot kop nie, maar met die wete dat jy geskape is om 'n verskil in hierdie wêreld te maak; dat daar iets is wat net jý kan doen.Toe ek jonk was, het my ouers 'n baie spesiale eetservies gehad - deftige borde, bakke, koppies en pierings - kristalglase en  silwer eetgerei wat net uitgehaal is wanneer daar spesiale gaste was.Die ander dae het ons die gewone borde, glase en messe en vurke gebruik. Dit was reg so, maar laat ek jou vertel, wanneer daardie gaste opdaag, het daardie eetstel, die kristal en die silwer alles so spesiaal gemaak.En dit is die betekenis van die woord “heiligheid”. Dit beteken om eenkant gesit te word vir 'n spesiale doel … dis wat God wil hê jy moet wees: heilig, opsy gesit vir Hom.2 Tessalonisense 2:13: Maar, broers en susters, geliefdes van die Here, dit pas ons om God altyd oor julle te dank. God het julle immers gekies om as eerstes verlos te word. Hy verlos julle deur die Gees wat julle aan Hom toewy en deur geloof in die waarheid. (NLV)God het ons lief met 'n liefde wat mens nie met woorde kan beskryf nie. Maar as ons kyk na al die foute en blapse wat ons maak, voel ons dikwels glad nie so heilig nie. Maar dit is juis die punt. Net soos die skottelgoed hulself nie was nie, en die silwerware hulself nie opvryf nie, is dit nie ons werk om onsself heilig te maak nie.Jy is gered omdat die Gees jou heilig maak en jou die geloof in die waarheid gegee het.Glo net en laat die Heilige Gees sy werk doen.Dit is God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailHandelinge 4:31,33 Na hierdie gebed het die gebou waar hulle bymekaar was, geskud, en hulle is almal met die Heilige Gees vervul. En hulle het God se boodskap onverskrokke verkondig.… Die apostels het kragtige getuienis gegee oor die opstanding van die Here Jesus, en God het sy genade ryklik aan elkeen gegee. (NLV) Iets wat baie kerkmense pla, is die manier waarop die gemeentelede optree. Jy sien kerke skeur en die helfte van die mense loop uit; soms baklei hulle selfs in die hof oor hul verskille. Regtig? Is dit hoe dit veronderstel is om te wees?In die vroeë 1700's het 'n klein groepie gelowige vlugtelinge uit Morawië, wat ons as Tsjeggo-Slowakye ken, vir vervolging gevlug. Hulle het gaan wegkruip op die plaas van graaf Nikolaus von Zinzendorf. Aanvanklik was daar baie spanning in die groep, maar op 13 Augustus 1727 het iets besonders gebeur: tydens 'n nagmaaldiens het hulle beleef hoe God se genade oor hulle uitgestort word.Die bakleiery het opgehou, daar was skielik 'n atmosfeer van versoening en hulle was weer in volle akkoord. Van daardie oomblik af het alles verander. Binne 'n paar dekades het hierdie vlugtelinge, sendingwerkers na Afrika en Amerika gestuur en die Morawiese beweging het een van die grootste sendingaksies ooit geword.Kyk wat sê die boek Handelinge:Handelinge 4:31,33: Na hierdie gebed het die gebou waar hulle bymekaar was, geskud, en hulle is almal met die Heilige Gees vervul. En hulle het God se boodskap onverskrokke verkondig.… Die apostels het kragtige getuienis gegee oor die opstanding van die Here Jesus, en God het sy genade ryklik aan elkeen gegee. (NLV) Hier is die kruks van die probleem. Wanneer ons eie wil en begeertes ons lewens regeer, en ons net heeltyd reg wil wees ... gaan dit net op één manier eindig: in ‘n bakleiery en verdeeldheid.Maar wanneer ons toelaat dat God se Heilige Gees ons vul, net soos Hy met die apostels gedoen het, sal sy krag en sy genade ons heeltemal beheer. Dis mos die genade wat ons nodig het!Dit is Sy Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailEksodus 31:3-5 My Gees gee vir hom die kennis, begrip en vaardigheid om verskillende dinge te kan maak. Hy kan kunstige voorwerpe uit goud, silwer en brons maak. Hy kan edelstene graveer en monteer en houtsnywerk doen. Hy kan enige kunswerk maak. (NLV) Ons is almal geneig om ons natuurlike talente en vermoëns as vanselfsprekend te aanvaar. Ons leef immers al ons hele lewe lank daarmee saam; dis mos niks spesiaal nie; almal kan seker maar doen wat ek doen? En tog is niks verder van die waarheid af nie.Sommige mense is ongelooflik geseënd met 'n sagmoedigheid en vriendelikheid wat regtig bo gemiddeld is. Maar dan vergelyk hulle hulleself met die uitskieters en mense wat altyd in die kollig is, en hulle dink: As ek maar net so talentvol soos hulle kon wees. Ekke? Natuurlik probeer ek om saggeaard en vriendelik te wees; maar ek moet hard daaraan werk, want ek is meer die tipe ou wat oor hekkies spring om dinge gedoen te kry. Sien jy hoe simpel dit is om hierdie vergelykings-speletjie te speel?Destyds toe God vir Moses opdrag gegee het om die tabernakel te bou - daardie spesiale tent waar sy teenwoordigheid tydens Israel se tog van veertig jaar deur die woestyn sou woon - is dít wat Hy gesê het oor Besaleël:Eksodus 31:3-5: My Gees gee vir hom die kennis, begrip en vaardigheid om verskillende dinge te kan maak. Hy kan kunstige voorwerpe uit goud, silwer en brons maak. Hy kan edelstene graveer en monteer en houtsnywerk doen. Hy kan enige kunswerk maak. (NLV)So, hoekom het net een ou daardie talente ontvang? Hoekom nie sommer enige Jan Rap en sy maat nie? Want Besaleël was juis die een wat God uitgekies het en hom bekwaam gemaak het om daardie spesiale dinge te doen.En weet jy, wanneer jy vervul word met sy Gees - die Heilige Gees word jou "vervelige" ou talente ongelooflik spesiaal en buitengewoon kragtig in sy hande. Niemand anders kan doen, wat jy kan nie, want God het vir jou die talent en die vermoë gegee het om dit te doen. Vir niemand anders nie.Dis Sy Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Frustrated with the use of VAR during this World Cup? You're not alone. Fortunately Zeff is on hand with some solutions - not little ticky-tacky stuff, no, big stuff, real big stuff, that can save VAR from itself.

Carrie Hopkins, senior director of business development and sales for Exclusive Networks Canada Exclusive Networks describes itself as a specialist distributor — hyper-focused on cybersecurity and advanced networking, deliberately not trying to be everything to everyone. As the company makes a serious push into the Canadian market, In The Channel sat down with Carrie Hopkins, senior director of business development and sales for Canada, to talk about what that actually means in practice for Canadian partners. Hopkins walks through what Exclusive is building in Canada specifically — in-country finance and operations, and a prescriptive approach to partner recruitment that goes beyond adding names to a portal. Rather than waiting for partners to come to them, Exclusive analyzes what existing partners buy, what they conspicuously don’t buy, and builds outreach strategy around those gaps. We also get into Ignition, Exclusive’s newly launched cybersecurity channel incubator, which arrived in North America earlier this year. The program is designed to bring emerging vendors to channel partners with the vetting and enablement baked in — addressing a real problem for MSPs and VARs who are being pitched constantly by early-stage vendors and don’t have the bandwidth to evaluate them all. And then there’s the Westcon thread. Hopkins spent years at Westcon and Comstor before moving through vendor-side channel roles at Ixia, Infoblox, and Sisense. When asked whether Exclusive feels like the evolution of what Westcon was doing before North American distribution consolidated, her answer is worth a listen. – UPLOAD AUDIO Read Full Transcript ROBERT DUTT: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. If you’ve been paying attention to the distribution landscape in Canada, you may have noticed that Exclusive Networks has been quietly building something. Exclusive is a global cybersecurity specialist distributor, and the emphasis on “specialist” is deliberate. They’re not trying to be everything for everyone. They focus specifically on cybersecurity and advanced networking, and they’re making a real push to make that model mean something in the Canadian market. My guest today is Carrie Hopkins, senior director of business development and sales for Canada at Exclusive Networks. Carrie’s background is worth noting. She spent years at Westcon and Comstor before moving through a series of vendor-side channel roles, and she brings that perspective to bear on what Exclusive is trying to build here. We talk about the state of play in Canada, the distributor’s recently launched Ignition cybersecurity incubator program, and whether what Exclusive is doing today is the evolution of what the specialist distributor used to look like in the market, or something genuinely new. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Carrie Hopkins. ROBERT DUTT: Carrie, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. CARRIE HOPKINS: Thank you, Robert. Great to see you. ROBERT DUTT: For listeners who may not be familiar with Exclusive Networks, how do you describe what you do differently from the broadliners? What does specialist distribution look like in practice, especially in a modern context? CARRIE HOPKINS: Yeah. So, Exclusive Networks Canada is hyper-focused on a very curated line card. We’re able to provide the right support structure to scale faster and win faster for our partners. We have programs both for our core vendor lines, as well as our new Ignition vendor lines, that will provide combined deep channel expertise, as well as hands-on enablement through our engineering team. ROBERT DUTT: You joined Exclusive, I guess, coming up a year now. What was the pitch that brought you in, and what were they asking you to build in Canada? What’s kind of the big goal? CARRIE HOPKINS: So, the big goal, obviously, with any business is revenue generation, but it’s also to improve our footprint geographically, nationally. We are also from an in-region support perspective, as well as improving the number of vendors that are selling into our partner community. To do that, we have to bring our partner community to the right vendors that will help them grow their business. So, that’s really what we’re focused on. ROBERT DUTT: You touched on geography and that. What were the gaps, both geographical and otherwise? Like, what did the Canadian market look like for Exclusive when you showed up? What were the gaps, and where has your focus been in this first year? CARRIE HOPKINS: Yeah, I think the biggest gaps were really more vendor alignment. Geographically, we do have people based from Montreal out to Calgary. So, we do have physical presence there to help our partners with feet on the street, but we tended to be a little bit more hyper-focused on a few of our top vendors. I think for the whole team, and what we’re seeing, is that by curating a better cybersecurity and network security vendor list, we’re able to give our partners more. We’re able to reach new partners that we haven’t talked to in the past because maybe they weren’t aligned to our top vendors. So, growing that vendor list has really helped us expand across the country. ROBERT DUTT: You spent quite a bit of time at Westcon and Comstor, which is probably the closest model I can think of to what Exclusive is doing that’s existed in the North American market. When you look at Exclusive now, do you see it sort of as the evolution of that model, or is it something genuinely different given the changing times? CARRIE HOPKINS: It’s actually funny that there’s a number of ex-Westcon-ers here now, and that’s what brought us all together, is that this is — it feels like the Westcon of the mid-2000s aughts. When we all were working there before 2010, it was just such a great vibe. We had great people that were aligned to vendors and to partners, and we all worked together really collaboratively. That’s what I’m seeing now. While Exclusive Networks Canada is our own entity — we have Canadian footprint, we have Canadian finance, we have Canadian operations and sales — we do work really collaboratively with our North American team, which includes people like Heather Allen and Andrew Warren, who are also ex-Westcon. We’re able to really remember the great times of building up that business and then to also bring it into this new era with all these great new vendors who are bringing something new and innovative to the market, as opposed to just the old traditionals. ROBERT DUTT: It’s not every day you get a chance to run it back, as it were. Keep it in that lane. Westcon obviously got absorbed into broadline here in North America, at least. Do you think the market lost something when that happened? And is what Exclusive is doing filling that gap? CARRIE HOPKINS: Agreed. I think so. I think with the broadline, of course, there’s some great people still there today who are really great at holding those relationships. But what happens with the broadline, of course, is you have so many vendors and you have so many partners, and you can’t possibly give the same level of touch and care and commitment that we can here when we’re keeping it under that 20-vendor mark. We’re able to really go after our partners with the right mix of vendors that aren’t over-distributed, I would say. ROBERT DUTT: So to that point, one of the fun things you’re able to do in the specialty distribution mode is embrace vendors who are a little bit earlier in the game, which brings us to Ignition, which just launched in North America. Cybersecurity channel incubator. Can you walk me through what that actually means? What does a vendor get out of being in Ignition, and what does a partner get access to? CARRIE HOPKINS: Yeah. For the vendors, we’re giving them — again, we’re giving our vendors a team of highly skilled distribution people that knows the market. Most of my employees here have been either in distribution or in service provider and resale in Canada for anywhere from six years to 15, actually, or more, for a couple of us. And so they’re getting a strong team. They’re getting a team with the right support structure. They’re getting dedicated SE support. So we have dedicated SEs aligned to each one of these vendors. And then they’re also getting an integrated hyperscaler pathway as well as we build out our hyperscaler go-to-market motion. So the partners that we align with, we will help them nurture, grow, and scale well, and also enabling our channel partners to differentiate because they’re bringing on something really cool and unique to be relevant and bring new value, whether it’s from vendor platform visibility or network detection and response, but done in a more unique way. We’re hoping that we can bring them that value. ROBERT DUTT: Looking at the initial North American cohort with ExtraHop, Zluri, Docker, Sendmarc, PagerDuty, Meter — that’s not all pure-play cybersecurity in the traditional sense. I’m curious, how are you defining the scope of what Ignition is about? CARRIE HOPKINS: Yeah. I think it has to fit with our partner mix as well. In Canada, our partners are possibly not as verticalized as in some other larger regions. In Canada, most of our partners, if they’re selling networking, they also will sell security, or they’re looking for that vendor that’s going to bridge the gap. So even though a vendor, for example, like ExtraHop — you might think of them as network detection and response, but there is a security play in there. There’s a security SOC play that works really well, and it helps our Canadian partners who are talking to the network team introduce a vendor that also connects them with the SOC. That could be said for Sendmarc as well. Again, you think of that as email demarcation points, which could lean into the networking team, but we need to talk to everybody. Our Canadian partners are talking to both sides of the fence, so we need to give them those vendors. ROBERT DUTT: Well, and yeah, it speaks to the moment too, in that security is part of every sale, but particularly every networking sale. CARRIE HOPKINS: Exactly. Yeah. ROBERT DUTT: From the Canadian partner perspective specifically, what does Ignition mean for them? Is it about giving them earlier access to emerging vendors, de-risking those bets with players who may be less familiar, something else? CARRIE HOPKINS: I think you hit the nail on the head. We’re doing all the research for them. I was speaking to a partner just yesterday at the Winnipeg Western Canada Information Security Conference, and he was saying that his inbox for his LinkedIn is filled with vendors reaching out saying, “Please, sell us.” How does an MSP or service provider decide which vendors they should engage in? We’ve done that heavy lifting for them. We’ve researched, we’ve determined that these are the right fit for the Canadian market and the US market, and we’re happy to bring them a more curated list. Again, let us do the heavy lifting. We also are getting our engineers trained, so it’s not just a team of people sitting in a room deciding that monetarily this is a good fit. These are our engineers who can speak to their engineers and show them exactly how this fits with what they’re selling. It also provides our partners with a really unique differentiated approach. They’re not selling that one vendor, they’re selling a combined solution. ROBERT DUTT: Yeah, I was going to say, how prescriptive, how in the weeds do you guys get in terms of, “Dear MSP, think about this vendor along with this vendor,” piggybacking the core vendors with the Ignition folks? CARRIE HOPKINS: That’s exactly the play. We’ve done extensive research on what are our partners currently buying from us, but also what aren’t they buying from us, maybe because we don’t sell it or they’ve chosen to go a different direction. What are their websites saying that they sell? We’ve taken all of that information, we’ve compared it with the new vendors that we’re bringing on, so we have an extensive list of top-priority partners that we feel are a great fit for multiple of these vendors. Then we have the next level down, so we’ve completely curated a target list of partners that we’re going to reach out to say, “We know you’re a business, we understand it. We think that Docker is the right next step for you,” or, “We believe that Zluri really fits when you’re selling A, B, and C.” ROBERT DUTT: This is North American in scope. How are you getting in front of those vendors and assessing where they are at currently in Canada and where you can step in, make introductions, ease path to market, those kinds of things? CARRIE HOPKINS: That’s one of the things that we find with the Canadian market is there’s not always feet on the ground with new vendors. That’s, again, where we step in. We do have feet on the ground. We’re learning about their solutions, so if they don’t have a local CAM, that’s us. That’s our job is to help them build their business and help them build the right business. Recruiting a lot of partners isn’t always the right first step. It’s recruiting the right partners who will embrace the technology, learn the technology, and help it lift. Then we can see what is the right number of partners for the technology in Canada today. We don’t want to flood the market. We want to make sure that all of our vendors have the right partners to properly serve the market. ROBERT DUTT: I’d imagine that dynamic’s also working in the other direction, in so much as you say, MSPs and other solution providers are being flooded with new vendors, especially in the security space. The fact that you guys are, to a degree, backstopping them — that you’ve done the vetting and you’re standing behind them — has to add something. CARRIE HOPKINS: Exactly. Yeah. ROBERT DUTT: Beyond Ignition, what can you tell me about the broader push for Exclusive in Canada right now? In terms of, you said you want to stay pretty strategic on vendor lines. What are you thinking about partner recruitment, headcount? Basically, where are you building right now? CARRIE HOPKINS: Yes. Building with headcount. Where we’re adding right now — in fact, this morning, we’re adding to our quoting and order management team because we never want to lose sight of one of our biggest values, which is our speed and efficiency and accuracy of our quoting. When it comes to distribution, you have to do the basics really brilliantly. We do that here. Sub-[time] turnaround on quote request, sub-[time] order management process. We are quick and efficient, full stop. We’re going to keep doing that. We’re going to add headcount to that. We’re opening up headcount in the second half of the year to help us really embrace all of the new vendors that we have on board. In the last six months, we’ve also onboarded vendors like A10 and Infoblox who are going to make a big impact in the coming year. We’re fully supporting them with extra headcount. ROBERT DUTT: What’s the long-term vision for structure? I know distributors in particular tend to vacillate somewhat over time between a heavily North Americanized model and independent Canadian. Just curious what the long-term thinking is there for you guys. CARRIE HOPKINS: Long-term is that we will always have feet on the ground here in Canada. That gets reinforced to me, and I reinforce it with my leadership every time, every chance I get. I am also a big advocate for having in-country vendor business managers so they can have those channel business conversations. They’re talking to the peers who know the market. They know the FX challenges. They know that we’re provinces instead of states. It’s like that. The great news is with our Ignition team is that the leader of that team, Michael Compizzi, he’s located just in Rochester, New York, which is a short two-hour drive from where I’m based. He will be in Canada quite often as well. We will have North American support, but in-country dedicated resources. ROBERT DUTT: I would add he’d be closer if it weren’t for a rather inconveniently placed lake. CARRIE HOPKINS: [laughs] ROBERT DUTT: Canadian partners have a lot of choices in terms of distribution, maybe not quite as many as 10 years ago, but still there’s a number of choices there. What’s the honest pitch for why a Canadian MSP or VAR who isn’t already working with Exclusive right now should take a look at you guys? CARRIE HOPKINS: Our partners will never be lost in the shuffle. They will have dedicated support. They will have quick and efficient turnaround, and they will have a vendor line card that supports their business. Simple to the point. ROBERT DUTT: That works. The last one for me: what should Canadian partners be paying attention to over the next six to 12 months, either from you guys exclusively or in the market more broadly? CARRIE HOPKINS: I don’t think that a podcast about technology can end without saying the word AI. [laughs] Didn’t get your [nerd/name] achievement unlocked. ROBERT DUTT: There you go. CARRIE HOPKINS: I think that it’s important to note that there’s so many vendors and so many technologies coming out saying that they support AI, saying that they support different security functions around AI. It’s important that you work with a distributor who’s going to take the time to research each of those vendors on your behalf and have a fully engaged engineering staff who can speak to what it’s doing. Do you need it yet? Is it something that’s going to actually sell to the Canadian market? We’re going to make sure that our Canadian resellers have fully vetted solutions, that they’re not chasing rabbit holes. The number one important thing is that they know their business, they know their customer’s business, and where all those assets are. What does your Canadian partner need? We feel like we have the line card to fulfill that. ROBERT DUTT: Well, look forward to seeing how things roll out with the initial Ignition cohort and beyond, as you continue to develop Exclusive here in Canada. Carrie, thanks for taking the time. CARRIE HOPKINS: Thank you so much, Robert. I appreciate you. [Music transition] ROBERT DUTT: There you have it. Carrie Hopkins from Exclusive Networks. I’d like to thank Carrie for her time today. It was a genuinely good conversation, and I appreciated that she was willing to get beyond the talking points and into what the model actually means in practice for Canadian partners. If there’s one thing I take away from the conversation, it’s that the specialist distribution model Exclusive is building — and Ignition is probably the clearest expression of this — is trying to solve a real problem. Canadian MSPs and resellers are being pitched by an enormous number of emerging vendors, and they don’t have the bandwidth to vet each and every one of them. What Exclusive is saying, essentially, is: we’ll do that work. We’ll bring you the vendors we believe in. We’ll backstop the relationship. You focus on your customers. Whether they can deliver on that promise at scale is something we’ll be watching, but the thesis is certainly sound. The Westcon thread that came up in the conversation stuck with me too. There was something that worked about that model before consolidation rolled through North American distribution. It sounds like at least some of the people who built it think there’s a second act here. Thanks for listening. If you’re finding the podcast useful, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most of the major directories. Ratings and reviews are always appreciated and really help other people in the channel find the show. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel. [Music] A couple of quick flags: “Sub-[time] turnaround” – I couldn’t decipher the exact numbers she threw out there. Worth a quick listen on your end to fill in the blank. “Didn’t get your [nerd/name] achievement unlocked” – MacWhisper clearly mangled this. Sounds like some kind of gaming joke about saying the word AI on a tech podcast. “Nerd achievement unlocked” is the most common internet phrase, but if you remember what she actually said, drop it in. “monetarily” – I left it as-is since it could be correct, though it scans a bit awkwardly. Could also be “more than merely” if you want to give it a listen. Otherwise this should be ready to go. Good batch recording session?

Send us Fan MailEfesiërs 3:16 Ek bid dat Hy deur sy Gees uit die rykdom van sy heerlikheid aan julle die krag sal gee om innerlik sterk te word. Ek weet nie van jou nie, maar vir my lyk dit asof dit al hoe moeiliker word om getrou aan Christus te bly. Dis moeilik om vol selfvertroue te praat oor dít waarin ons glo, of selfs net om aan te hou glo, terwyl almal van ons verwag om in te pas by 'n nuwe, goddelose wêreld. Hoe bly mens tot diep in jou siel getrou aan Jesus?Mariam Farahat was 'n Palestynse Christen wat onder groot druk na Islam oorgestap het, maar later in die geheim na Christus teruggekeer het - al het dit volgens plaaslike wetgewing, die doodstraf beteken. Toe sy gevang is, is sy toegesluit en gemartel. Ten spyte van al die dreigemente en mishandeling, het sy geweier om Jesus weer te verloën. Sy is uiteindelik in 2010 deur ekstremiste tereggestel.Hoewel haar storie buite die ondergrondse kerk nie baie bekend is nie, onthou gelowiges in daardie streek haar as iemand wat, net soos die martelaars van ouds, onder marteling staande gebly het, eerder as om Christus prys te gee. Daardie soort krag voel amper nie menslik nie; dis asof dit uit 'n ander wêreld kom. En dis presies wat dit is! Kyk wat het die apostel Paulus aan sy vriende in Efese in die eerste eeu geskryf:Efesiërs 3:16: Ek bid dat Hy deur sy Gees uit die rykdom van sy heerlikheid aan julle die krag sal gee om innerlik sterk te word.Dit was nie sommer net mooi godsdienstige woorde nie. Dit het daardie Christene baie diep getref, want hulle het onder permanente kulturele en ekonomiese druk geleef; wat beteken het dat dit hulle opregte geloof en moed gekos het om in Jesus te glo. Wat jou ook al jou vandag onderkry - of dit nou versoeking, sonde, verslawing of die druk om in te pas by wêreldse standaarde is; onthou:Die Vader sal vir jou die krag gee om innerlik sterk te wees. Hy sal vir jou daardie krag deur sy Gees gee.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJohannes 14:16-17 Ek sal die Vader vra, en Hy sal vir julle 'n ander Voorspraak stuur om vir ewig by julle te wees, naamlik die Gees van die waarheid. Die wêreld kan Hom nie ontvang nie, omdat hulle Hom nie sien en Hom nie ken nie. Maar julle ken Hom, omdat Hy by julle bly en in julle sal wees. Nou goed, party mense glo in God. Sommiges glo selfs dat Jesus die Seun van God was en is; dat hy mens geword het; aan die kruis gesterf het; opgestaan het en na die hemel opgevaar het. Dis alles goed en wel. Maar wat nou? Hoe is 'n mens veronderstel om Hom te ken, naby aan Hom te kom of sy teenwoordigheid te ervaar as Hy nie meer hier by ons is nie? Verduidelik dit vir my!Die bekende Engelse verpleegster en sosiale hervormer, Florence Nightingale, word allerweë beskou as die stigter van moderne verpleegkunde. In die laat 1800's was sy vir lank bedlêend en min mense het haar in die openbaar gesien, maar sy het deur haar briewe ‘n sterk invloed uitgeoefen.Vanuit haar siekbed in Londen het sy talle briewe aan politici, hospitaalrade en militêre leiers geskryf. Hoewel haar liggaam swak was, is haar impak oor groot afstande gevoel. Deur haar toedoen is sanitasie-stelsels in Indië verbeter, hospitaalontwerpe in Europa verander en sy het die militêre gesondheidsbeleid wêreldwyd beïnvloed. Mense wat haar nooit ontmoet het nie, het haar teenwoordigheid ervaar asof sy self in hul kantore gestaan en op verandering aandring het.Dit herinner ons dat die Gees afstande kan oorbrug en 'n mens die ander persoon se gesindheid kan aanvoel sonder dat jy fisies by hom hoef te wees. Jesus het net voor sy vertrek vir sy dissipels gesê:Johannes 14:16-17: Ek sal die Vader vra, en Hy sal vir julle 'n ander Voorspraak stuur om vir ewig by julle te wees, naamlik die Gees van die waarheid. Die wêreld kan Hom nie ontvang nie, omdat hulle Hom nie sien en Hom nie ken nie. Maar julle ken Hom, omdat Hy by julle bly en in julle sal wees.Wanneer jy jou geloof in Jesus stel, woon Hy deur sy Gees in jou. God se Gees kan enige afstand oorbrug om sy teenwoordigheid eg te maak, sonder dat hy fisies by jou hoef te staan.Wees verseker dat Jesus jou nooit sal verlaat nie. Hy sal jou nooit in die steek laat nie. Hy is altyd by jou. Altyd!Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailGenesis 2:7 Die Here God het toe die mens gevorm uit stof van die aarde en lewensasem in sy neus geblaas, sodat die mens 'n lewende wese geword het. Ons is geneig om die lug wat ons elke dag 23 000 keer in- en uitasem, sommer as vanselfsprekend te aanvaar. En tog sou ek en jy nie eens vir 'n paar minute daarsonder kon oorleef nie. Elke keer as jy asemhaal, trek jy triljoene suurstofmolekules in wat na jou longe jaag, in jou bloedstroom opgeneem word, aan jou hemoglobien vashaak, en binne minder as 20 sekondes elke sel in jou liggaam bereik.Asem is nie sommer net lug nie - dit is die vonk van lewe wat oomblik vir oomblik deur jou vloei. En tog is daar een ding wat die wetenskap nog nooit kon regkry nie (al probeer hulle hoe hard): om lewe uit dooie materie te skep. Nooit nie! Maar …Genesis 2:7 Die Here God het toe die mens gevorm uit stof van die aarde en lewensasem in sy neus geblaas, sodat die mens 'n lewende wese geword het.Die oorspronklike Hebreeuse woord vir “asem,” ruach, word ook dwarsdeur die Ou Testament gebruik om na die Heilige Gees te verwys. Dit beteken dieselfde as die Griekse woord, pneuma, wat in die Nuwe Testament vir die Heilige Gees gebruik word. Albei woorde dra die betekenis van asem of wind - onsigbaar, kragtig en lewenskragtig.En net soos God lewe in jou liggaam ingeblaas het (die enigste Een wat dit kon doen), so blaas die Heilige Gees lewe diep binne-in jou gees in.Net soos jy, het ek al tye beleef waar ek soos 'n zombie gevoel het; asof die wêreld al die lewe uit my uitgesuig het. Maar elke keer wanneer ek na God gedraai het vir hulp, het sy Gees - sy ruach, sy pneuma - weer lewe in my siel ingeblaas. Dit is die Gees wat lewe bring. Trouens, Hy is die enigste Een wat dit kan doen!Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailGenesis 1:1-3 In die begin het God die hemel en die aarde geskep. Die aarde was heeltemal onbewoonbaar, dit was donker op die diep waters, maar die Gees van God het oor die waters gesweef. Toe het God gesê: “Laat daar lig wees!” En daar was lig. Die lewe kan soms nogal deurmekaar wees. Dit is nie altyd maklik om reg op te tree wanneer probleme jou skielik tref of dinge jou ontstel nie. Maar agter al die chaos is daar 'n geheime orde … as ons maar net daarna soek. Die wetenskap het baie gevorder sedert Isaac Newton sy drie bewegingswette in 1687 geformuleer het - wette wat verduidelik hoe voorwerpe stilstaan, hoe hulle vinniger beweeg, en hoe elke aksie 'n reaksie het. Trouens, hoe meer ons leer, hoe duideliker word dit dat die heelal volgens vaste reëls werk. Alles is so fyn beplan en georganiseer dat selfs die kleinste verandering alles in chaos sou laat beland.As swaartekrag net 'n bietjie sterker was, sou sterre dadelik uitgebrand het; as dit 'n bietjie swakker was, sou daar nooit sterrestelsels gewees het nie. Dit is dieselfde met die spoed van lig en alles anders in die natuur.Hierdie perfekte balans wys duidelik dat daar 'n God van orde is, en nie van chaos nie.Genesis 1:1-3 In die begin het God die hemel en die aarde geskep. Die aarde was heeltemal onbewoonbaar, dit was donker op die diep waters, maar die Gees van God het oor die waters gesweef.Toe het God gesê: “Laat daar lig wees!” En daar was lig. Dink jy regtig dat die God wat die hele heelal gemaak het, nie ook orde kan bring in die chaos van hierdie wêreld, of in die moeilike dinge waardeur jy nou gaan nie?Dieselfde Heilige Gees wat alles uit niks gemaak het, is die Een wat - ten spyte van wat die wêreld sê - vir jou wonderlike orde sal bring. Hy het eintlik reeds daarmee begin. Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailSpreuke 23:10,11 Moenie die ou grense van 'n stuk grond verskuif nie. Moenie weeskinders se grond by hulle probeer afvat nie. Die Een wat hulle beskerm, is magtig. Hy sal hulle saak teen jou verdedig. (NLV) Daar is 'n ou wenresep wat politici gebruik: Steun altyd die perd wat eiebelang genoem word, ou seun! Dit is 'n wyd aangehaalde, siniese waarneming oor die menslike natuur en politieke gedrag. Met ander woorde, bevredig die eiebelang van die mense en hulle sal vir jou stem. Ja my vriend, mense is selfsugtig en sal allerhande vorms van onreg en wreedheid tot hulle eie voordeel gebruik. En so verskuif ons die grense tussen reg en onreg. Tydens die sogenaamde Hoogland-verskuiwings in die 18de en 19de eeu in Skotland, het ryk grondeienaars duisende arm huurders van hul grond verwyder om plek te maak vir meer winsgewende skaapboerdery.Grense op kaarte is letterlik óór opgestel, dorpies is vernietig, en mense wat vir geslagte daar gewoon het, is in armoede, ballingskap of emigrasie van hul grond gedryf.Dit was in wese die verskuiwing van gemeenskappe en geregtigheid ter wille van wins. Die kwesbares - dikwels weduwees, weeskinders en die armes - is sonder grond of huise gelaat.Spreuke 23:10,11 Moenie die ou grense van 'n stuk grond verskuif nie. Moenie weeskinders se grond by hulle probeer afvat nie. Die Een wat hulle beskerm, is magtig. Hy sal hulle saak teen jou verdedig. (NLV) Eiebelang is 'n kragtige motiveerder vir elkeen van ons, miskien die magtigste van almal. Wie gee om wat met die ander gebeur, net solank ons gemaklik is! Wie gee om vir hulle swaarkry?In hierdie vers waarsku God ons teen gierigheid, en die uitbuiting van die kwesbares deur grense vir selfsugtige gewin te verskuif. Gierigheid wat die magteloses verplaas, korrodeer beide geregtigheid en die samelewing. En God sal sien dat sy geregtigheid uiteindelik geskied. Moenie die ou grense verskuif nie. Moenie begin om dit wat verkeerd is, reg te noem nie. Dis God se waarskuwing, en …Moenie toelaat dat grense verskuif word nie. Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailSpreuke 23:9 Moenie 'n dwaas probeer reghelp nie; hy sal jou verstandige raad met minagting behandel. Het jy al opgelet hoe maklik mense deur hierdie samesweringsteorie, of daardie radikale dogma, aan die neus gelei word? Kyk net om jou rond. Soveel mense word in die maalstroom van die sosiale media meegesleur en ingesuig, dat hulle nie meer hul eie opinies kan vorm en hul eie koppe kan volg nie.Stel jou voor jy ontmoet iemand wat oortuig is daarvan dat die aarde plat is, of dat vliegtuie chemikalieë spuit om mense se gedagtes te beheer. Daar sit jy hande oormekaar, ewe geduldig na hulle en luister terwyl hulle jou hulle NASA-foto's wys; hulle weergawe van basiese fisika aan jou verduidelik en selfs ‘betroubare wetenskaplikes' aanhaal.Maar weet jy, dit maak nie saak watter teenbewyse jy bring nie, jou vriend skud net sy kop en sê: "Dis dan wat hulle sê." Jou weerlegging van sy teorieë met woorde van wysheid en waarheid spoel oor hom soos water oor 'n eend se rug. Dis ‘n totale mors van tyd. Wat doen jy nou?Spreuke 23:9 Moenie 'n dwaas probeer reghelp nie; hy sal jou verstandige raad met minagting behandel.Dwaas klink darem baie kras. Maar soms is dit ook die regte benaming vir sulke mense. Deur die boodskappe wat ek skep, ontvang ek baie negatiewe kritiek van mense wat my allerhande name noem en my van allerhande dinge beskuldig.Dit het my aanvanklik regtig gepla, en dit het my ure lank geneem om aan elkeen te skryf en om te probeer om die lig van God se liefde in hul harte aan die brand te steek. Maar ek is jammer om te sê, nie een van hulle het getuig dat dit vir hulle behulpsaam was nie.En hoe wreed dit ook al mag klink, moet jy uiteindelik God se raad volg:Moenie 'n dwaas probeer reghelp nie; hy sal jou verstandige raad met minagting behandel.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailSpreuke15:3-4 Die Here sien oral; Hy hou slegte en goeie mense dop. Kalmerende woorde bring lewe, skynheilige woorde breek mense. Daar is ‘n magdom van potensiële bruikbare talent wat in die agt miljard mense op aarde opgesluit is. Maar dit is tragies watter enorme deel van daardie talent verlore gaan, bloot omdat die wêreld dit nie waardeer of erken nie. Dink ‘n bietjie daaroor na. Die verlies van al daardie talent is verstommend!In 'n wêreld waar almal om aandag en sukses meeding, is daar soveel mense wat deur moeilike en onregverdige omstandighede benadeel word. Mense word geoordeel volgens hul uiterlike, of waar hulle vandaan kom. Jy moet jouself afvra, hoekom doen ons dit? En hoekom laat God dit toe?Spreuke 15:3-4 Die Here sien oral; Hy hou slegte en goeie mense dop. Kalmerende woorde bring lewe, skynheilige woorde breek mense.Neewat, niks het God se aandag ontglip nie. Die verskriklike dinge wat ons aan ander doen, gebeur onder sy neus. God sien die kwaad raak, en Hy sal daarmee afreken wanneer die tyd aanbreek. Maar intussen is daar iets wat jy en ek kan doen wat 'n groot verskil in soveel mense se lewens sal maak: Die ou vertaling praat van die sagtheid van tong as 'n lewensboom. Die oorspronklike Hebreeus praat van daardie vriendelike woorde as 'n genesende tong. Dit is spraak wat herstel, streel en aanmoedig; dit bring vitaliteit, groei en seën – dis soos 'n lewegewende boom.Dis opmerklik hoe min aanmoediging sommige mense eintlik nodig het om hulle volle potensiaal te bereik. Jy kan die een wees wat deur jou vriendelike woorde; jou genesende tong, hul lewens herstel tot alles wat God dit beplan het om te wees. Ja ... jy kan die instrument wees.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailHebreërs 11:24-26 Omdat Moses geglo het, het hy as volwasse man geweier om as die seun van Farao se dogter bekend te staan. Hy het die swaarkry saam met God se volk verkies bo die kortstondige genieting van die sonde. Vir hom was die smaad wat hy ter wille van Christus, die Messias, moes deurmaak, 'n groter rykdom as die skatte van Egipte. Hy het immers uitgesien na die beloning wat God aan hom sou gee. (NLV) Ons leef in 'n wêreld wat daarvan hou om medaljes en toekennings uit te deel - in skole, in die akademie, in sport, selfs in die vermaaklikheidswêreld. Ja, soos klokslag elke jaar, rol Hollywood die rooi tapyt vir die Oscar-toekennings uit. Die Oscars, staan bekend as die nag van weelde en prag. Flitsende kameras, glinsterende rokke, snyerspakke en miljoen-dollar glimlagte skitter waar die wêreld se grootste sterre bymekaarkom.Daardie goue beeldjies blink onder verblindende ligte terwyl limousines buite toustaan en die sjampanje binne vloei. Dit is die vermaaklikheidsbedryf se kroonjuweel - 'n skouspel van elegansie, luuksheid en prestige wat die verbeelding van miljoene kykers dwarsdeur die wêreld aangryp.Maar weet jy, Hollywood se dubbele Oscar-wenner, Denzel Washington, het in 'n onlangse onderhoud gesê: Die mens gee die toekenning. God gee die beloning. Op my laaste dag sal die Oscars my niks baat nie.Hebreërs 11:24-26 Omdat Moses geglo het, het hy as volwasse man geweier om as die seun van Farao se dogter bekend te staan. Hy het die swaarkry saam met God se volk verkies bo die kortstondige genieting van die sonde. Vir hom was die smaad wat hy ter wille van Christus, die Messias, moes deurmaak, 'n groter rykdom as die skatte van Egipte. Hy het immers uitgesien na die beloning wat God aan hom sou gee. (NLV)Ons kan so besig wees om die wêreld se toekennings en lof na te jaag, dat ons die Kroon van die lewe, wat vir die persoon wat vir Christus ly en tot die einde volhard, bestem is, uit die oog verloor.Mik na die Kroon, nie die trofee nie, want terwyl die trofee 'n tyd lank hou, is die Kroon van die lewe vir ewig in Christus joune. Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

In Episode 158 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with Andy Szanger, the Director of Strategic Industries at RSPA member CDW, to discuss his journey developing strategy, people, and leadership skills across an over three-decade retail technology career. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

Send us Fan Mail2 Korintiërs 5:14-15 Die liefde van Christus dring ons, omdat ons tot die insig gekom het dat een vir almal gesterwe het, en dit beteken dat almal gesterwe het. En Hy het vir almal gesterwe, sodat dié wat lewe, nie meer vir hulleself moet lewe nie, maar vir Hom wat vir hulle gesterf het en uit die dood opgewek is. Wanneer daar ‘n tragedie soos 'n skietery by ‘n skool, 'n treinongeluk of 'n terroriste-voorval in ‘n voorspoedige Westerse land voorkom, is dit oral in die nuus. Maar van die lyding en menseslagting in die oorloë en terrorisme in Afrika hoor ons nooit nie. Die meeste mense het nog nooit eers gehoor van die lot van die Rohingya-minderheid in Mianmar nie. Hoekom is dit so?In 'n episode van die Amerikaanse drama, The West Wing, sê 'n assistent vir die President: Die idee dat sommige lewens meer werd is as ander, is die wortel van alles wat verkeerd is met die wêreld.Die President antwoord toe stilweg: Ja, dit is.Dit is onaanvaarbaar, maar in werklikheid is dit hoe die wêreld funksioneer; sommige menselewens word gewaardeer, ander word misken. Sommige word opgehef, ander word oor die hoof gesien. En as ons eerlik is, dink ons ook soms so. Maar die Apostel Paulus vertel ons iets radikaal anders:.2 Korintiërs 5:14-15 Die liefde van Christus dring ons, omdat ons tot die insig gekom het dat een vir almal gesterwe het, en dit beteken dat almal gesterwe het. En Hy het vir almal gesterwe, sodat dié wat lewe, nie meer vir hulleself moet lewe nie, maar vir Hom wat vir hulle gesterf het en uit die dood opgewek is.Vir God is geen lewe meer werd as 'n ander nie. Christus het nie net vir die magtiges gesterf en die swakkes geïgnoreer nie. Hy het vir almal gesterf. Sy offer maak die speelveld aan die voet van die kruis gelyk.En as Christus se liefde ons dryf, kan ons mense nie volgens status, ras, inkomste, nuttigheid of agtergrond takseer nie. Om vir Jesus te leef, beteken om elke lewe deur sy oë te sien: om te sien dat almal ewe kosbaar is; dat almal eweveel genade nodig het en dat almal eweveel van ons liefde werd is.Die idee dat sommige lewens minder saak maak, is die oorsaak van alles wat verkeerd is met die wêreld.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailGoeiedag al ons VARS-vriende. Ek is Jokkie Gauché en hier is VARSVANDAG se Eerste Nuusbrief vir Julie. Ek kan skaars wag om vandag ‘n wonderlike getuienis - ‘n storie van God se genade wat my diep geraak het - met jou te deel.  Sarie Greeff, een van ons intekenaars, vertel: Jare gelede is ek verlam as gevolg van 'n virus wat ek opgedoen het. Volgens die mediese span was daar geen hoop vir my nie. Ek het in 'n Johannesburgse hospitaal gelê — ek was  op sterwe. Ek het vier maande lank in die intensiewe-sorgeenheid deurgebring. Toe ons mediese fonds opgeraak het, moes ons 'n baie moeilike besluit neem. In geloof het ons besluit om die hospitaal op eie risiko te verlaat. Die neuroloog se laaste woorde was: "Sy sal net 24 uur leef." Maar God is goed - en groter as enige mediese vonnis. Jesus het my aangeraak nadat daar vir my gebid is. Daardie 24 uur is nou 46 jaar later. Ek loop. Ek doen alles self. En dit is die werk van ons Vader — die Een wat nog nooit verander het nie, en nooit sal verander nie.  Hebreërs 11:1 sê: Om te glo, is om seker te wees van die dinge wat ons hoop, om oortuig te wees van die dinge wat ons nie sien nie.  o  Baie dankie aan almal wat gereeld van hulle laat hoor! Ons lees elke boodskap en waardeer elke “Amen” en “Halleluja” – dit beteken dat julle die boodskappe betekenisvol vind.o  Deur julle getroue bydraes bereik ons daagliks duisende mense met VARS-boodskappe. So word VARS ook jou bediening. Laat weet ons by die skakel in die teks:  Wat is die grootste uitdaging wat jy daagliks in die gesig staar? Want Galasiërs 6:2 sê:  Dra mekaar se laste en vervul so die wet van Christus. o  Sê ook saam met ons vir die Here dankie vir die vreedsame verloop van die betogings teen ongedokumenteerde buitelanders. En vir die Suid-Afrikaners wat soos een man in gebed saamgestaan het! Seënwense en mooi loop.Van Jokkie, Annelie en die VARS-span.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailPrediker 11:4-6 Wie die wind bly dophou, saai nie, wie na die wolke bly kyk, oes nie. Net so min as wat jy kan verstaan hoe gees en liggaam by mekaar uitkom in die skoot van 'n swanger vrou, net so min kan jy die werk van God verstaan. Hy doen dit alles. Saai jou saad in die môre, gaan in die laatmiddag daarmee voort. Jy weet nie watter van die twee sal 'n oes lewer nie en of altwee ewe goed sal wees nie.Ons ken almal daardie verskoning van, wag vir die "perfekte oomblik" voordat ons optree. Maar die lewe werk nie so nie. Geleenthede glip verby terwyl ons huiwer; en in ‘n oogwink is die oomblik heeltemal verby.Om die eerste tree in ‘n nuwe rigting te gee, is dikwels uitdagend. Dit is beslis ook uitputtend om die duisendste tree te gee op die geykte weg. Uitstel lyk inderdaad aanloklik; waar jy ook al op jou reis is.Prediker 11:4-6 Wie die wind bly dophou, saai nie, wie na die wolke bly kyk, oes nie. Net so min as wat jy kan verstaan hoe gees en liggaam by mekaar uitkom in die skoot van 'n swanger vrou, net so min kan jy die werk van God verstaan. Hy doen dit alles. Saai jou saad in die môre, gaan in die laatmiddag daarmee voort. Jy weet nie watter van die twee sal 'n oes lewer nie en of altwee ewe goed sal wees nie.Ag, vandag is te winderig, ek kan nie saai nie. Kyk na daardie stormwolke. Nee dis nie 'n goeie tyd om te oes nie.Sien jy? Uitstel is altyd 'n opsie! Waar jy ook al op die reis is. Maar diep in jou hart weet jy: hoe vinniger jy die moeilike dinge doen wat jy eintlik wil vermy, hoe vinniger sal jy die goeie dinge ontvang wat jy eintlik wil hê.Ja, daar is risiko's en onsekerhede langs die pad, maar net so min as wat jy kan verstaan hoe gees en liggaam by mekaar uitkom in die skoot van 'n swanger vrou, net so min kan jy die werk van God verstaan.God is op hierdie reis saam met jou, hou dus op om uit te stel. Begin saai.Dis Sy Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan Mail1 Samuel 15:22 Maar Samuel antwoord “Wat verkies die Here: brandoffers of gehoorsaamheid? Gehoorsaamheid is beter as offers; om te luister is beter as die vet van ramme. (NLV) Ons leef in 'n wêreld wat verslaaf is aan goed waarvan ‘n groot ophef gemaak word. Die sosiale media is mal daaroor – ‘n reusagtige skenking; ‘n openbare verskoning; ‘n groot valse vertoon van vriendelikheid. Maar agter die kollig is dit die klein, goedjies wat die meeste saakmaak; daardie goedjies wat nie aan die groot klok gehang word nie. Gehoorsaamheid is een van daardie keuses wat nie baie populêr is nie, maar gehoorsaamheid is die sleutel tot transformasie.Stel jou voor dat 'n jong man maande lank spaar om vir sy ma 'n pragtige geskenk te koop. Maar wanneer hy dit vir haar gee, glimlag sy en sê: 'Wat ek eerder sou wou gehad het, was dat jy meer tyd saam met my deurgebring het.' Hy het vir haar iets duurs gegee, maar hy het die een ding waarna haar hart verlang, gemis. Is dit nie hoe ons soms ook met God maak nie?1 Samuel 15:22 Maar Samuel antwoord “Wat verkies die Here: brandoffers of gehoorsaamheid? Gehoorsaamheid is beter as offers; om te luister is beter as die vet van ramme. (NLV) Dis wat Samuel vir koning Saul gesê het, nadat hy aan God ongehoorsaam was deur die vee van die vyand, teen God se bevel, vir hulself te hou, met die verskoning dat hulle dit vir die Here wil offer. Wel, Saul was uiterlik edel en gehoorsaam aan die wet, maar sy gedeeltelike gehoorsaamheid is steeds ongehoorsaamheid.Dis so maklik om liedjies te sing, jou hande in aanbidding op te lig, kontant in die kollekte bordjie te gooi ... en tog, in jou hart nie opreg te wees nie. Maar hoe kan jy weet of jy opreg is? Ja, dis reg! Dis deur hoe jy lewe en wat jy doen.Offers kan jou baie kos; gehoorsaamheid kos jou jou lewe.Om gehoorsaam te wees, is beter as om offerdiere te slag,en om te luister, is beter as om die vet van ramme te verbrand.Gehoorsaamheid is die hoogste vorm van aanbidding.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJudas 24-25 Aan Hom wat magtig is om julle van struikeling te bewaar en julle onbevlek en met vreugde sy heerlikheid te laat aanskou, aan die enigste God, ons Verlosser deur Jesus Christus ons Here, aan Hom behoort die heerlikheid en die majesteit, die krag en die mag, van alle ewigheid af, ook nou en tot in alle ewigheid! Amen. Die wêreld, oftewel die duiwel, sal jou daagliks probeer mislei om te glo dat dit alles oor die híér en nóú gaan; dat die hemel en hel bloot 'n versinsel van baie mense se verbeeldings is. Ja, my vriend, tot op die laaste dag van jou lewe sal jy steeds in die versoeking gelei word om weg te stap van jou ewige bestemming by God. Hier is die waarheid: God is Liefde, maar Hy is ook regverdig; ons is almal skuldig, want almal het gesondig, en ons het nie deel aan die heerlikheid van God nie, maar ons word, sonder dat ons dit verdien, op grond van sy genade vanweë die verlossing deur Jesus Christus, vrygespreek. Dis reg, nie een van ons kan ooit ‘n ewige plek saam met Hom verdien nie.Dis waarom het Hy Jesus, sy enigste Seun, na hierdie wêreld gestuur het sodat elkeen wat in Hom glo, nie verlore sal gaan nie, maar die gawe van die ewige lewe sal hê. Dis 'n gratis gawe van genade wat teen 'n verskriklike hoë prys gekoop is - die lewe van Jesus, wat vir jou en vir my aan die Kruis verdien is. Dis die waarheid.Baie mense glo daardie waarheid - miskien glo jy dit ook. Tog is die kanse tussen nou en eendag, baie groot om te struikel en om so hierdie gratis gawe te verkwis. Maar dit is geen verrassing vir God nie.Judas 24-25 Aan Hom wat magtig is om julle van struikeling te bewaar en julle onbevlek en met vreugde sy heerlikheid te laat aanskou, aan die enigste God, ons Verlosser deur Jesus Christus ons Here, aan Hom behoort die heerlikheid en die majesteit, die krag en die mag, van alle ewigheid af, ook nou en tot in alle ewigheid! Amen.God is beslis in staat om ons van struikeling te bewaar. Vertrou Hom. Vertrou op sy leiding. Want Hy het 'n plan, en ...Hy is magtig om jou van struikeling te bewaar en jou onbevlek en met vreugde sy heerlikheid te laat aanskou.Dis Sy Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Kan kukburen påverka våra chanser att bli med barn? Var hittar vi folk att ha trekant med, och hur kommer jag runt mina komplex för mitt anus? Idag svarar jag och min pojkvän och kollega Kristoffer Lindh, även känd som Sexpedagogen, på några frågor om sex som ni skickat in till mig på mail och instagram. Jag har inte möjlighet att svara privat på såna, det går ju utanför mitt jobb, men jag sparar dem och ibland dyker de upp så här, i ett poddavsnitt. Varsågoda!Privat coaching för singlar, par och flersammaDigitala sexlektioner i olika ämnenE-kursen och communityt Sex för DIG - koll på vad DU gillar, vill och behöver i sängenInstagram: Sexinspiration Sajna upp dig här för mitt nyhetsbrev med unika sextips varje veckaLäs mer om mig på www.sexinspiration.se Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us Fan Mail1 Petrus 1:8,9 Julle het Jesus wel nie gesien toe Hy op aarde was nie, tog maak dit nie vir julle saak nie. Julle het Hom lief en bly lojaal teenoor Hom. Julle bly op Hom vertrou. Dit is nie asof alles eers eendag daar ver gaan gebeur nie. Omdat ons op Jesus vertrou, kan ons sê dat ons saak nou reeds met God reg is. Dit is waarom ons in Jesus glo. Ek kan julle nie sê hoe bly dit ons maak nie. Ons loop behoorlik oor van dié wonderlike vreugde. Jy kan maar net om jou rondkyk en jy sal sien dat mense desperaat soek na iets wat eg is. Ons word oorweldig deur die nuus, ons kyk na dopamien-treffers op ons skerms, en dan lê ons snags met 'n pyn in ons harte wakker.Die vals belofte van vreugde is die slagyster wat soveel mense daartoe lei om dit op al die verkeerde plekke te soek. Een van daardie plekke is op ons slimfone; ons hoop om daar iets raak te loop wat vir ons plesier sal verskaf.So, kom ons slaan vandag 'n ander rigting in:1 Petrus 1:8,9 Julle het Jesus wel nie gesien toe Hy op aarde was nie, tog maak dit nie vir julle saak nie. Julle het Hom lief en bly lojaal teenoor Hom. Julle bly op Hom vertrou. Dit is nie asof alles eers eendag daar ver gaan gebeur nie. Omdat ons op Jesus vertrou, kan ons sê dat ons saak nou reeds met God reg is. Dit is waarom ons in Jesus glo. Ek kan julle nie sê hoe bly dit ons maak nie. Ons loop behoorlik oor van dié wonderlike vreugde. (DB)Petrus wil die nuwe Christene wat werklike probleme van hulle afsondering, laster en dreigemente ervaar, bemoedig. Hulle is op hierdie stadium darem nog nie vir die leeus gevoer nie, maar hulle kry swaar om in 'n vyandige kultuur aan Jesus getrou te bly.Petrus vertel hulle van 'n vreugde wat hul vyande nooit kan steel nie. Julle het Jesus wel nie gesien toe Hy op aarde was nie, tog maak dit nie vir julle saak nie. Julle het Hom lief en bly lojaal teenoor Hom.Nee, my vriend, hierdie is nie die een of ander brose gevoel van vreugde, van troos, of goedkeuring, wat soos mis voor die son verdwyn nie. Nee, dit is die vrug van die Gees, wat op Christus gevestig is, wat in die hitte van beproewing ontwikkel het.Die wêreld se vreugde vervaag vinnig. Maar die Gees se vreugde? Dit sal deur lyding voortduur. Jesus se Lig skyn die helderste in die duisternis. Laat jou vreugde volkome wees. Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailGalasiërs 5:22-23 Die vrug van die Gees, daarteenoor, is liefde, vreugde, vrede, geduld, vriendelikheid, goedhartigheid, getrouheid, nederigheid en selfbeheersing. Dis nie maklik om ‘n blywende verandering in jou lewe te maak nie. Dit kan baie moeilik wees wanneer jy 'n slegte gewoonte wil afleer en dit met 'n goeie een wil vervang. Ja, om blywende vrugte in jou lewe te produseer - goeie vrugte - is beslis 'n uitdaging!Vrugte is 'n goeie beeld van die goeie dinge wat ons in ons lewens wil kweek. Ons weet dat vrugte goed is. Dink net aan aarbeie, moerbeie en vye - sappig en soet; vol belofte.En tog hou hulle nie lank nie. Aarbeie begin binne 'n paar dae bederf; moerbeie bederf amper oornag; en vye hou skaars langer. Hulle word sommer gou pap en smaakloos. Dis dieselfde met die vreugde waarna ons streef – dis vlietend, broos, en dit is weg voordat jy dit weet. Maar hier praat die apostel Paulus van 'n ander soort vrugte ... die soort wat hou.Galasiërs 5:22-23 Die vrug van die Gees, daarteenoor, is liefde, vreugde, vrede, geduld, vriendelikheid, goedhartigheid, getrouheid, nederigheid en selfbeheersing.Dis nogal 'n lang lys, nè? Maar weet jy, tensy jy die vreugde ervaar, is dit onmoontlik om nuwe gewoontes te volhou. Soos aarbeie, moerbeie en vye, is elke item op daardie lys inherent goed. Maar jy sal sien dat die vrugte waarvan Paulus praat, nie vrugte is wat ons uit ons eie krag kan kweek nie, maar die vrugte wat die Gees in ons lewens voortbring.En een van daardie vrugte wat God in jou lewe wil kweek … is vreugde. Volledige, oorvloedige, ewige vreugde.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailRomeine 14:17 Die koninkryk van God is nie 'n saak van eet en drink nie, maar van gehoorsaamheid aan God, vrede en vreugde, wat die Heilige Gees ons gee. Watter dinge in jou lewe is vir jou die belangrikste: jou ervarings, jou besittings of jou status? Maak hulle jou werklik gelukkig? Is hierdie dinge wat jy gehoop het dit sou wees ... of nie?Franciscus van Assisi is in ‘n adellike gesin gebore. Hy was gewoond aan baie geld, luukshede, fyn klere, bankette en hoë status. Hy is tydens ‘n veldslag gevange geneem en vir meer as ‘n jaar as gyselaar in ‘n ondergrondse tronk aangehou. Hier het God in ‘n visioen aan hom verskyn en hy het die betekenis van luuksheid en voorreg begin bevraagteken. Hy het radikaal tot bekering gekom, sy lewe aan die Here gewy en ‘n monnik geword.Hy het in eensaamheid na die behoeftiges en melaatses – die mense wat hy vroeër sou verag het - omgesien. Hy het sy erfenis verwerp en eerder 'n lewe van radikale armoede, prediking en dienswerk gekies.Ja, dit is die waarheid... Hoe groot ons behoefte na rykdom, gemak en invloed ook al is ... ons weet diep binne-in dat dit nie saak maak hoe aanloklik geld en gemak lyk nie, dit sal nooit die diepste verlange van ons siel kan bevredig nie. Die apostel Paulus skryf hierdie woorde aan die kerk in Rome nadat daar ‘n stryery in die vroeë kerk ontstaan het.Romeine 14:17 Die koninkryk van God is nie 'n saak van eet en drink nie, maar van gehoorsaamheid aan God, vrede en vreugde, wat die Heilige Gees ons gee.Dit gaan nie oor die dinge van hierdie wêreld nie. Al wat hulle doen, is om ons te mislei en ons vreugde en vrede te steel.Franciscus het die vlietende plesier van hierdie wêreld verruil vir die dieper werklikheid van God se koninkryk – die geregtigheid, die vrede en die blydskap wat die Heilige Gees bring.God se koninkryk - sy heerskappy in ons lewens - is nie dié van 'n despotiese diktator wanneer ons onsself gewillig aan Hom oorgee nie. Nee, die koninkryk van God is 'n koninkryk van vreugde.Dis Sy Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJohannes 15:11 “Dit sê Ek vir julle sodat my blydskap in julle kan wees en julle blydskap volkome kan wees. Vreugde - egte, blywende vreugde - is die wonderlikste ding wat ‘n mens kan ervaar. Nie geluk nie. Geluk ry wipplank met jou omstandighede. Vreugde, aan die ander kant, bly by jou deur al jou hoogte- en laagtepunte.Ek weet dat God wil hê jy moet elke minuut van elke dag vir die res van jou lewe, in sy egte, blywende vreugde leef. En daardie vreugde is nie iets wat jy self kan optower nie; dit word deur Jesus self, diep in jou hart gevestig.Wanneer koel lug op 'n snikhete dag uit 'n lugversorger blaas, ervaar jy die proses van hitte-uitruiling. Warm en koel vloeistowwe vloei deur aparte kanale; hitte beweeg deur 'n dun wand, sodat die warm kant afgekoel word en die koel kant verfrissend koud word.Kyk wat Jesus die nag voor sy kruisiging vir sy vreesbevange volgelinge sê in:Johannes 15:11 “Dit sê Ek vir julle sodat my blydskap in julle kan wees en julle blydskap volkome kan wees.Hy moedig ons nie net van 'n afstand af aan nie – Hy dra sy eie vreugde ín ons oor. Sy vreugde vloei in ons moeë harte in en vul ons met sy blydskap, sodat ons blydskap ook volkome kan wees.Sien jy die oordrag, die uitruiling wat Hy beskryf?... my blydskap ... in julle ... julle blydskap ...volkome kan wees. Maar net soos die hitte-uitruiling afhang van die afstand van die bron, hang die vreugde-uitruiling af van hoe naby jy aan Jesus is, of jy ín Hom bly, na Hom luister, en aan Hom gehoorsaam is. Dit is hoe die vreugde-uitruiling plaasvind - deur nabyheid en intimiteit. Mag Jesus se vreugde ín jou ... volkome wees. Dit is God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailNehemia 8:11 Nehemia het verder gesê: “Gaan vier fees, eet en drink, en deel uit aan dié wat niks voorberei het nie. Hierdie dag word gewy aan ons Here. Moenie bedroef wees nie; as julle die Here met blydskap dien, sal Hy julle beskerm. Voel jy asof die laste van die lewe jou onderkry? En hoe langer jy hulle dra, hoe swaarder word hulle; hulle tap jou krag; hulle beroof jou van jou vreugde. Is dit regtig hoe jy wil leef?Mense gebruik kamele al vir byna drieduisend jaar as lasdiere. Daar is 'n rede daarvoor. 'n Kameel kan ongeveer 450 kilogram oor die woestyn dra - nie omdat hy sterk is nie, maar omdat God hom gemaak het met baie fyn ontwerpte sening-en-gewrig-skarniere wat sy bene sluit wanneer hy kniel.Die gewig van sy vrag druk dus nie direk op sy spiere nie; dit word deur sy skeletraamwerk gedra. Die kameel vou nie onder sy las soos ons sou nie - sy skelet doen die werk.Sien in jou gedagtes ‘n prentjie van die kameel met sy vrag. Kom ons dink dan aan die letterlike en figuurlike vrag waaronder die Israeliete gebuk gegaan het. Maar kyk wat God vir hulle, deur die profeet, sê:Nehemia 8:11 Nehemia het verder gesê: “Gaan vier fees, eet en drink, en deel uit aan dié wat niks voorberei het nie. Hierdie dag word gewy aan ons Here. Moenie bedroef wees nie; as julle die Here met blydskap dien, sal Hy julle beskerm.Hy bemoedig sy volk, nadat hulle vir soveel jare in ballingskap geleef het! Terwyl die Israeliete Jerusalem herbou het, moes hulle nie slegs die sterk opposisie van hul vyande hanteer nie, maar ook swaar vragte boumateriaal aandra om die muur en hul huise, weer op te bou. Wanneer jy te midde van ontberings kragteloos voel, gaan dit nie help om op jou tande te kners en harder te probeer stoei nie. Dit gaan oor God se vreugde wat die gewig van jou probleme verskuif; in plaas daarvan dat die las jou gees verpletter, dra sy vreugde jou vrag met sy krag, nie jou eie nie.God se vreugde lig nie net jou kop op nie - dit dra jou vrag, want die vreugde van die Here is jou krag.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailPsalm 16:11 U leer my hoe om te lewe. By U is daar oorvloedige blydskap. Uit u hand kom net wat mooi is. Die lewensreis het meer kinkels en draaie as 'n tuimeltrein. Neem een verkeerde draai op jou lewensreis... en jy sal teen hoë spoed die spoor byster raak.Het jy geweet die slim mense sê dat ons gemiddeld 500 bewuste besluite per dag neem. So sal ek en jy in ons leeftyd waarskynlik meer as 13 miljoen bewuste besluite neem.Kom ons neem aan dat 95% daarvan onbelangrik is, en kom ons sit hulle vir 'n oomblik eenkant. Dink aan die 5% - die 650 000 matige tot belangrike besluite - wat jy in jou lewe sal neem.Nou goed, kom ons sê 5% van daardie 5% is swak besluite; dan gee dit jou steeds 32 500 matige tot groot foute. Dis nogal ‘n aardige ou spulletjie, nè? Meer as genoeg om 'n lewe te verwoes. Is dit nie dalk ‘n verduideliking waarom soveel mense so ongelukkig is nie?Dawid het lewensbedreigende uitdagings gehad wat ons sekerlik nooit sal beleef nie. Maar kyk wat hy vir God gesê het in:Psalm 16:11 U leer my hoe om te lewe. By U is daar oorvloedige blydskap. Uit u hand kom net wat mooi is.Dawid vind blydskap by die Here. God is sy hele lewe. Hy wys hom die pad om te neem. Hy lei vir Dawid in elke besluit, op elke kinkel en om elke draai. Wat beteken dit om so ‘n verhouding met Hom te hê?Dawid het die antwoord geken: oorvloedige blydskap.God se blydskap begin in sy Teenwoordigheid. Dit is volledig; dit is ewig; en dit hang nie van jou omstandighede af nie. Vertrou Hom; praat met Hom en laat Hom jou pad bepaal en jou met sy vreugde vul!Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailSpreuke 13:4 Luiaards begeer baie dinge, maar hulle kry dit nie. Mense wat hard werk, kry alles wat hulle begeer. (NLV) Hulle sê: 'n kitssukses neem gewoonlik omtrent twintig jaar. Ek weet, ja, ek weet... Ons wens dit was nie waar nie, en tog weet ons dat dit honderdpersent waar is!In 1994 het 'n onbekende ou, met die naam Jeff Bezos, met 'n droom baie groter as wat hy veronderstel was om te droom, met 'n klein aanlyn-boekwinkeltjie in sy motorhuis begin. Terwyl ander agter winsbejag en kitssukses was, het hy sy oë op die horison gevestig gehou. Hy het sy wins herbelê; hy het geëksperimenteer toe ander hulle geldjies spandeer het of versigtig weggebêre het.Daardie motorhuis-gebore-droom het stadigaan sy reikwydte oor die hele wêreld uitgebrei. Amazon het nie slegs ‘n kleinhandelaar geword nie, maar 'n wêreldwye mark, 'n internetpionier en 'n huishoudelike naam – alles omdat een man die waarde van uithouvermoë bo kitsoplossings verstaan het.Bezos het geweier om ongeduldig te word en nie toegelaat dat sukses na sy kop toe gaan nie. Hy het gesê: Korttermyn-oorwinnings is maklik, korttermyn-denke is gevaarlik.Spreuke 13:4 Luiaards begeer baie dinge, maar hulle kry dit nie. Mense wat hard werk, kry alles wat hulle begeer. (NLV)Kom ons wees realisties. Ek wil nou nie jou moed breek, of jou drome verydel nie, maar kom ons neem aan dat jy waarskynlik nie nóg 'n Amazon sal begin nie ... alhoewel, wie weet, dalk verbaas jy ons almal? Onthou net een ding: God het jou uniek gemaak om iets te doen; om iets te bereik wat hierdie wêreld 'n beter plek sal maak.En hoewel harde werk nie altyd die vlak van sukses, wat ons in gedagte gehad het, waarborg nie, onthou dat luiheid omtrent honderdpersent van die tyd mislukking waarborg. Droom gerus groot drome, so groot as wat jy wil. Maar onthou, drome sonder dissipline bly net dit: drome! Dit is harde werk en ywer wat drome in werklikheid verander.Luiaards begeer baie dinge, maar hulle kry dit nie. Mense wat hard werk, kry alles wat hulle begeer. Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailSpreuke 11:13 Iemand wat loop en skinder, lap geheime uit; 'n betroubare mens bewaar 'n geheim. Skinder en stories oorvertel, is so oud soos die berge self! Dit is in die Bybel waar ons hoor dat dit reeds in die Tuin van Eden al voorgekom het. Ja, die oorvertel van geheime en onwaarhede oor ander mense is een van die grootste versoekings van die mensdom. Die slang in die Tuin van Eden het dit afgeskop deur die waarheid oor God te verdraai om vir Adam en Eva die groot leuen oor hul Skepper te vertel.Anne Boleyn, die tweede vrou van Koning Hendrik VIII, was die teiken van hofdienaars en politieke mededingers wat jaloers was op haar invloed. Hulle het om die hoekies gefluister en haar belaster; hulle het haar van egbreuk, bloedskande en heksery beskuldiging en die nuus vinnig versprei.Alhoewel dit absoluut onwaar was, is dit gebruik om 'n saak teen haar te bou. Sy is in die Toring van London onthoof. Met haar wrede dood, is dinge in Engeland gedestabiliseer, die troonopvolging is radikaal verander en daar het politieke onrus ontstaan.Hoeveel mense se loopbane, reputasies en lewens is deur die eeue heen verwoes deur ydele of kwaadwillige skinderstories? Daar moet sekerlik miljoene van hulle wees. Dis nogal iets om oor na te dink, voordat jy volgende keer in die versoeking kom om deel te neem aan ‘n skynbaar onskadelike ou skinderstorietjie.Spreuke 11:13 Iemand wat loop en skinder, lap geheime uit; 'n betroubare mens bewaar 'n geheim.Jy mag baie populêr voel wanneer mense om jou saamdrom terwyl jy 'n sappige skinderstorie oordra. Hulle mag dalk in hulle noppies wees wanneer hulle 'n vuil geheim hoor. Maar pasop! Hulle sal jou nooit weer vertrou nie, want hulle weet nou dat jy net so maklik oor hulle ook kan skinder!Skinder mag dalk onskuldig lyk, maar dit dra die krag om mense se lewens te vernietig. Skinder is die duiwel se radio; moenie sy platejoggie wees nie!Mense wat geheime oor ander vertel, kan nie vertrou word nie. Diegene wat vertrou kan word, se geheime gaan na hulle graf.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailFilippense 2:3-4 Moet niks uit selfsug doen of om daarmee te spog nie. Wees eerder nederig deur van medegelowiges meer te dink as van jouself. Julle moenie net elkeen na sy eie belange omsien nie, maar ook na mekaar se belange. (NLV) Jy hoor mense praat oor hul roeping, en dit klink alte deftig en edel. Maar 'n roeping het 'n onvermydelike prys. Dit behels dat jy jou eie begeertes in diens van ander neerlê. En dít is die edel deel.Sommige mense hou daarvan om te spog oor die wonderlike werk wat hulle doen. Sir Nicholas Winton was nie een van hulle nie. In 1938 het hy 'n ski-vakansie gekanselleer om 'n vriend, wat met vlugtelinge in Tsjeggo-Slowakye gewerk het, te help. Omdat hy die Nazi-bedreiging gesien het, het hy die redding van 669 Joodse kinders georganiseer deur treine te reël, visums te bekom en pleeghuise in Brittanje te vind.Hy het 50 jaar lank daaroor geswyg en nooit erkenning vir sy aandeel daaraan gesoek nie. Om net vir homself te leef, sou baie veiliger en makliker gewees het, maar Winton het die moeiliker pad van diens gekies en ander bo homself gestel.Filippense 2:3-4 Moet niks uit selfsug doen of om daarmee te spog nie. Wees eerder nederig deur van medegelowiges meer te dink as van jouself. Julle moenie net elkeen na sy eie belange omsien nie, maar ook na mekaar se belange. (NLV)Die lewe waarvan Paulus in daardie gedeelte praat, klink mos na die perfekte patroon vir jou om jou lewe op te bou. Ons hoef nie iets groots te bereik nie; dis die klein dingetjies wat ons langs die pad doen, wat mense se lewens beïnvloed.In 'n wêreld waar eiebelang die norm is, is onselfsugtigheid skaars. Die mees vervullende lewe word nie gemeet aan wat jy vir jouself hou nie, maar aan hoeveel jy van jouself weggee.Julle moenie net elkeen na sy eie belange omsien nie, maar ook na mekaar se belange.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJohannes 6:7-9 Filippus antwoord Hom toe: “Twee honderd mense se dagloon is nie eers genoeg om elkeen van hulle 'n stukkie brood te laat kry nie.” 'n Ander dissipel, Andreas, die broer van Simon Petrus, sê toe vir Hom: “Hier is 'n seuntjie met vyf garsbrode en twee vissies; maar wat is dit vir so baie mense?” Kan ‘n mens 'n skare van vyfduisend met twee klein vissies en vyf brode voed? Dit klink belaglik, nie waar nie? Ek bedoel ... wat het Jesus gedink?Gladys Aylward het in Engeland as ‘n bediende gewerk. Sy het min formele opleiding gehad en amper geen geld nie. Sy het die opregte begeerte gehad om sendingwerk in China te gaan doen. Met skaars genoeg geld vir 'n enkelkaartjie, het sy alleen na China vertrek en God vertrou om haar tot sy eer te gebruik.Oor die jare het God hierdie eenvoudige meisietjie op wonderlike wyse geseën met buitengewone invloed. Sy het 'n herberg gestig waar sy die Evangelie gedeel het; sy het 'n kosbare adviseur vir 'n Chinese mandaryn geword; sy het selfs wrede stelsels in die tronke hervorm. Tydens ‘n Japannese inval het sy, ten spyte van die feit dat sy gewond en siek was, meer as ‘n 100 weeskinders op 'n gevaarlike reis van ‘n honderd en sestig kilometer lank, na veiligheid gelei. Wat met 'n nederige vrywilliger in God se hande begin het, het tot 'n reddingsboei vir talle lewens ontwikkel.Maar, kom ons kyk weer na Jesus se verregaande idee om vyfduisend mense te voed ...Johannes 6:7-9 Filippus antwoord Hom toe: “Twee honderd mense se dagloon is nie eers genoeg om elkeen van hulle 'n stukkie brood te laat kry nie.” 'n Ander dissipel, Andreas, die broer van Simon Petrus, sê toe vir Hom: “Hier is 'n seuntjie met vyf garsbrode en twee vissies; maar wat is dit vir so baie mense?”Maar Jesus het daardie skamele vissies en broodjies geseën ... en die hele skare het geëet. En jy onthou mos, daar was selfs twaalf mandjies vol oor! Net soos in hierdie wonderwerk, het baie mense, gewone mense soos Gladys, geleer dat dit nie jou werk is om die vyfduisend te voed nie. Jou werk is om die vyf brode en twee vissies te bring. Wanneer jy vir God gee wat in jou hande is, kan Hy die werk van ‘n eenvoudige gehoorsame volgeling in 'n wonderwerk verander wat vir geslagte lank sal weergalm.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Jackson Larkin and Lois Schweigert break down Dan Purser MD's VARS antioxidant line — Validated, Absorbable, Reduced, and Stable. Learn how the VARS Triad works synergistically in the mitochondria to combat oxidative stress, reduce cytokines, and support recovery.Topics include:• The origin and science of VARS Glutathione, SOD from deep-sea algae, and new Catalase (Nrf2 activator)• Why many with fibromyalgia and homocysteine-related SNPs benefit• Dramatic improvements in workout recovery and chronic inflammation• The role of genetics, CMA testing, and ongoing protocol evolutionWhether you're new to the protocol or looking to understand how these powerful antioxidants work together, this episode delivers clear explanations and real-world results.Subscribe and leave a review — we appreciate your support!#VARS #Glutathione #Fibromyalgia #Antioxidants #PurserWellness

In Episode 157 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with Kathy Durfee, the CEO and Founder of systems integrator/managed services provider TechHouse, to discuss her 30-year leadership journey. Conversation topics include embracing “practical bravery,” teaching creative problem solving, and connecting your company mission to day-to-day activities. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

Send us Fan MailJesaja 1:17 Leer eers om goed te doen. Sorg dat mense regverdig behandel word. Help mense wat verdruk word. Verdedig die weeskind. Pleit vir die regte van die weduwee. (NLV) Ons is nogal geneig om dubbele standaarde te hê as dit by geregtigheid kom. Wanneer ons onskuldig geblameer word, my maat, dan wil ons hê geregtigheid moet geskied! Maar wat gebeur wanneer ‘n ander persoon onskuldig moet ly? Hoeveel pla dit ons? Gee ons dan werklik om?Wêreldwyd word fabrieke en ander nywerhede dikwels gekoppel aan dwangarbeid, kinderuitbuiting en selfs mensehandel. Dink byvoorbeeld aan die kleremaak- en die elektronika industrie...As ons werklik omgee vir die geregtigheid van ander, dan gaan dit nie net daaroor om hul produkte te vermy nie, maar om aktief te pleit vir verandering – om aan maatskappye te skryf, etiese handelsmerke te ondersteun en so die bewustheid van onreg te verhoog.Die uitdaging is enorm, oorweldigend, ongerieflik en duur. Om geregtigheid vir daardie mense te kies, beteken om meer te betaal, gewoontes te verander en die risiko om die ontevredenheid van diegene, wat gemak bo konfrontasie verkies, te veroorsaak. Kom ons kyk na hierdie vers terwyl ons hieroor nadink:Jesaja 1:17 Leer eers om goed te doen. Sorg dat mense regverdig behandel word. Help mense wat verdruk word. Verdedig die weeskind. Pleit vir die regte van die weduwee. (NLV)Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was ‘n groot teëstander van Hitler en het op die ou end met sy lewe daarvoor betaal. Hy het hierdie belangrike stelling gemaak: Jou ‘ja' vir God vereis jou ‘nee' vir alle ongeregtigheid, vir alle kwaad, vir alle leuens, vir alle onderdrukking en benadeling van die swakkes en armes.Hoe kan jy deel van die oplossing wees? Hoe kan jy regtig vir mense help? Ons besef dat daardie soort geregtigheid meer as geld kos; dit vra iets van jouself...As ons ons medemens net halfpad so lief het soos God van ons vra, sal ons dieselfde standaard van geregtigheid vir die volgende persoon wil hê, as wat ons vir onsself verwag. Verdedig die weeskind. Pleit vir die regte van die weduwee.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

In IT services M&A, depending on a single platform or channel partner is a valuation risk, not a strength. This episode breaks down what happens to your firm's value when a vendor changes its pricing, partner tiers, or lead flow, and what the most acquirable IT services firms do instead. Chapters (verify exact times against the final cut) 0:00 Cold open 0:30 Why channel partners matter, and why dependency is risky 3:30 Vendors act in their own interest first 8:00 The "$5M consultancy" problem: when the rules change overnight 11:30 Specialize or diversify? The verticalization hedge 17:30 When the leads dry up 20:00 The future partner role: final-mile and the "service garage" 23:30 "My partner program just changed": what to do first 27:30 What program changes mean for M&A and consolidation 34:00 Services as software: the opportunity ahead In this episode • Vendors optimize for vendors; partner programs have trended toward fewer partners and lower payouts for 20+ years • Buyers discount single-vendor dependency the way they discount customer concentration • Verticalized expertise naturally makes you multi-vendor and harder to disrupt • The durable partner role is implementation, integration, and ongoing service • Program upheaval accelerates consolidation; well-run, profitable firms stay attractive Links • Read more on our blog: https://www.revenuerocket.com/blog/ • What's your firm worth? Valuation calculator: https://www.revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator/ • Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ • Listen to Shoot the Moon on your favorite platform: https://www.revenuerocket.com/podcast/ • More from Revenue Rocket: https://www.revenuerocket.com/ About Revenue Rocket — Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. For 25+ years we have helped founders grow, position, and sell their firms. Thinking about your next move? Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

In this heartfelt episode, Chantel Purser (Dan Purser MD's daughter), Denise Purser, and Lois Schweigert from End Fibro with Natural Options sit down for an honest conversation about living with fibromyalgia — and continuing to get better over many years.They share personal stories of severe flares, debilitating pain, and the practical tools that changed everything: the VARS Trio (Glutathione, SOD, and the powerful new Catalase), low-copper diet strategies, gradual strength training, and the mindset of consistency over perfection.You'll hear:How extra Catalase quickly resolved a bad flare (swollen hands, brain fog, dropping things)Why serving size matters on a low-copper diet and real-life food trigger experiencesBuilding muscle and recovering from workouts after years of painThe importance of intracellular CMA testing and genetic insightsNavigating setbacks, vacations, and still seeing ongoing progressWhether you're newly diagnosed, have been struggling for years, or support someone with chronic pain and inflammation, this episode is packed with hope, encouragement, and actionable advice from people who have lived it.June 2026 Anniversary Special$100 off Genetic Testing + CMA testing (deepest discount of the year). One lucky order placed this month will be fully reimbursed!

Your friend sold for a great multiple. PE pays more than strategics. Earnouts are a trap. Wait for the right market. You're too small to sell. Here's what's actually true. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 00:20 Welcome and Episode Setup 02:00 Myth 1: "My Friend Sold for X EBITDA, That's My Benchmark" 07:30 Myth 2: "PE Always Pays More" (Or "Strategics Always Win on Price") 13:00 Myth 3: "Earnouts Are a Trap" 18:30 Myth 4: "I Need to Wait for the Right Market Conditions" 24:00 Myth 5: "I'm Too Small to Sell" 28:30 The Common Thread and What to Do Instead ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE Podcast: https://www.revenuerocket.com/series/shoot-the-moon/ Website: https://www.revenuerocket.com Talk to us: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenue-rocket-consulting-group ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Revenue Rocket is the premier M&A advisor to IT services companies, helping owners in the lower middle market navigate sell-side and buy-side transactions with specialized expertise and hands-on deal management. Shoot the Moon is their weekly podcast covering M&A strategy, valuation, and growth for IT services leaders including MSPs, cybersecurity firms, cloud providers, VARs, and digital transformation companies. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

Most first acquisition offers are not the best offers. If a buyer has approached your MSP or IT services company out of the blue, this episode walks through how to evaluate that offer, what a letter of intent actually binds you to, and why bringing in an advisor before you sign protects both your price and your optionality.   CHAPTERS 0:00 Why most first offers are not the best offer 1:45 What changed: a seller's market and nonstop inbound offers 4:45 "I already have an offer" — what an LOI really binds you to 7:00 Why the first offer usually is not optimized 10:15 Mistakes founders make running their own deal 14:50 When to bring in an M&A advisor 18:00 Deal facilitation vs. a full sell-side process 22:00 Control vs. leverage: what an advisor actually does 24:15 The first thing to do when an offer lands 26:30 Wrap-up   KEY TAKEAWAYS Most first offers are not optimized. Without competitive tension, you usually leave price, terms, and strategic fit on the table. In an LOI, the no-shop clause is typically the only binding provision. The number can still move significantly in diligence. There are roughly 150 things to negotiate between LOI and close, from working capital to earnout structure to reps and warranties. "Deal facilitation" meets you where you already are  with a buyer or signed LOI, and helps you get to close at a lower scope than a full process. An advisor does not take control. They add leverage, while you make every final decision. Before you respond to any offer: don't engage emotionally, validate the buyer's credibility and certainty to close, and protect your optionality.   LINKS Read more on our blog: https://www.revenuerocket.com/blog/ Estimate your company's value with our Valuation Calculator: https://www.revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator/ Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-moon-with-revenue-rocket/id1478519505 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6y7u9KuOjaplhScHtINGZU More episodes: https://www.revenuerocket.com/series/shoot-the-moon/ Website: https://www.revenuerocket.com   ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. Based in Bloomington, Minnesota, the firm has advised technology and IT services founders on mergers, acquisitions, and exits for 25+ years.Shoot the Moon is hosted by Revenue Rocket partners Mike Harvath, Ryan Barnett, and Matt Lockhart.

Discover the power of the VARS Triad (also called the REDOX Triad)—Dr. Dan Purser MD's groundbreaking, patented antioxidant protocol featuring VARS Glutathione, VARS SOD, and VARS Catalase. In this live session, Dr. Purser breaks down what VARS stands for (Validated, Absorbable, Reduced, Stable), how this physician-designed trio supports your body's natural redox balance, quiets inflammation and cytokines at the root-cause level, and helps overcome genetic challenges like high homocysteine, oxidative stress, and related chronic issues. Perfect for anyone exploring advanced functional medicine and targeted supplementation.For more information about the VARS Triad, click here.

In Episode 156 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with Shiv Sundar, the Co-Founder of ISV Esper, to discuss his journey leading a company from its startup phase to over $100 million in investments with hundreds of customers, partners, and team members. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org.

In Episode 155 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy talks with RSPA General Counsel Atty. Jill Miller about contract landmines in today's reseller agreements, previewing her RetailNOW 2026 breakout session.  “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

A rendszerváltás első sűrű heteiről beszélgetünk: hol ér véget a transzparencia, és hol kezdődik az új politikai filmszínház? Mit mutatnak az új miniszterek, Magyar Péter varsói és bécsi útja, az uniós pénzekért tett első lépések, az alkotmánymódosítások, a kegyelmi akták nyilvánossága és a Fidesz látványos szétesése?Lakner Zoltán szerint most a „hosszú győzelmi pillanatot” éli az ország, de hamarosan kiderül: az új hatalom képes-e nemcsak bemutatni, hanem végig is vinni a jogállami helyreállítást.00:00 – Rendszerváltás első hete05:34 – Mit mutatnak az új miniszterek?09:31 – EU-pénzek, pótköltségvetés, üzemanyag: az első nagy kormányzati tesztek15:07 – KEKVA-k és Szuverenitásvédelmi Hivatal: jogállami helyreállítás vagy államosítás?29:25 – Varsó, Bécs, Brüsszel: visszatérés Európába és Közép-Európába38:49 – Nyolc év után vége: jó ötlet-e korlátozni a miniszterelnöki hatalmat?47:44 – Fidesz-összeomlás és a hosszú győzelmi pillanat51:07 – Kegyelmi akták: Novák, Varga és az Orbán-szál01:06:16 – Traumafeldolgozás és társadalmi szembenézésLegyél rendszeres támogató!https://cause.lundadonate.org/partizan/adomanyPartizán webshop:https://shop.partizan.hu/—Írj nekünk!Ha van egy sztorid, tipped vagy ötleted:szerkesztoseg@partizan.huBizalmas információ esetén:partizanbudapest@protonmail.com(Ahhoz, hogy titkosított módon tudj írni, regisztrálj te is egy protonmail-es címet.)Támogatások, események, webshop, egyéb ügyek:info@partizan.hu—Csatlakozz a Partizán közösségéhez, értesülj elsőként eseményeinkről, akcióinkról!https://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/maradjunk-kapcsolatban—Legyél önkéntes!Csatlakozz a Partizán önkéntes csapatához:https://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/csatlakozz-te-is-a-partizan-onkenteseihez—Iratkozz fel tematikus hírleveleinkre!Partizán Szerkesztőségi Hírlevélhttps://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/iratkozz-fel-a-partizan-szerkesztoinek-hirlevelereHeti Feledyhttps://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/partizan-heti-feledy

In Episode 154 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with Mark Morgan, ScanSource's newly appointed President of Specialty Technologies, about channels in transition, companies in transition, and leaders in transition.  “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

This is episode 839. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Watch the video of this podcast on YouTube here. The Sales Game Changers Podcast was recognized by YesWare as the top sales podcast. Read the announcement here. FeedSpot named the Sales Game Changers Podcast at a top 20 Sales Podcast and top 8 Sales Leadership Podcast! Subscribe to the Sales Game Changers Podcast now on Apple Podcasts! Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! Today's show featured an interview with Corey Rooney, Director of Channel Partner Business Development at Carahsoft, and Federal Business Development and Marketing expert Robert Efrus   Find Corey on LinkedIn. Find Robert on LinkedIn. COREY'S ADVICE: "Avoid vague value statements, clearly itemize what the government's getting, and frame out in your response how it impacts their outcomes." ROBERT'S ADVICE: "The most important thing is to first understand the environment your customer is operating in, what the mission requirements are of their agency, what the priorities are of the current leadership, before you even have the conversation."

We find out what it's like heliskiing in Albania, learn about the ski resort of Champoluc in Italy, and hear about the last ski day of the season in Chamonix.We also have snow reports from Cervinia in Italy and Les 2 Alpes and Tignes in France.Host Iain Martin was joined by freelance journalist Katie Bamber and Editor of Snow Magazine, Tris Kennedy. SHOW NOTESKatie previously shared her experience of touring the Alps in a camper van (in Episode 167), the Haute Route (in Episode 172) and Geilo in Norway in Episode 204 (1:30) She recently skied on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier in Austria (2:45) Tris skied at Passo Tonale, which stays open until 03 May (4:15) Iain was at the Grands Montets for the closing day party (6:00) Check out the Pond Skim event video (7:00) Alex Armand from Tip Top Ski Coaching is in Les 2 Alpes (7:45) Floss Cockle from the YouTube channel FreeFloFloss is in Tignes (8:30) Dave Burrows from SnoPros Ski School was in Cervinia (10:30) Samuel Equy & Mathéo Jacquemoud set a new ski FKT for Chamonix to the top of Mont Blanc and back (13:30) You can watch their video here Jaquemoud set a time of of 13h27m49s for the Haute Route earlier in April (14:00) Where is Champoluc? (16:45) What's the ski area like? (19:00) Ski 2 went out of business in 2021 (23:00) Al Morgan reported from the SIGB ski test in Champoluc in Episode 303 (23:30) Tris travelled with Heliski Albania (26:00) Where is Albania? (26:30) Who is Norman Wisdom? (28:00) How to get there? (29:00) Pristina has statues of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton (29:00) Valbona is in the ‘Accursed Mountains' (31:00) You don't (normally) need to jump out of the helicopter (32:00) What's the terrain like? (33:30) Best time to go (35:30) Check Tris's article in National Geographic (37:00)FeedbackYou can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to theskipodcast@gmail.com. We're also on WhatsAppAnon (Spotify): "309 was another fabulous episode bringing the mountains ever closer to all of us. Despite living in a ski resort myself [Morgins] I never fail to learn something new about life in my own backyard." Lucy Kings: "I've been an avid listener for some time. I'm particularly interested in your commitment to sustainable travel, championing the female voice and above all I love that The Ski Podcast has highlighted the issues of disability and improving access to skiing for young people by fundraising for Snow Camp." Antonia Simpson: "I was delighted to see Vars and Risoul featured in Episode 310. We've been going to the area for years. It's a massively underrated region and it's brilliant.”There are now 311 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with in our back catalog – all available at theskipodcast.com. Just have a search around the tags and categories and you're bound to find something you'll find something of interest to get you through until next winter.You can buy Iain a coffee at BuyMeACoffee.com

5/7/26 (co-host Buz Eisenberg). Food Bank of Western Mass Dev Dir Jillian Morgan: 40%-50% of people here are food insecure. Mental Health Law Prof Frederick Vars: “Through the Fire: How People with Mental Illness Are Empowering Each Other,” his own hospitalizations, self-help groups, meds & hope. Congressman Jim McGovern: the feds v Smith Coll, elections 2026 & the War in Iran. All That Jazz w/ Ruth Griggs & bassist Matt Dwonszyk: Side of Jazz @Eastside Grill.

Master the Microsoft co-sell evolution today. Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this deep-dive panel discussion, industry experts Erin Figer, Erika Irby, and Reis Barrie celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Microsoft Co-Sell program by dissecting its evolution from its 2016 inception to today's data-driven, outcome-focused landscape. The group explores the critical shift from transactional sales to modern, frictionless co-sell motions, emphasizing the importance of signals, intentionality, and building credibility with Microsoft field teams. Whether you are navigating the complexities of the marketplace, struggling with reseller enablement, or looking to integrate AI into your sales process, this conversation offers actionable insights to align your organization's go-to-market strategy with Microsoft's evolving priorities and achieve results. https://youtu.be/KV1MGSoyWbQ Key Takeaways Effective co-selling has shifted from autonomous, fragmented motions to a highly collaborative, data-driven approach essential for modern cloud GTM strategies. Credibility is the currency of partnership; without trust from vendors and customers, technical go-to-market motions will fail to produce long-term outcomes. The “REO” (Reseller Enablement Offering) model is an operational unlock for ISVs to go global and sell local without the friction of multi-party private offers. Integrating AI into CRM systems is vital for identifying total addressable market (TAM) signals and maintaining sales velocity. “Don’t automate a bad process” remains the cardinal rule; technology should be used to refine existing, successful motions, not to propagate inefficient ones. The human element—community, in-person events, and empathy—is a necessary differentiator in an increasingly digital, automated B2B landscape. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Microsoft Azure, Co-sell evolution, Hyperscaler strategy, SMB partner investment, Cloud Marketplace, Veeam GTM, Partner Center alignment, Channel enablement, REO, Cloud consumption, ISV scaling, Go-to-market optimization, Partner-led growth, Azure consumption, Channel friction reduction, Outcome-driven sales, Microsoft ecosystem, Revenue acceleration, Partner alignment. Transcript Erin Figer Panel For Cut Out [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: So when we, so, uh, this all started ’cause I was trying to figure out what was next when I left Microsoft and I had this woman who was doing work, actually starting the co-selling process when we first started doing co-selling. And she was working with one of our partners and she was working with my team when I was at Microsoft. [00:00:17] And then I said, this lady knows a lot about this stuff. So I reached out, I left Microsoft, I said, I think we can help each other. Like, I think we’re gonna, I got these companies that I spoke at Microsoft’s conference. They’re like, can you come help us out? And we teamed up. And, uh, we’ve been friends and doing fun stuff ever since. [00:00:34] And she’s spoken at just about every event in some capacity or another, whether it was on stage or a workshop. Aaron Feiger. And then, uh, I, I found, I also, through Aaron, I met this other gentleman who had another company and he was doing amazing work with ISVs or SDCs, uh, Reese Barry from Carve. And then, uh, when I think we started up the event, I mean, Erica Irby came to one of our first events and spoke on stage. [00:00:58] I was like, yeah, this. The person knows what she’s doing. So I’ve asked the three of them to come up and kind of round out and end the day, but all three of ’em have a tremendous, uh, background in this whole process of co-selling go to market strategies. And I thought you, you can, I’m just giving it over to the three of you. [00:01:17] Erin Figer: I we don’t need [00:01:18] Vince Menzione: a, you don’t needer you don’t need a clicker and you, you know what you’re all gonna be talking about. But these are some really smart people about how to partner with Microsoft. So, yeah. No, thank you for having us. [00:01:27] Erin Figer: Um, hello. Hello. I think this is on. All right. So actually we’re gonna do an exercise. [00:01:32] Um, I want everyone to close their eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. All right. I want you to think back to January of 2016. What were you doing? Where were you in your career? What company were you working for? What was going on in your Microsoft partnership in January of 2016? Okay, Erica, what was happening for you? [00:01:59] Erika Irby: So, uh, is this on? Sorry, I cannot tell. Um, I was at Veeam for the first time. We had just launched our first, uh, endpoint backup, uh, product in April of the previous year because nobody knew what cloud was yet, and people were scared. So we had to launch that product. And we had a relationship with Microsoft in a sense that about 20% of our business sat on Hyper V. [00:02:25] That equated to about, I think like around 90 ish million dollars, which at the time was incredible for us. But to Microsoft was, you know, like, who are you guys again? And, um, we begged and begged to have any type of communication with them. Events. Funding nothing. We did not know what Azure consumption was. [00:02:43] We didn’t have any of that information. And if somebody would’ve told me at that time that nine years later we would sign a five year contract with them and have multiple products dedicated to Microsoft, I would’ve been like, y’all are bananas. [00:02:58] Erin Figer: Reese, what were you doing in January of 2016? [00:03:00] Reis Barrie: Uh, let’s see, Jan, 2016, I was moving from Orlando, Florida to Seattle, Washington, uh, sight unseen with no place to stay. [00:03:10] Uh, to take a job at a place called Microsoft or Consulting Gig, a place called Microsoft. Um, kicking off some of the cool motions that we’re, uh, we’re gonna talk about today, I think. [00:03:20] Erin Figer: Does anybody know the significance of January, 2016 in the audience? Any takers? It was the launch of Cosell officially for Microsoft. [00:03:31] Congratulations. We’re celebrating 10 years of officially. Problematizing how you connect with the Microsoft sales organization in a programmatic at scale way. And try to build meaningful relationships. And I have been helping partners since the inception of Microsoft’s Cosell program. Um, I was on the partner side, Reese was on the inside. [00:03:59] You were at a partner. So we have all seen the evolution of Cosell across all three hyperscalers launching, you know, their co-sell initiatives. So I just wanted to take a moment to recognize. I didn’t know how many people realized that it’s been 10 years, it’s 10 year anniversary. I think it’s a big milestone. [00:04:15] Huge. So. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we, you know, when they launched it, I went, I was consulting for a startup outta Boston and we were trying to get Microsoft’s attention, competitor to fame, and I went to the business development guy and said, uh, do you, did you just see this program that Microsoft launched? I think we should include this in our branding strategy and we should use co-sell as a way to get our brand out to Microsoft and be able to tell our story of who we are and what we’re doing and that we’re in their accounts and they don’t even know it. [00:04:55] ’cause we’re the startup out of Boston who switched over from AWS to Microsoft. And we did, and I put every single opportunity in the system I could for the first six months, which was the last six months of their fiscal year. We go to partner of the, we go to, what was it called? Them WPCI think at the time. [00:05:13] Mm-hmm. Uh, in Vegas. And Nasuni won wins like all four wards worldwide. US Education, healthcare Partner of the year because I put 117 deals in the system and then it seeded Na Sunni’s Marketing for the next two years. ’cause Microsoft gave them tons of money and attention and we were off to the races. [00:05:35] Right. And then it was, can you repeat that? And we went and repeated it with Red Hat and Rubrik and Nintex and Quest and. I don’t know, lots more. But it was, it’s been fun journey co-selling. And it’s interesting to see now, um, how we continue 10 years later to evolve co-sell. And so Erica, what were some of the takeaways you had today listening to the conversation about how co-sell, how you’re modernizing and co-sell is changing inside your organization, especially now being a boomerang. [00:06:08] Erika Irby: Yeah, well we call it a Veeam ring ’cause everything a veer ring, everything has to start with with Veeam. Well, one thing I was gonna comment on, I think I’m sitting here thinking how wild is it that back in the day we actually had to define that co-sell was an action that, that, you know, partners and vendors needed to take or, and different vendors and alliances. [00:06:25] I mean, now we can’t even imagine going to market without, you know, that, that attach. But at the time, we were just very autonomous and everybody sold their own product and it, it took like this actual motion, um, to get us working together. But now look at us. I mean, this community is incredible. And we can also see this by, and even when AGU was mentioning earlier, all the bosses he had in his room, I mean. [00:06:47] How many people like know each other. I mean, this is like part of that, that ecosystem. But today, um, a couple of things I took away, and by the way, we want a lot of interactions, so we’re going to kind of throw it back out at you guys. But for me, um, outcomes came up repeatedly that was mentioned multiple times about outcomes. [00:07:04] Um, speed with intentionality. I think that was super critical. We have to go to market. There has to be a sense of urgency, but if we’re not intentional, it’s like, what are we doing? It’s just like a big mess. Um, and then credibility. And this is something I think is super important, regardless of, um, all of our emotions, all of our go to market, all of the, the things that we do, if we are not credible or not building trust with our vendors, our, our co-partners, our customers, we will never be successful. [00:07:35] Um, so those are the three main things that I took away from, from everybody talking today. And I, I thought, I mean, to me personally, I thought those were pretty powerful. [00:07:42] Yeah. [00:07:42] Erika Irby: So we’d love to hear. [00:07:43] Erin Figer: Yeah. And I know Reese, you have been doing a lot around outcomes and changing kind of the cosal, um, intention. [00:07:54] Reis Barrie: Yeah. The, uh, the, just thinking back to today, like that was like such a, it was really a, a big key theme of today. Like everyone talked about, whether it’s pivot of, of sales, partnership, um, even when you’re talking about AI and some of the, the, uh. POC discussions. So the live like type of stuff, everything was centered around that narrative. [00:08:17] And so, um, and it’s the same with, it’s the same with partnerships. It’s the same with your co-sell motion, same with your benefits utilization, um, and the way you’re utilizing partnerships. And so that’s, that’s a huge, huge component of, um, what I also took away from today. Um, and then somebody, I think it was Mark who said it that I’m gonna, I’m gonna steal this because the, the whole, um. [00:08:40] Near and dear to my heart of like, don’t, don’t scale automate ai, A-I-F-I-A bad process. Like as someone who deals with like, for the most part, bad processes, like day in and day out, um, and trying to refine them and improve them. Like, that’s one of the first things that we, uh, that we talk to partners about when it comes to their partnership and, and the processes they have in place. [00:09:03] So those are like two really big, just takeaways from [00:09:06] Erin Figer: Yeah. Nice. So we’re here to learn from each other, right? Like this is an ultimate partner community of learning from each other. So I’d really love to hear from the audience, like what are some of the things you’re doing in your cloud? Go to market approach and co-selling that you’re trying out. [00:09:23] Either you tried it, you failed fast, you learned from that, that you can share those lessons learned or like what’s working and how are you changing to be more outcome driven in your cloud go to market, uh, approach. Any takers in wanting to experience share? Great. Give that man a mic. [00:09:50] Audience Member: The SMB investments. Um, these, these new, I don’t know what they are. I partner accelerators, PBAs, uh, there’s kind of something going on in the SMB space where it just seems like they’re coming outta the woodwork to come help. On deals. I’ve never seen Microsoft really embrace the customer that they, the way they have in SMB in the cos sells. [00:10:10] I’m not sure if anybody else is seen that, but seems to be working. It’s two things. One, you at Data 60 [00:10:22] America. [00:10:54] I think, I think part of the rarity there is that. Typically you wouldn’t get a seller attached, right? They’re unmanaged that they’re kind of in the nobody cares category, but, [00:11:06] um. So Microsoft made a huge investment in the distribution space saying we’re gonna lean on distribution to help enable our 165,000 indirect resellers that we have as a business. And part of that enablement goes back to field sales alignment. So there’s these roles, ca roles called um, partner Solutions Sellers, PS. [00:11:30] And so they’re aligned by, um, solutions architecture, if you will, for Microsoft. So, or cloud solution area, whatever the new term, modern work, uh, or, uh, AI work, AI workforce, um, data and ai. And so they are there to help support your deal. So it’s, it’s a huge investment and one that I would just can say continue to advocate for it if you’re seeing success with it, because I mean, we’re heading into FY 27 planning for Microsoft. [00:11:58] So. Like there, there could be role changes. So I would say if it, if it’s helpful, like make sure you’re talking positively about it. [00:12:05] Reis Barrie: Yeah, yeah. Just to, to your point, like I, I’d say like, um, in the last six to 12 months, like that’s been a, a thing that’s like we’ve to go back and like, I mean we manage a portfolio of a couple dozen, dozen partners at this point, and so we’ve had to go back and rewrite some of our playbooks, reeducate some of. [00:12:26] Uh, some of the partnership folks that we use because, um, historically you kind of get into this like void of, you’re in partner center, you’re picking, you know, account alignment and it’s not managed. And so it’s like, okay, I expect to do nothing with this deal on the Microsoft side from a co-sell standpoint. [00:12:42] Um, but that’s kind of, that’s changed quite a bit, um, in the last six months where, um, it’s not like a, it’s hard to create, it’s hard to create processes and dependence around it ’cause it’s not like a guarantee that you’ll get, you get engagement, but. Uh, you see more eng engagement, more on more and more deals. [00:12:58] Um, and so we’ve had to go back and work with some of our partners to rewrite some of our, uh, deal sharing playbooks to account for, uh, things like that, which is, it’s super cool to see, frankly, um, to see engagement on these, like predominantly. [00:13:12] Erin Figer: So in that motion. So first off, for the folks that are on the other side of this black curtain by the food station, if you guys could please stop the conversation. [00:13:19] It’s really hard to pay attention to what’s going on in this room. Um. Thank you. Thank [00:13:25] Erika Irby: you for saying that. [00:13:26] Erin Figer: That was a great, that was a great, that’s a great point. And what I wanna talk about next is like in order to kind of continue to evolve the playbooks and they’re changing and people are changing, and priorities are changing, what are some of the signals that you guys are using internally in your organization, whether you’re building or buying, um, but would love to learn from all of you. [00:13:46] What kind of signals are you looking at to help you continue to like co-innovate, co-sell, co-market? Um, in your go-to market strategies? [00:13:58] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:13:58] Erin Figer: please. Um, [00:14:00] Audience Member: well, I’m, I’m, we’re building everything from scratch right now because we’re brand is integration. [00:14:39] Like having our, our engineer be able to interact with product [00:14:43] Erin Figer: engineer. [00:14:50] I’m gonna pick on trend ’cause I had just spent last week with them and Sanjay, I think like what you guys are building internally, um, using signals, building it into an AI agent. To help you understand your tam, you wanna share a little bit. [00:15:06] Audience Member: Happy to, and I’ll disclose. The first thing I did was hire Aaron Feiger to run my co-sell operations, uh, for the, for the second time. [00:15:12] It’s [00:15:13] Erin Figer: nice to be a GDI again [00:15:14] Audience Member: for the second, so well planted. Um, but honestly, like I can’t have an environment where I fail my sellers, like this process has to be frictionless in co-sell and marketplace operations. Or I lose trust in my own house, let alone in my channel and in my customer base. So. Uh, building that strong foundation is like job number one. [00:15:34] I’ve been, I spent a decade at Trend. I’m back, uh, five weeks on the job now. Um, but I’d say we’ve built a multi hundred million dollar cloud marketplace business thinking highly transactional. And what we’re trying to pivot to is a highly dated driven approach where we can look at any cloud in any region around the world, figure out roughly how many accounts they have. [00:15:57] Figure out what those customers are spending and things that we can protect from a cybersecurity standpoint, knowing that four or 5% of that total spend will be spent on cybersecurity, doing an overlap of where I have existing customers in that drawing a tam, overlapping that with my incumbent partners to get the Venn diagram of like, where’s my sweet spot to move this forward? [00:16:18] And then where’s my blast radius? So when I sit down with a guy leading France, or a person leading healthcare. I can have a really specific opportunity about how to leverage my cloud partnerships to accelerate deals and expand growth in a very surgical, data-driven, propensity driven way. And it like totally changes the conversation. [00:16:40] And the other thing we’ve done because you get a lot of pushback and when you’re working with Microsoft, uh, I was chatting with a few folks today, like if you’re in cybersecurity, it’s not easy. They got a 25 billion ish dollars cybersecurity business. So you gotta find your swim lanes. And the dialogue I have now internally with my sellers is a major League baseball analogy, which is, if you play major league baseball and if you hit the ball 30% of the time, you’re gonna go to this little thing called the Hall of Fame, right? [00:17:07] If you bat 300, if you’re in sales and Microsoft, or Amazon or whoever helps you, 30% of the time, you’re gonna go to this thing called President’s Club. That’s the difference between sitting at home in Ohio and sitting with your beach. You know, your, your toes in the sand. So it’s, we’re really trying to change. [00:17:25] Uh, one of the first things I ask my team is, what’s our brand promise to our sales leaders and our sales team? And if you don’t know that answer, you got a fricking problem. So you gotta get that. What’s your Brene Brown would call it? What’s your North Star? What are your values? Whatcha are you gonna deliver? [00:17:38] Right? So you gotta get that right and then you gotta be relentless in making it frictionless. And then you gotta hire Aaron Fier to run your co-sell. [00:17:46] Erin Figer: Okay? Okay. And so, I mean, I think like that’s a trend that I’m seeing across the partners that I’ve been working with is how they’re using data and doing more data driven, um, decision making and getting to their TAM faster so that as they start to then look at this pathway of, okay, now I’m trying to go to market, what. [00:18:11] Programs does Microsoft have or my other partners have that I can use to move me down that path faster. But getting that tam and feeling more confident about it, like, this is the group, this is the subgroup that I’m gonna start with until I see something that says, oh, I need to deviate and do something different. [00:18:30] Um, so I’m definitely seeing that trend. Like what are you seeing, uh, what are you guys doing at Vem? [00:18:35] Erika Irby: Um, so a couple different things. So like you were saying, we, we do leverage, um, AI more, uh, recently for New Deal Reg, um, automation. And we lit, literally just launched it this week. So this is the week that it’s exciting until the, someone tries to use it for the first time and then for. [00:18:52] Um, so I can’t wait to see my emails later, but, um, it, it’s, we’re seeing like that, that that movement, which is, uh, definitely good for that. We have a task force internally for marketing, so trying to figure out how we’re gonna, um, you know, leverage that, uh, um, internally. And I think that Veeam, you know, they, they have been on the forefront of technology for, for a while. [00:19:12] You know, they were the first with the. Virtual backup and, you know, all these things, you know, really trying to be ahead of the thing, ahead of the game. But, um, one thing I, I, I love how many people brought up the intentionality and the mindfulness because I think sometimes we can easily. Put out a whole bunch of tools. [00:19:28] I love that you called out the point about the bad processes, um, because it actually, I think, can just create more confusion, more of a mess, and that, um, really mindfulness will be so much more beneficial, you know, down the road for your partners, for your customers, for everybody that has to, you know, do that interaction business with you. [00:19:47] I did wanna call out that I thought it was lovely that you had a positive comment about Microsoft. I dunno if I, [00:19:53] Audience Member: yeah, [00:19:53] Erika Irby: I like rarely hear that. So like, awesome. I hope that does get back to Microsoft. I hope that they do, um, continue that. I’m sure their SMB is quite a bit bigger than maybe others, but that is a massive install base for, for Veeam as well. [00:20:07] And even though we’re driving and trying to push into the enterprise, protecting that install base is just absolutely critical for success. [00:20:15] Erin Figer: What about you race? [00:20:17] Reis Barrie: So if I’m looking at like signals, I, I think. Uh, I’ll focus on too, I think you mentioned, uh, the, the cycles of change at Microsoft. Like it used to be an annual thing and now it’s like a, then it was a half base thing, and then it was a, now it’s a quarterly thing basically. [00:20:30] Um, but there’s also like, there’s, there’s big signals and small signals, and so annually we still get like that, like the, the, the guiding direction so that we can align. How we talk about ourselves, how we talk about our partnership, how, how we enable our sellers and whatnot. And then we got a lot of programmatic shifts from a, from a quarter to quarter standpoint. [00:20:50] Um, and so focusing on the, like these, um, these signals so we can align our, our messaging and our frameworks to align with, with, with our partnership, um, is, is one thing that’s, you know, super, super important to keep, keep tabs on. Um, and the second one, I’ll, I’ll give, you’ll. Mention is more on the cus sorry, uh, customer side, but like the seller enablement. [00:21:15] And so how is your, on the marketplace side, how, how are your sellers talking to your customers about marketplace? Um, are they, are they bringing up earlier in the, in the qualifying discussions of how does the customer prefer to buy? Um, are there fire drills with two weeks to go, um, till the, till the deal closes and now the customer wants to go marketplace and, and no one knows how to do it? [00:21:37] Um, seen that way too many times. Um, and so, but how, how, like studying kind of the, uh, maturity of our sales org to see well, like where, where, where is our, our, where are our sellers competent to have this marketplace discussion? Um, because I often relate, like, this is kinda a silly analogy, but I, I, simple stuff works really, really well with me. [00:22:00] But I like, have you ever been to a farmer’s market and you’re like nervous to buy something? ’cause you don’t know if they take credit card. [00:22:07] Audience Member: Yeah. [00:22:07] Reis Barrie: And so like to me, I’m like, okay, well, like it’s the same thing with Marketplace to me. And so like, it’s, it’s the same concept of you want your customer to be able to buy, they want the way that they would like to buy. [00:22:19] Um, and you want the person that they’re interacting with to be able to, um, facilitate that, that transaction in, in a way that feels frictionless. Yeah. Right. Uh, and so that’s a lot. Like, those are the kind of, the really two deep signals, um, that we, we look at a lot. [00:22:37] Erika Irby: I wanna make a comment on the marketplace. [00:22:38] So I don’t know if anybody else is experiencing this, you know, Veeam being an ISV, we have a really strong traditional, traditional channel motion. So, to your point about how sellers are, are managing the marketplace, to be totally honest, we struggle on, um, that, because right now it feels like a deal that goes to the marketplace is taken away from a reseller, and that reseller loses out then on that upfront margin and. [00:23:06] Um, there’s not a clean path necessarily for, you know, just because the, the deal happened there. They really, they still need to maintain that because they’re the one pri providing the services. And somebody had brought up earlier that, um, A SMB customer will never be successful without a partner. And I, I totally agree with that, but it’s like that part is missing. [00:23:26] So we almost need like a mindset change. In the channel where the marketplace is just a route to market and how the customer receives the product. It shouldn’t totally matter because at the end of the day, the, they still have to provide the services. It’s like, I could go to Home Depot and purchase a bunch of pipe for my house, but can I install it a thousand percent? [00:23:49] No. I would destroy my house. I used to have to have a plumber. So I think there’s, we could help our channel by changing that mindset, and at the same time, we, we need the marketplace owners to, to provide the benefits so that it is still very attractive for those traditional. Partners to, to push their customers there or else I, I think we’re just gonna constantly have that strife. [00:24:11] Erin Figer: Yeah. Does anyone in the audience, has anyone in the audience activated REO with Microsoft? You have? Yeah. So how’s it, like, how’s it going? Yeah, there’s Bump. Yeah. [00:24:32] Audience Member: How that shifts making people more effective in their roles individually. So we’re early stage of it, but it’s, it’s been a good experience. [00:24:42] Erin Figer: Has it helped to kind of unlock some of that friction with the resellers and continuing to include them to get to the s and b customers? [00:24:49] Audience Member: Yeah, I think the, the challenge that we’re working through right now is, you know, Erica may have said it, but it’s. [00:24:56] It’s not just the, the view of the marketplace taking people out of the equation, it’s how do we use the marketplace for, for co-innovation to keep people in it. So if, if, if it’s gonna take three to five of, of us in this room to deliver that spectrum to innovation for the customer. Um, how do we use the marketplace as a force multiplier of bringing that together and making that transaction easy? [00:25:21] Yeah. If, if our consumers are more and more influenced by Instagram and TikTok Shop Now buttons, like my husband’s texting me about my stuff that showed up today, [00:25:31] Erika Irby: which is none of his business. [00:25:32] Audience Member: None of your business. That’s right. Just put it [00:25:36] Erika Irby: in my room. Thank you. [00:25:37] Audience Member: If people are, people as consumers in the, in the u, us consumer based economy is driving more and more people through like that social experience of purchasing, that is an area where I do think Microsoft could help us and we could help ourselves in marketing how that, how we leverage it to be a force multiplier versus another omnichannel. [00:25:58] Well, [00:25:58] Erin Figer: so on that note, how many of you have put a button on your website? Click to buy? Yeah, [00:26:02] Audience Member: that’s, that’s where I’m at with our marketing team. [00:26:04] Erin Figer: Right? [00:26:04] Audience Member: Yeah. That’s, I think, the next evolution for us in the, in the REO piece. [00:26:08] Erin Figer: Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:10] Audience Member: I, I don’t want it on our website. I want to, I want it on my Instagram, my LinkedIn, my TikTok reels. [00:26:15] That’s, we’re going to, sir, it’s coming next week at our sales kickoff. Yeah. [00:26:21] Erin Figer: Nice, nice. Anybody else? Uh, activated. REO [00:26:28] besides the, you know, RE speed wagon? Uh, it’s the Microsoft Reseller Enablement. Um, offering, so like you activate your resellers to just take your listing and be able to do a private offer so that you don’t have to do multi-party private offers anymore. Your resellers can just take the listing and sell it directly, and they don’t have to wait for you to send them the offer. [00:26:52] Then they have to go do, so it takes out some of the steps and that friction in the process streamlines it and it allows them to like. Add on and do their own pricing. And then the reseller, however you have your arrangement with that reseller, continues to pay you in the back end for, um, selling that through the marketplace. [00:27:11] Erika Irby: I think I’m going to have you come and do a webinar for our Veeam partners to, to help them with that, because to your point, I don’t, I don’t think it’s as prevalent yet. It’s, it hasn’t really caught on. [00:27:21] Erin Figer: Yeah. It’s been really an unlock of, I had a large, um, ISV that I helped. We implemented REO internally, so they have 34 marketplace offerings and they have this initiative. [00:27:36] They wanted to go global, sell local, and so they launched five more publishing accounts and they came to me and said, we need to replicate our catalog five times 34. And I was like, oh God, please, no. And luckily like two months later, Microsoft, like GAed, uh, REO, and I was like, here’s your answer. We’re not going to do that. [00:27:58] We’re going to enable each of your publishing accounts to be resellers of your quote unquote gold standard publishing account, and that we actually implemented REO as an internal mechanism for them to issue their own publishing accounts, to resell private offers in local currencies. Um, and that was really an operational unlock for them. [00:28:25] All right. Anybody you wanna ask a question to the audience? [00:28:29] Audience Member: Okay. I’ll just keep going. [00:28:32] Erin Figer: Um, all right. So what are some other, um, signals or ways that you guys are evolving the way you’re co-selling? Um, does anybody else have some experience shares that they want to, to share with the audience? We’ve got, we’re using data, uh, we’re using some ai, we’re helping us get to our audience faster. [00:28:51] I really loved work span, um, building in an AI tool inside your CRM system, um, so that you can get some of those signals. Any other signals that you guys are using, uh, to change the way you’re co-selling? [00:29:07] It’s quiet on [00:29:07] Reis Barrie: Maybe, maybe I’ll share one, but Yeah. Yeah. So, um, just when it comes to, like, for us, account alignment to me is like one of the most important things and consistently doing, uh, you know, account planning and account alignment against Microsoft their accounts. Um, now it’s a bit interesting ’cause you can include some s and b stuff in there. [00:29:27] Um, but also, uh, Jason you mentioned up there, the. Uh, marketplace rewards, having the propensity mapping. And so looking at not only from an account alignment, um, what Microsoft accounts are, we, um, you know, areas are we most penetrated in, but also of those accounts, which ones are already buying on marketplace. [00:29:47] Uh, maybe have a commitment to Microsoft in, in some way to help us just further, uh, further target and focus on, you know, if we have 500 opportunities that we’re trying to, um. I’m trying to work through, um, to Sanjay’s point, like what’s, what’s the 30% that I’m gonna get my batting average on? Um, and so that constant account alignment to us is like a, is a huge, huge signal, um, for us to focus on. [00:30:14] Um, and then you can even take it a layer deeper to identify, okay, well if I’m looking like, do I have density within Nina had the, the ou up here on the screen. So do I have densities with density within like specific. Uh, verticals or regions, um, or segments that I should maybe if I just focused on that one segment or one vertical, um, you know, then all of a sudden I, I’m super successful having an executive sponsorship in that, uh, in that ou, something like that. [00:30:44] Um, and, but that, that’s all starting with, um, the foundations of that being that consistent account alignment and leveraging some of the, some of the propensity stuff that Microsoft is, is providing. [00:30:56] Erin Figer: And then making sure you’re like bringing it back into your CRM and storing it so that you can continue to use that information ongoing. [00:31:03] And we’re trying to figure out how to embed more and more. [00:31:37] And are you integrating like. Microsoft and other partners into that data as well. It’s like, this is a great partner. Incorporate them at this point in the journey. Yeah, we um. [00:31:50] When [00:31:50] Audience Member: you’re in the process with, with Microsoft, we haven’t opened it up externally, so that’s our crawl, walk, run is we’re, we’re trying this out internally. Let’s see if we can work the bugs out, get the agents working, and then how do we now go to our MSP community and offer this up as an agent they can use within their sales team. [00:32:08] And on the end of. We’re still working in the middle, but front end profiling, it’s helping a ton, um, and giving us a lot of good intel that the sellers are driving through the agent on the back end. It’s, it’s giving us not, um, just propensity data, but what’s resonating. So if we launched 12 products this year and we trained sellers on. [00:32:28] What’s hitting, where’s my pipeline velocity coming from? Where’s my close rate coming from? So that every month when we have our sales town hall, it’s like, here’s the top three sales motions that are actually driving pipeline and fast to cash close rates. [00:32:42] Erin Figer: And I gotta imagine that helps you get to your differentiators. [00:32:45] Audience Member: Oh [00:32:45] Erin Figer: yeah. And refining your superpower story. [00:32:48] Audience Member: That’s right. That’s. Yeah, because it’s for, for our sales team. I mean, we were talking about it earlier, it’s all about simplification. There’s so many options, so much noise. It’s like, just go focus on these three things and this is where you’re gonna deliver impact and outcomes to your customer. [00:33:01] And if we’re doing that, we’re all winning. [00:33:03] Erika Irby: Yeah. I, I, um, just recently, this is why one of the coolest things that Veeam has done, we just launched this tool called, um, expansion iq, and it’s part of our command, the expand motion this year where we’re really. Upselling and cross-selling our, um, install base. [00:33:17] This tool takes all the partners individual propensity data, puts it against four solution plays that we think are the main plays, and then provides them, this is what you could be earning if you took this motion. And then from a marketing perspective, we provide them. And to do this, here’s your campaign. [00:33:37] Here’s your this, here’s your that. Step one, send this email. Like very, very, you know, just, uh, planned out. And I loved what Nina said earlier today when she shared that, um, org chart. Essentially with all the different, um, industry focuses we are driving. One of our go to market actions is a Microsoft healthcare campaign. [00:33:56] That is like very, very specific, but it’s helping our partners in that manner. Could they go to their own database and pull their own and do all this stuff? Of course. But for our sellers to go blink and then give them a report and be like, here it is. It makes it so much more relevant. And then the steps just, they just hand that to their marketing org and then they’re just off and running. [00:34:18] Going back into your team to say, Hey, we rolled out these 12 things, only three landing. You gotta go back to the drawing on the other side. Or We need more money for these three. Yeah, but let’s figure what’s not with customer [00:34:38] to record the. [00:34:47] Audience Member: A better, faster, uh, listening post for, uh, can I talk really loud? Um, it’s, it’s, it’s helped turning on a listening post for our engineering, our marketing, our service delivery organization that would’ve taken months or quarters to get spun up in an executive board meeting or something. Right now they get it real time every week. [00:35:09] Okay. [00:35:09] Erin Figer: So what I’m hearing, like the theme here is to really like. Understand your sales process. Also, your co-sell sales process that runs in parallel with that. And how do you continue to serve up the right data at the right time to help your people take the right next action to continue to drive those outcomes that you’re looking for, but then also using data to circle it back, to say what’s working, what’s not working, to continue to refine that whole motion. [00:35:43] Um, so if you’re not doing that, I think that’s a big aha moment and takeaway, uh, from today’s session or from here today is like, okay, am I really identifying all the opportunities in my process to involve data to help my people continue to drive outcomes? [00:36:04] Audience Member: You [00:36:04] Erin Figer: have a, [00:36:05] Audience Member: you have your head in up back there, Gary. [00:36:06] Yeah. I, I couldn’t tell if, uh, you were prompting me when you asked that question and I, I didn’t want to, you know, do a shameless plug for cloud, but I think everybody [00:36:15] Erin Figer: should shamelessly plug, plug away. [00:36:16] Audience Member: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, you brought up a mitt and, uh, the co-sell thing, but it, it does relate to what Reese had said about, um, you know, the being at the farmer’s market and. [00:36:26] Not sure what, you know, can I use a credit card or not? And I think that, um, or [00:36:30] Erin Figer: can I use Apple Pay? I still ask. I’m like, do you, do you accept Apple Pay? [00:36:32] Audience Member: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it’s like, I think, uh, a lot of times you don’t understand the seller in that situation is not sure how to handle that conversation. So, and there’s not a lot of information about their, about that. [00:36:44] Like how to, when it comes to a seller talking about marketplace and asking about the commit. Because the commit obviously is one of the main drivers, right? 900 billion out there. And committed spend across all the hyperscalers. So how to actually bring that up with a customer and what if they don’t know, right? [00:37:05] So there’s a whole process that, you know, they, they need to be taught this. But the first thing that’s also come up multiple times is activating them also means how to engage them. So an approach there of how to engage your salespeople is critical because if salespeople aren’t in it, they’re nothing’s happening. [00:37:23] You’re not gonna do well with marketplace. And on the co-sell part, it’s kinda the same thing. The typical thing, and I remember talking to Aldo Desal about this at another Ultimate Partner event, but uh, you bring your salespeople into a call, like you set up a call with, with Microsoft and the seller comes in unprepared. [00:37:42] Typically they’re not sure what to say and it’s a little bit intimidating. How, how, how do I, you know, what do you do in this situation? Like, so you start talking about product ’cause that’s what you know, and it’s the last thing you want to do. You, you want to understand what they care about, like em stage and, and, uh, what’s your consumption story and what kind of MRR impact you’re gonna have. [00:38:03] So it’s, these things are just unusual topics for the salespeople to be prepared, uh, to talk about. But it’s critical if your salespeople are gonna be enabled that they can do that. So I think from a co-selling standpoint, that’s just what I want to mention. And by the way, we offered a tool that does that. [00:38:20] Erin Figer: Nice. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, I mean, I don’t know about you. Reese Cloud Atlas. Every time we helped an ISV with their cosell motion, we would say, okay, we’re ready to go share cos sells and drive introductions. Have you done your sales enablement? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve enabled the sellers we have, and then we launch like the first batch of cos sells and then they immediately come back. [00:38:43] Stop, stop, stop. Don’t share any more deals, like we’re causing too much confusion. Uh, we didn’t do our sales enablement. Wow. Grace, [00:38:52] Reis Barrie: I mean, sound [00:38:53] Erin Figer: familiar? [00:38:53] Reis Barrie: It sounds very familiar. It sounds too familiar. Uh, P-T-S-D-A little bit there, but the, uh, sorry, [00:38:58] Erika Irby: but that’s why you guys have jobs. [00:39:00] Reis Barrie: Yes. Go on. It’s, it’s, um, but this, you know, I, I always come back to the, the concept of like, if we showed up to a Microsoft co-sell call the way we do to a customer call, like, oh. [00:39:14] Erin Figer: It, [00:39:14] Reis Barrie: it would, it would be night and day difference of the value you’d get outta your Microsoft partnership and co-sell. That’s all. It’s [00:39:20] Erin Figer: Well, [00:39:20] Reis Barrie: but I think people [00:39:21] Erin Figer: forget Microsoft is your customer too. [00:39:23] Reis Barrie: Yeah. [00:39:23] Erin Figer: They’re your partner, but you have to sell to before you can sell with and through. So you first gotta like master the sell to. [00:39:30] Reis Barrie: Yeah, a hundred percent. So there, there’s there like, and then to your point, [00:39:34] Erin Figer: it’s still true. 10 years later, people, it’s still true. Back to the fundamentals, right? [00:39:39] Reis Barrie: Yeah. It’s, [00:39:40] Erin Figer: yes. Go for it. [00:39:44] Audience Member: The, um, Microsoft being customer, right? So, and I love what you said about sem uh, alignment. So we actually made it a point, um, in our co-sell process, we have a validation checkpoint with Microsoft. If we build a co-sell packages, um, we are an si We’re not primarily ISV, but I think that’s shifting as well gradually. [00:40:10] And ESI kind of becoming a little bit of ISV. Um, so why it’s important, I think like Ree said, like you come up, you show up to co-sell call and you just pitch your services or say, well, let’s do account planning with this and that. Right? But what if it doesn’t work in the field? So that validation became critical for us, and I can tell you that now we have success stories that are actually proven based on that multifaceted feedback, uh, as to it’s one thing to build it. [00:40:46] Yeah. But is it useful for seller, for Microsoft sellers actually in the field? Can they actually position it and help clients to be more successful? Because that’s the ultimate goal. So that validation became, uh, an important checkpoint for us, uh, to make those packages repeatable and successful for customers at the end of the day. [00:41:06] So when we talk about signals, you absolutely right. It’s not just customer signals like we use ZoomInfo, we use all this data points, et cetera, but it’s also signals from the field because while Microsoft is a huge organization, they’re also very dynamic. On very regular basis, a lot of things changed. So taking those signals into account, uh, has created that, what we call like, more of a holistic approach for us, uh, to make it more meaningful. [00:41:33] So [00:41:34] Erin Figer: I like it. And you made it sticky by making it like a required point in the sales process? Absolutely. That everyone stops. Take a moment. [00:41:41] Audience Member: Yeah. [00:41:41] Erin Figer: And make sure that we’re all on the same page. [00:41:43] Audience Member: Yeah. And I think for us as si it’s even more critical. Like I, I, I think there is a lot more to happen in marketplace as, as, as much as we talk about it, but being in si I, we still kind of figure it out, like how Mark marketplace actually becomes a place of transaction for a size. [00:42:01] Yeah. So that’s why, you know, we’re passionate about packages and it’s not just a matter of publishing it and say, oh, it’s co-sell ready? Then what? Yeah. Right. So yeah, so, so that’s why that, that checkpoint is very important for us. So [00:42:16] Erin Figer: definitely, definitely. I think you ladies over here in the corner had some, some hands up, Michelle and, and the other Michelle, Michelle Squared. [00:42:26] Audience Member: Thank you. Michelle Squared. I like it. Um, so. I’ve been a little quiet because I wanna just give my background. So I’m a global VP of channels and alliances and, um, I think it’s a bit of this, uh, the movement, right? So I love your farmer’s market analogy so much. I’m gonna steal that. Thank you. But the reason is because you don’t know unless you’re gonna meet your partners where you are or meet your customers where they are in that journey. [00:42:53] So the first time that they’re selling whatever their goods or wares are, and somebody says, do you take Apple Pay? That’s a clue. And then when you hear it over and over again, you realize there’s a correlation that there’s a need in the market. So in In my life, all roads read to Romes, right? Reseller and VARs, OEM, alliances, MSPs, MSPs, ISVs System integrators. [00:43:17] And as a partner leader, you wouldn’t necessarily think marketplace is first because you feel like you’re going around your partners. But am I meeting my partners where they are in their journey and choosing to procure the way they want to procure? And I think that’s the notion that I have a lot of learning from this team and everyone in this room to understand how do we in a company. [00:43:38] Prescribe the right solution to, to meet our partners in that journey. And I’ll use, kind of circling back to the MSP space, PAX eight, one of Microsoft’s largest partners created a marketplace dedicated to MSPs. And while I was the global Channel chief of SonicWall, a lot of partners said to me, I like you. [00:43:56] I like your products, I like your firewall, but unless you’re on the park, PAX eight Marketplace, I’m not gonna buy from you because they make my life frictionless. And easier to do business with. And I think that’s the motion that every vendor in this room needs to understand is, are we truly meeting our partners where they are? [00:44:14] PS I work for Carrero DDoS Solutions and come to talk to me about that. Thank you. [00:44:18] Erika Irby: Well, and a Guo owes you some money for that commercial right there. [00:44:30] Audience Member: From, we’re actually community first. Um, as an MSP, even though we’re national, like we really focus in on community local touch. Um. Like you said, um, um, Southern seldom me in a southern way. Like that’s what we focus on. I’m your [00:44:45] Erin Figer: huckleberry. [00:44:46] Audience Member: I love that. Exactly. Um, and we’re seeing a ton of success with actual in-person events now. [00:44:53] Like the majority of our business is come in, leads are coming from that right now. And even though, like I, I truly believe in digital first motions, we need to be on Instagram and have that self-serve motion as the next generation comes up in our. Buying and transitioning to their kids or whatever that looks like. [00:45:14] Like we have to remember that there’s also a trend of tactile in person people first coming with it. And so like we, I, I feel like there, there has to be that motion engaged and I would love to hear your thoughts around how are vendors thinking about engaging in that community driven approach, not just the platform itself. [00:45:37] Erika Irby: Yeah, I, I personally also, this is hilarious ’cause we’re like best friends, so we can talk about this later, but, um, from a Veeam perspective, Michelle, um, we are seeing a resurgence in like these thought leadership type of events. And I think there’s, this is, this is sort of related, but just to, this is kind of how I think about this. [00:45:57] Um, Barnes and Noble’s business has like gone through the roof lately, and they are, they’re actually like opening more stores, which is bananas because at one point they were like going outta business because nobody wanted to go and like, touch a book or talk to somebody. But that is changing, thank God. [00:46:11] Right? That is like changing and people are actually like becoming more social because they’re missing this. Um, my kids’ generation refers to places like Barnes and Nobles as the third place. Like this magical place that exists where you can talk to a real human that’s not on your phone. Like it’s, it’s amazing. [00:46:28] But anyways, we’re, I think we’re starting to see this in marketing. We used to like pump everything out digitally, but after a while people get that form and they’re like, I am not putting my dang information in this form. And then your ability to capture that lead completely dissipates. All it is, is, is now an impression, which is. [00:46:47] Fairly worthless. You can have millions of them and nothing happens. So we are definitely investing more into, um, uh, live events, but also with the live streaming because then people can, they’re still watching it live. They still have to register for it. They knew they couldn’t make it. So I think that there’s definitely that digital aspect that’s super helpful. [00:47:05] But a purely digital, you will never make that connection. [00:47:10] Erin Figer: Yeah, I mean, I think. Unfortunately, COVID made us, you know, all do things digitally. But now that we’re past that, getting back to that multifaceted approach, I think if we think about what’s going on in the B2C world, lots of communities within communities, there’s whole company’s getting created, like women are bringing women together to do craft circles. [00:47:37] And literally. Okay. But like I did that digitally. That was pretty awesome. I was like three years. That shameless plug. No, I, no. But like then now there’s like companies that are actually like renting space, bringing people together, like crafting and while they’re doing the activity, um, if anyone’s ever done therapy, a therapist will say. [00:48:01] You know, if you wanna get your kids talking, get them coloring, like distract them and they will start to open up. And so you distract people with an activity and they start to open up. And what they really are, thrive, like what they really need is in this digital world where we’re getting so much information, we still need. [00:48:22] The next layer of filter to help us vet out and validate and confirm like our thinking or like our suspicions on things like, am I in the right going down the right path? Is this the right direction? So there’s still a human element that needs to be involved in that buyer journey, and you’re seeing that with these little micro communities inside communities. [00:48:45] Um, and so I’ve. I mean, I love micro communities inside of bigger communities. I’ve started two of them, three of them. So I, it definitely, like, we need still that in person, uh, interaction and I love seeing it coming back in our space. [00:49:04] Erika Irby: I, I was just thinking about ear, the, the previous panel and the, the topic came up about who can assist partners as they transition from that direct to CSP motion. [00:49:15] And I mean, yes, it, I think Microsoft plays a role there, but I think it would behoove Microsoft to invest in these communities and they would enable that change. Yeah, [00:49:26] Erin Figer: yeah, yeah. There is a person inside of Microsoft who has that remit, but she’s like one person, one person trying to do that. I was like, wow. [00:49:36] Okay. Grace, what are you seeing amongst your partners and also your perspective with working with Microsoft? [00:49:42] Reis Barrie: Yeah, yeah. Um. There’s a really good, uh, the frontier study, the work like door work study that they did, um, which talks really heavily about just like in this, you know, post 20, you know, 2020 culture, how like the amount of busyness has just increased in an insane amount and how a, a really strong use case for AI is to buybacks from that time essentially, um, for us to, you know, return back to a, a normal state and I think social creatures, right? [00:50:10] And so, um, in this. I run a fully remote company, which is like a blessing and also like really interesting to try to create a really strong culture within people that are, you know, 13 times zones apart times. Um, and so it’s uh, it’s a really interesting thing and coming together and, um, into an in-person space or a place here or a place where you can actually talk to your customers, talk to, um. [00:50:39] Step away from that, like that busy day to day where like, I, I can’t even fit a 15 minute break in to grab lunch. You know, days like how much, supposed to find 15 minutes to just have a, a casual conversation and these types of events, which I’m sure Vince is cheering back there that we’re talking about this right now. [00:50:57] But the, uh, but these type of events, they let you decompress from that day and they let you kind of just have these really important conversations that, you know, bring us back to just being humans To me. [00:51:10] Erin Figer: And being human and co-selling with each other. And on that note, we’re 44 seconds over. Yeah, we’ll give it back to Vince, [00:51:18] Reis Barrie: but we were plugging Vince’s events, so I think we’re okay. [00:51:21] Vince Menzione: We One more question. We have one more question from, sorry. Oh yeah. [00:51:23] Reis Barrie: It’s [00:51:23] Audience Member: maybe more a, a shared just as we’re talking [00:51:25] Vince Menzione: by the clip, right. [00:51:27] Audience Member: And to compliment everything that you guys have been talking about around co-sell and. Getting ready in line with Microsoft to speak to the customer and speaking. So the signals that we’re going after are on the actual conversations that are happening in the conversation. [00:51:41] So aside from all the planning, which I agree on, we’re building agents to hear what’s going on on the calls with Microsoft, on the calls with customer, and grab those actual signals. Are we answering the questions in the right way? What types of questions are coming back to us that we weren’t able to answer. [00:51:58] Maybe we forgot some information that we planned on and thought about can we signal and provide that feedback to the user, the seller, or whatnot on the call. And so as we’re doing this, ’cause we’re in the communication space, so we have some self-interest here ’cause that’s sort of the future of our business. [00:52:12] But it’s a really interesting opportunity for us to grab these signals to improve how we’re selling with our customers, how our partners are selling with our customers, with Microsoft. It’s just an interesting way with everything that’s going on full circle, we’re trying to complete that sort of sales journey with AI and, and grab those signals and keep getting better all the time. [00:52:32] Erin Figer: Yeah, I love that. And I think it’s like the ongoing balance of people, process and technology and how do you continue to keep the human in the loop? It, as we continue to introduce and evolve AI and use of data in our companies is like continuing to be mindful about the human in the loop. Um, part of that journey. [00:52:54] So thank you all. [00:52:55] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Great conversation. [00:52:56] Erin Figer: Thanks for all the audience engagement. We appreciate it. [00:52:59] Vince Menzione: Co-selling the house, co-selling the house. [00:53:02] Audience Member: Thank you, Vince. [00:53:02] Vince Menzione: Thank you. And I remember that January, 2016. Yes.

Episode 153 of “The Trusted Advisor” features Zack Kass, the former Head of Go-To-Market for OpenAI and “one of the world's foremost authorities on applied AI.” Kass was the featured guest for a recent RSPA Emerging Technologies Advisory Group meeting.  Kass is an Executive-in-Residence at the University of Virginia, Chair of the Ruder Finn AI Advisory Council, and author of the new book The Next Renaissance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential. Kass first crossed paths with many RSPA members when he keynoted BlueStar's VARTECH 2025 Conference in the Bahamas. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

Mastering the shift from MSP to MIP. Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this insightful episode, Oguo Atuanya, CVP of Vendor Experience at Pax8, joins us to discuss the pivotal evolution in the IT channel: the transition from Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to Managed Intelligence Providers (MIPs). We explore how the marketplace is moving beyond traditional infrastructure support toward a future defined by AI-driven orchestration, business consultancy, and scalable agent-tech organizations. Oguo details how Pax8 is leading this transformation by curating solutions that allow partners to move from transactional service models to life-cycle management that prioritizes measurable ROI for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market. Key Takeaways Pax8 is redefining the role of the distributor by acting as an AI commerce platform for the SMB market. The shift from Managed Service Provider (MSP) to Managed Intelligence Provider (MIP) is critical for scaling in the modern tech era. Successful MSPs must evolve into business consultants who integrate AI-driven workflows rather than just selling infrastructure. Security and automation are foundational elements that every modern MIP must prioritize to ensure scalability for customers. The “MIP Playbook” provides the curriculum-driven enablement partners need to successfully pivot their business models. Building strong, end-to-end customer lifecycle management is the key to minimizing churn and maximizing long-term value. https://youtu.be/c8uCnMJd9bg If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Pax8, Managed Intelligence Providers, MIP, AI commerce platform, SMB technology, MSP evolution, AI-driven workflows, agent-first strategy, digital transformation, channel partner strategy, cloud solutions, customer lifecycle management, IT channel innovation, scalable automation, business consultancy, technology architecture, agent store, managed service providers. Transcript Oguo Atuanya Audio Episode [00:00:00] Oguo Atuanya: I, I mean, the ultimate goal is to get that MIP channel as intelligent or even more intelligent and agile than any enterprise IT department. [00:00:13] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Dexter Hardy, the founder of Integral for a compelling discussion, a guo. Welcome back, [00:00:29] Oguo Atuanya: Vince [00:00:29] Vince Menzione: to the welcome back to the podcast, my friend. So good to see you. [00:00:33] Oguo Atuanya: Good to see you, my friend. It’s been about, what, two years? [00:00:35] Vince Menzione: It has been two years, almost two years. Almost two years ago now. And uh, man, this [00:00:40] Oguo Atuanya: thing is just picking up steam. [00:00:41] Vince Menzione: It is. We’re having a blast. We were having so much fun. It was [00:00:44] Oguo Atuanya: awesome. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:00:44] Oguo Atuanya: Really awesome. [00:00:45] Vince Menzione: And you were for context, for people watching and, and listening. Uh, we were here in Boca yesterday for the Ultimate Partner Executive Retreat. [00:00:52] Yep. It was this awesome event and great to have you involved in it. Uh, pat, thank you so much. So, uh, last time you were here [00:01:00] Oguo Atuanya: Yes. [00:01:01] Vince Menzione: Uh, you were representing Microsoft where you spent 22 years. [00:01:05] Oguo Atuanya: 22 [00:01:06] Vince Menzione: years. [00:01:06] Oguo Atuanya: Two years, right. Outta outta Junior Heart. [00:01:07] Vince Menzione: Amazing. And, uh, tell us, tell us about your journey so far. Uh, almost two years, a year and a half at Pax. [00:01:14] Eight. About a [00:01:15] Oguo Atuanya: year and a half. [00:01:15] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:01:16] Oguo Atuanya: a year and a half. [00:01:17] Vince Menzione: And tell, tell for our viewers and listeners, uh, your role at Pax eight. [00:01:21] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:01:22] Vince Menzione: Which is a preeminent company in this space. We used to use the term disty. I’ll let you describe them. Uh, officially [00:01:29] Oguo Atuanya: No, [00:01:30] Vince Menzione: because they don’t, you don’t use that term. [00:01:31] Oguo Atuanya: We’re not, we’re not a distributor. [00:01:33] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:01:33] Oguo Atuanya: Scott Cha would kill me. [00:01:35] Vince Menzione: That’s right. No, I know, I know. I remember the, uh, [00:01:38] Oguo Atuanya: the New [00:01:38] Vince Menzione: York, was it the New York Times article? Yes. Yes. [00:01:41] Oguo Atuanya: Was kind of a, [00:01:42] Vince Menzione: that was a launching point coming out. Yeah, yeah. [00:01:44] Oguo Atuanya: No, we, we, we see ourselves as, um, um, the pre, uh, permanent marketplace. For SMB. [00:01:52] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:01:53] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So you think about the SaaS and the cloud. [00:01:55] Yeah. You know, solutions that you need. In SMB, we work with vendors to bring it, um, you know, to the SMB market through, uh, MSPs. And we also, uh, see ourselves as the premier [00:02:08] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:02:08] Oguo Atuanya: Um, AI commerce platform for SMB. [00:02:13] Vince Menzione: Very interesting. [00:02:14] Oguo Atuanya: Right. And as we go through the discussion, uh, this afternoon, you’ll see why. [00:02:20] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:02:21] Oguo Atuanya: That differentiation is [00:02:23] Vince Menzione: key. I, I love, I love to dive in. I love to dive in. I will say this, I, I think you’ve gotten a lot of people very interested in the community. I mean, certainly your events are becoming bigger and bigger. You’re beyond conference. [00:02:36] Oguo Atuanya: Next one’s coming up in Salt Lake City [00:02:38] in [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: June. [00:02:38] I plan on being there, salt Lake City in June. [00:02:41] Oguo Atuanya: I must have you there. [00:02:42] Vince Menzione: I will be there and you will, and you will be at our event in May. [00:02:45] Oguo Atuanya: Absolutely. [00:02:46] Vince Menzione: Talking about beyond, but also talking about this community. Uh, I’ve also woken up over the last year or so as well and learned a lot about this SMB community and ms, what we call MSBs. [00:02:58] You’ve re you’ve re-categorized them, uh, but this community is palpable. The opportunity is huge. [00:03:04] Oguo Atuanya: It’s huge. [00:03:05] Vince Menzione: And, um, I would say that, uh, yeah, we can talk, we’ll talk, we’ll just talk through it. ’cause it is huge. Yeah. There’s a lot of things that need to be done. [00:03:12] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:13] Vince Menzione: And I think, I think PAX eight is, uh, at the forefront in driving a lot of this. [00:03:17] The hyperscalers, like Microsoft are, are paying attention now more in a big, in a bigger way than before [00:03:23] Oguo Atuanya: being great partners. [00:03:24] Vince Menzione: Been great, great partners. Yeah. We’ll talk about your role with Microsoft in that regard. [00:03:28] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:28] Vince Menzione: But talk, let’s talk about this evolution too. Let’s, uh, so for those who are listening, who are used to maybe us talking about a SaaS software company Yep. [00:03:36] Or an ISV or an SDC, uh, we’re talking about MSPs, managed service providers, which is the common term that people use. These are, these have been traditionally the companies, the smaller companies, they used to call em mom and pop shops back. The old VARs that became managed service, the past [00:03:53] Oguo Atuanya: provider in, in the past, they’re getting bigger. [00:03:54] Vince Menzione: And then Yes. One of the big [00:03:55] Oguo Atuanya: ones, y say [00:03:56] Vince Menzione: Nexus Tech. We had Yes. [00:03:57] Oguo Atuanya: Partners of ours. [00:03:58] Vince Menzione: Nexus Techs, new Charter. [00:04:01] Oguo Atuanya: Charter, Michelle [00:04:02] Vince Menzione: Evergreen, I could Ira Lyra. Yeah. They’re, they’re becoming bigger and bigger. Private equity is getting involved. What’s important, what’s important to note too is that the customer is driving this because customers are requiring more and it’s no longer about, and my my point of view is it’s no longer about loading up software and just letting it go. [00:04:22] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:04:23] Vince Menzione: You need to be hands-on all the time. [00:04:24] Oguo Atuanya: Abs. Absolutely. And, and [00:04:26] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:04:26] Oguo Atuanya: kind of skating towards that park of, um. MIP? [00:04:31] Vince Menzione: Yes. Let’s talk about MIP [00:04:33] Oguo Atuanya: managed intelligence providers. [00:04:35] Vince Menzione: So last year, year Beyond conference, I believe you launched this like new in I, we’ll call the new nomenclature or the new name, or this new thing. [00:04:46] And evolved. And evolved, yeah. [00:04:48] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:04:49] Vince Menzione: So talk about the managed intelligence provider for us. [00:04:52] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Wow. When it happened In Beyond Or at? Beyond, I should say. Um. We thought it’d catch on because it’s apt. I mean, it’s, it’s sort of indicative of what’s happening now and what will happen over the next 24 months, but, uh, the sort of migration towards this and the marketplace has been immense. [00:05:17] I mean, you, and you, you know, hit on what the difference is. Yes. Earlier on, um, today. What’s driving this shift is that most MSPs have been really good at being tools and technology infrastructure providers. [00:05:36] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:05:36] Oguo Atuanya: Right. [00:05:37] Vince Menzione: They would hook up your network and your printer. In the old days, they fix your, fix your computers. [00:05:42] Yes. Or replace re-image, all those things. Right? Yes. That was the old days. And, [00:05:46] Oguo Atuanya: and, and also provide some very manual services delivery, which will now play. In this new era that we are actually, I shouldn’t say going into, it’s taking all, [00:06:00] Vince Menzione: we’re, we’re there, [00:06:00] Oguo Atuanya: we’re there right now. So, um, you know, they, they, I guess the transformation from MSP to MIP others partners that would actually become managed intelligence providers. [00:06:14] That means really, you know, integrating intelligence into workflow that matters for the SMBs. Right. So you [00:06:23] Vince Menzione: so double click on that for, [00:06:25] Oguo Atuanya: for [00:06:25] Vince Menzione: our [00:06:26] Oguo Atuanya: viewers. Yeah. So all really means is that you’re moving from being that, you know [00:06:29] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:30] Oguo Atuanya: Technology, infrastructure, tools, provider to, you know, becoming an, an orchestrator and a and a and a business consultant. [00:06:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. For you. SMB. Right. So important. ’cause you have to now get into, uh, very secure, streamlined automated AI driven workflows to help them. [00:06:52] Vince Menzione: All driven in the cloud. Everything’s in the cloud now, as opposed to the old days. Right. On premise. [00:06:58] Oguo Atuanya: All gone. None. That’s happening. It’s all gone. All gone. Yeah. [00:07:00] So you, you’ve got this automated platform right now. You should as, um, an MIP, um, we actually gonna be in a position to design, um, agent tech organizations for your, uh, SMBs who wanna scale. ’cause as we talked about yesterday, yeah. SMBs have opportunities they wanna grow, but not have the wherewithal to go hire a hundred people. [00:07:27] Instead of doing that, you go hire a hundred agents. Yeah, but you’re gonna need that MIP to architect, the organization, launch it for you, manage it, get you, you know, automated, you know, workflows that you’d leverage to run your company, and then they have to manage and optimize the technology. Um, as necessary. [00:07:49] So, so, huge shift. [00:07:50] Vince Menzione: Huge shift. [00:07:51] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:07:52] Vince Menzione: And it was interesting for me being at the, where you talked about the write of Boom conference that you, were you, your organization was there? Yeah, I was there as well and I was in the room with some of the Microsoft folks and we had some of those larger partners we talked about [00:08:07] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:08:08] Vince Menzione: That were in the room as well. And just, uh, different perspectives too. Like I hadn’t heard it firsthand. It was interesting for Microsoft too, to get that feedback from. From some of them as well. Um, I think, I think the ones that are progressive are already on board with you. I’ve, I’ve already talked to some of those organizations, like, oh, we’re a hundred percent Pax eight, that’s it. [00:08:29] But then some of the others I think are still, there are still people out there that are stuck in the past. Would you agree? Like this community is in the, is in a transition right now to this new model? [00:08:38] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:08:39] Vince Menzione: Tell [00:08:39] Oguo Atuanya: us [00:08:39] Vince Menzione: about that. [00:08:40] Oguo Atuanya: There are, I mean, listen, I, I don’t, you know, wanna put a number. You know what we’re seeing. [00:08:48] But I’d say that about eventually, let’s say we’re gonna have about 30% of folks that really get it and move. [00:08:56] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:08:56] Oguo Atuanya: Right. The others we’re gonna have to, [00:08:59] Vince Menzione: there’ll be the laggards that’ll [00:09:00] Oguo Atuanya: take longer and let me just, you know, sort of rephrase that state. Most of them understand, you know, what the opportunity is with this whole Yeah. [00:09:14] Vince Menzione: You [00:09:15] Oguo Atuanya: know. They’re still struggling with being able to, you know, articulate this story, um, from a value prop perspective, right? You know, go in, talk to the SMBs, help the SMBs understand how, you know, they can be more productive, more efficient, and um, ultimately more profitable and scale, um, with an agent, you know, framework. [00:09:44] They still struggle. Yeah. And, and that’s kind of where we come in, where we helping these SMB or sorry, MSPs and to be ips. [00:09:54] Vince Menzione: So tell us, understand that. Tell us what you’re doing. I believe you, you stood up like academies and things like that, right? You’re doing some outreach, some enablement for the community? [00:10:02] Is that what it is? [00:10:03] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, we we’re heavy, we’re heavy in, um, enablement. Um, because, you know, everyone realizes that. To be successful with this whole campaign. It’s not just about putting agents up in an agent store, real, SMB, you know, native, um, vertical aware agents that actually, you know, when you deploy it in an SMB business, right, they drive value right away, [00:10:37] Vince Menzione: right? [00:10:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So, but we also realize that it’s not just about, you know, landing the agents in the marketplace, but enablement is a huge factor. That’s why when you go back to things, you know, like academy, uh, the MIP playbook, uh, some of the, uh, inculcation integrations we we’re doing with, um, partners, really critical to have that enablement layer. [00:11:04] Vince Menzione: Interesting. [00:11:04] Oguo Atuanya: Along with providing the agents and the, in the agents store. [00:11:07] Vince Menzione: Who’s developing these agents in the agent store? Are they providers for the MSP community? Are they organizations like Take, take us through that model. [00:11:17] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So they, they, they, because [00:11:18] Vince Menzione: you, you manage all the vendors. [00:11:20] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, I do. Right? [00:11:21] Vince Menzione: I do. So tell us more about that. [00:11:22] Oguo Atuanya: I do. So it’s, it’s multifold, right? Um, one fold is you have prebuilt solutions that you know vendors. [00:11:30] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:11:30] Oguo Atuanya: Built for, you know, SMBs and they’re directed towards SMBs. Then you also have a second category, uh, sorry, category of solutions that are more tools that MSBs use. [00:11:42] Right? But there’s also a third, um, prompt to this where we are orchestrating an integration of, um, um, IP between [00:11:54] Vince Menzione: interesting the [00:11:55] Oguo Atuanya: vendor department, uh, into providing, you know, solutions. That we can land in the, in the agent store. [00:12:03] Vince Menzione: That’s fascinating. So, yeah. So you have, so you have a standalone product or a standalone solution or agent. [00:12:10] You have the orchestration and then you have the customer tools and the tool. And the tools. [00:12:14] Oguo Atuanya: Yes. [00:12:15] Vince Menzione: Yes. That’s fascinating. [00:12:17] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. It’s um, it’s sort of a three flying approach that, um, the market needs, right? Yeah. And that, that’s key. By the way, Vince, when you know, um. You’re developing these agents and these solutions. [00:12:30] Yeah. Because they’re not, they’re not just tools anymore, right. Essentially it could be somebody’s, uh, FTE. [00:12:38] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:12:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So they have to address a specific outcome. They have to be, you know, uh, valuable. You have to show the ROI and for these SMBs. Don’t have a lot of wiggle room. [00:12:53] Vince Menzione: So you, that they’re smaller companies, right? [00:12:55] Yeah. So anything you do is gonna be super impactful. Yeah. It’s not something they can absorb necessarily, or, you know, lose time and money. [00:13:03] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:13:03] Vince Menzione: Uh, you’ve gotta be very sensitive to that in this, in this market, this size market. And even the MSPs are, even though there are some that are much larger, there’s still a lot of smaller MSPs out there. [00:13:14] Oguo Atuanya: And, and coming to the MIP playbook, um, what partners don’t need anymore. Um, it’s hype. [00:13:23] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:24] Oguo Atuanya: They need an almost curriculum driven approach, right. To landing this initiative and infrastructure and also managing it long term. Yeah. So that’s what the MIP playbook does. [00:13:39] Vince Menzione: So you were an executive at Microsoft. [00:13:41] You managed the channel partner. I, I would call the resellers and the disti. In fact, for the America’s business, I believe was your role. [00:13:49] Oguo Atuanya: I I did manage the large resellers. At [00:13:51] Vince Menzione: large resellers. So at one point, and you also had the Disti at one time? [00:13:54] Oguo Atuanya: At one point I had the Disti, the telco, the domain providers. [00:13:58] Vince Menzione: Yes. The large resellers. I remember when we first met, yes. I think that was when, [00:14:00] Oguo Atuanya: yes. [00:14:00] Vince Menzione: Yes. And so when you came, PAX eight is a very strong Microsoft partner. You were, again, I mentioned you were the launch partner or one of the launch partners for the marketplace. [00:14:09] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:14:09] Vince Menzione: But talk about the role and the relationship with Microsoft and the value that PAX eight provides for this market, uh, kind of layering between, uh, the Microsoft components and, and the SMB market. [00:14:24] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Does that [00:14:24] Vince Menzione: make sense? [00:14:25] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So, so Microsoft has always been. Um, keen on the SMB segment, um, you know, Jose Gomez and Company in the Americas, and folks like, um, Alison West Hughes from a core perspective that, yeah, they’re very serious about this SMB segment. And, um, I’d say the key difference with Microsoft is Microsoft realized early. [00:14:56] Probably based on the fact that Microsoft’s always been a very strong channel friendly, [00:15:01] Vince Menzione: yes. [00:15:01] Oguo Atuanya: Oriented company. I realized earlier that you really can’t scale cost efficiently by having a direct SMB business, right? Right. You have to go through the channel. [00:15:14] Vince Menzione: They’re what, 160,000 MSPs or ips? [00:15:19] Oguo Atuanya: Um, for us at pax, [00:15:21] Vince Menzione: I think for the world. [00:15:22] Oguo Atuanya: Uh, yes. [00:15:22] Vince Menzione: Somewhere the world around there. The world, yeah. You would have to reach all those companies individually, which Yeah, you’d [00:15:27] Oguo Atuanya: have to, well, I mean, even then the, there’s the Ians of SMBs [00:15:31] Vince Menzione: Yes. In worldwide. Yes. That’s right. Right. At at the customer level. The pyramid is huge. You can’t, [00:15:35] Oguo Atuanya: you can’t really scale. [00:15:36] No, you can’t. You can only do that through the channel. [00:15:38] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:15:39] Oguo Atuanya: And, um, I think, I think the relationship between Microsoft and PAX has just. Strengthened over time because Microsoft sees, if we go back to that definition of a, you know, distributor versus a marketplace and a platform provider stuff. So we’re seeing the difference. [00:15:56] Yes. And the value add and, you know, the services led approach that packs it, you know, brings to, um, um, driving the SMB business. Yes. Um, you know, just that we have, we think PAX eight, we have a very strong relationship. And a very strong MSP ecosystem, which is critical when you sort of, you know, uh, look at that difference between just a regular reseller and an MSP. [00:16:26] Vince Menzione: Absolutely. [00:16:26] Oguo Atuanya: Right. Um, you just can’t, what we talked about earlier, just transact a solution and then walk away. It’s, it’s, uh, it’s, um, it, it’s, it’s really a sustainable end-to-end, you know, customer life cycle management approach. When you’re dealing with them. [00:16:44] Vince Menzione: I think it’s important here too, and, and again for the maturity model of our listeners and viewers, it might be at different levels of understanding about the, about the model. [00:16:53] But if you think about the model and the evolution, right, being the, from the old model of being, uh, hardware centric and maybe software centric, uh, the old days of what was a disti, which are not at disti anymore, but, um, the distis were there to provide credit. Availability of product. [00:17:12] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:12] Vince Menzione: And And delivery, basically. [00:17:14] Right? Yeah. That was it. [00:17:15] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:16] Vince Menzione: And that’s how that they were intermediaries on some of that. [00:17:19] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:20] Vince Menzione: But PAX eight evolved at a later time. [00:17:22] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:23] Vince Menzione: More modern time, I would say in the cloud. Yeah. [00:17:25] Oguo Atuanya: PAX eight. So one in the cloud, if you will. [00:17:28] Vince Menzione: And I think that’s maybe a differentiation and this new model that it also feels to like this MSP community has been coming along. [00:17:36] And I, I, I believe a lot of thought leadership from the PAX eight side. I’m speak, I’m speaking for you here, but in terms of some bold moves that the organization is doing. [00:17:46] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Listen. Um, as you know, I dealt or engaged with PAX eight for a while before joining PAX eight. [00:17:54] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:17:55] Oguo Atuanya: I’d engaged with p fact fact pxi, funnily enough was the first meeting I had, um, when I came back from the uk. [00:18:02] Vince Menzione: Is that [00:18:02] Oguo Atuanya: right? Yeah. During my stint running, um. Um, devices, uh, sales organization for Microsoft. The first meeting I had coming back into the Americas was so P Aid and Nick Hedy and, uh, Ryan Walsh and, oh, that’s so funny. Joke about it. By the way, Ryan Walsh all has a prep, uh, notes study, you know, he got ready for the media. [00:18:26] Vince Menzione: Oh, that is hilarious. I met Ryan. Uh, we were on stage together at a channel partners a couple years ago. [00:18:32] Can’t [00:18:32] Oguo Atuanya: miss his energy. [00:18:33] Vince Menzione: He can’t [00:18:33] Oguo Atuanya: miss his energy. [00:18:34] Vince Menzione: Such great energy. [00:18:35] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. But, but listen, I think if I could just sum it in a, you know, in a, um, a framework or a box. The key difference between PAC sales is we look at engaging with MSPs in SMB, um, from a customer lifecycle management. [00:18:57] So we start from, Hey, how do we help you with customer acquisition? When you do acquire the customers and you make that first licensing transaction, it doesn’t go away. That’s when we actually start, you know, thinking about how do we help, um, you ensure that your SMBs realize, um, value from what you sold them. [00:19:18] You know, if you need to expand, but, um, beyond one, you know, skew in the stack, that’s what you do because you understand the needs of USMB that helps drive consumption, you know? Nurture that through all, we start, you know, looking at, is it time for re sorry, renewal. There’s a team minus approach to renewal. [00:19:37] ’cause we also keep our eyes on churn. You can, you know, gain as much business as you can, but if you churn, it does nobody any good. Yeah. So we look at things end to end from our position to churn. And that really is embedded in the platform that sits underneath the marketplace. [00:19:53] Vince Menzione: And you act as the, well see, we’re gonna use technical terms here. [00:19:57] CSP. You’re the first layer of CSP and then they, they also, in many cases, sometimes they’re not, but in many cases they are the CSP to the customer. They’re providing the, the licenses to the customer. [00:20:10] Oguo Atuanya: Well, we, so we, we are the first tier of that, you know, two tier [00:20:14] Vince Menzione: Exactly. [00:20:15] Oguo Atuanya: Model. So we, we, [00:20:16] Vince Menzione: you’re tier one [00:20:17] Oguo Atuanya: Microsoft. [00:20:18] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:20:19] Oguo Atuanya: Right. We, you know, as an existing might press on an example, it could be one of our other vendors, like, you know, um, any of the 150 vendors we have. We engage with them, we enable the um, MSP, who’s the resell, who’s really in the traditional sense, the reseller layer, much more valuable in terms of what they do. [00:20:41] Vince Menzione: That’s right. [00:20:41] Oguo Atuanya: And then. The MSP engages with, uh, the end customer. So that’s kind of what the flow is. [00:20:47] Vince Menzione: Yep. Yeah. And that’s one component of what they do for the customer. The transaction is a one one and done sort of. [00:20:53] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:20:53] Vince Menzione: But then it’s all the managed services and layering Oh, provide on top of it. And then all the other solutions say 150 platforms. [00:21:00] Oguo Atuanya: Uh, 150 vendors. [00:21:01] Vince Menzione: Vendors, yeah. So hundreds of platforms that are available to the customer for [00:21:07] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:21:07] Vince Menzione: Through taxane. [00:21:08] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. But, but lemme just emphasize that especially. We are going actually where we are. Right. Um, again, it starts, it starts way to the left of the continuum than just driving the transaction. [00:21:23] Vince Menzione: So take us through the continuum then. [00:21:25] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, that’s what I said earlier, the continuum is, you know, helping this, helping with [00:21:28] Vince Menzione: acquisition, customer acquisition, [00:21:30] Oguo Atuanya: even, you know, prior to that it’s, it’s helped. We’re getting to a point now where we’re helping these MSPs and they should all be able to do that during the MIP era. [00:21:38] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:21:39] Oguo Atuanya: Understand the market they’re playing it. Yeah. Understand, you know, the market, their SMBs are in, understand their verticals or their scenarios so that you can actually build, you know, this precision, outcome driven, you know, solutions. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:21:52] Oguo Atuanya: Right. That, that’s the beginning and then you sell and acquire. [00:21:58] Right. And then once you acquire that business, uh, it’s always on, you know, situation. You’re helping realize value. ’cause if you don’t. You’re not expanding beyond the stock. Yes. And um, you’re not driving consumption. And if you don’t drive consumption, [00:22:14] Vince Menzione: you’re not making any money. You’re really not making, [00:22:16] Oguo Atuanya: it’s not churn. [00:22:16] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:22:17] Oguo Atuanya: Right. And then they have to keep an eye on, when renewals come about, there has to be a healthy T minus period. Right. Um, so ensure that you renew during renewals. Um, that’s actually when we then look at, Hey, what’s your stack look like? Right. Especially with the agent era, right? Do you have everything you need? [00:22:37] Do you have the processes? Is there governance? Is there enough security for your, um, SMB, right? So that’s kind of the tune up time before we renew, and then we help you renew and then retain so that it’s, it’s a, it’s a sort of lifecycle approach, not just transactional. [00:22:55] Vince Menzione: Oh, I, I hear. Talk and, you know, I talk to different people in the industry about the SMBs, the MSPs in the SM B market, uh, that some of these organizations are very much, they’re very technical. [00:23:07] Yeah. Like they’re technical folks. Sometimes they’re not sales folks or they’re not consulting type folks. Yes. So how do you help them overcome some of those challenges or those gaps? I mean, I know some of it’s through the academy. [00:23:19] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:23:19] Vince Menzione: Do you help them also with selecting like, how do they think about their organizational structure to have the right people in the right seats and those types of [00:23:26] Oguo Atuanya: things and that, that’s, that’s, [00:23:27] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:23:27] Oguo Atuanya: All what the MIP playbook, that’s, and the process is all about Nice. It’s, it’s, Hey, how do we expand your horizon, you know, beyond just providing the technical aspect things, how do you understand the business? How do you go about conversations to discover, right, your, uh, SMB, right? And once you discover, how do you go about architecting, you know, a value framework that includes, you know, maybe looking at the organization and suggesting agents and then, you know, when you land them, right? [00:23:59] What’s the, um, optimization, you know, process beyond just landing them. So it’s, it’s helping them. [00:24:08] Vince Menzione: Make transit, become business [00:24:09] Oguo Atuanya: consultants. [00:24:09] Vince Menzione: Right, exactly. Which is what they need to do. [00:24:11] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. The, in this era, you really need to understand what your SMB is doing because, you know, think about it for the longest, this sort sub, you know, consultative approaches were only sort of reserved for enterprise. [00:24:26] Vince Menzione: Yeah, that’s right. [00:24:27] Oguo Atuanya: But when you look at how, you know, the solutions that we sell, I change, they’re really enterprise solutions now that are in SMB. Right. You have to sell that way. You have to engage that way. Right? So that, that’s, that’s a key differentiator between being an MSP and an MIP, bringing that intelligence into you applying, you know, an intelligent workflow to the way your SMB conduct that, sorry, conducts their business. [00:24:56] Vince Menzione: So tell, take me through, uh, what the ideal MMSP or MIP looks like to you. Like what is the. The, the top of the top and to the right. And then where do you see the challenges? Why do some organizations or, or, ’cause I’m sure there are some that struggle, whether it’s 10%, 20%. [00:25:14] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. [00:25:15] Vince Menzione: Because it’s, it’s, it’s a continuum. [00:25:16] It’s a, it’s a cycle to get from, from point A to point B for a lot of these organizations. Right? [00:25:21] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So [00:25:21] Vince Menzione: what do you see from the challenges they need to overcome and, yeah, so, so the, [00:25:25] Oguo Atuanya: the, the optimal MSP looks like what we just described, right? Yeah. Right. You have an organization that thinks through the process that way, set up. [00:25:33] Right. [00:25:34] Vince Menzione: And they become an ongoing consultant. They help them through the process. They understand ai. Right. This is another thing too, right? Organizations, I mean, are struggling right now with their [00:25:43] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, absolutely. [00:25:44] Vince Menzione: Their people. [00:25:45] Oguo Atuanya: It’s gotta be the baseline. [00:25:47] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:47] Oguo Atuanya: You know, these days, understanding ai, understanding the agent, you know, journey. [00:25:53] Uh, what works well is, um, you know, you, um, you know, you, you. You have to be able to design, um, land a scalable, secure, uh, environment, um, [00:26:13] Vince Menzione: secure. [00:26:16] Oguo Atuanya: So, so security is key here, [00:26:20] Vince Menzione: right? I keep thinking about Claude, what’s happened just in the last several weeks. Yeah. In our industry with people putting things up on, through, through open browsers. [00:26:28] Yeah. [00:26:29] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:26:29] Vince Menzione: To Claude and to. Different tools. [00:26:31] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:32] Vince Menzione: And if you’re an SM B and you’re trying to lock down your environment’s, don’t want, that’s, you don’t want your data exposed. [00:26:37] Oguo Atuanya: That’s why security is [00:26:38] Vince Menzione: huge, [00:26:39] Oguo Atuanya: is key. But, you know, one of the things we recommend is start very specific. Uh, it could be a bundle that includes, you know, could be co-pilot, could be some other AI pillar. [00:26:52] Uh, and then it has to be, you know, a security layer. [00:26:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:26:58] Oguo Atuanya: Uh, to that. Then there has to be an enablement, you know, services layer to that as well, right? So, um, you build secure, um, you land, uh, and then skills develop key, right? And then monetization. You have to be able to hit those levels, uh, to be able to survive in this world. [00:27:22] You’re no longer just selling. Tools. [00:27:27] Vince Menzione: Yes. At margins, [00:27:30] Oguo Atuanya: flat margins. So the tool, the tool sprawl, um, is what takes a lot of margins away. [00:27:37] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:27:37] Oguo Atuanya: From the equation. [00:27:38] Vince Menzione: Right? Tell, tell us about that. ’cause I, I, I remember even back in my Microsoft days, yeah, we would go in and, and have partners that were successful that would say. [00:27:47] In fact, the ones that are most successful would basically tell the customer, you already own it. Like you have a, you have an enterprise agreement and it has all the capabilities you need to run your enterprise, and you’re buying all these other one-off solutions and trying to patch them into your, into your portfolio of your, your solution set. [00:28:04] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Nobody, nobody, especially in SB, nobody wants any more tools. [00:28:08] Vince Menzione: No, I can [00:28:09] Oguo Atuanya: imagine. Um, you, you’ve gotta sort of assemble this thing into a platform that works. [00:28:14] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:28:15] Oguo Atuanya: Right. And it’s gotta be repeatable. If it’s not repeatable, then you’re not driving the frequency. Right. It’s gotta be scalable. Um, ’cause if it’s scalable, then you’re going into, um, that kind of sprawl where people start thinking they need to replace gaps with more tools. [00:28:32] Yeah. Nobody needs. Right. [00:28:34] Vince Menzione: And that creates more vulnerability by putting [00:28:36] Oguo Atuanya: Absolutely. [00:28:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:28:37] Oguo Atuanya: Absolutely. Yeah. It’s [00:28:39] Vince Menzione: fascinating. So [00:28:40] Oguo Atuanya: it’s, it’s a different, um. Sort of engagement and I, I’m refraining from saying it to different kind of sell because the connotation of sell is you transact and you’re gone. It’s a full lifecycle engagement model. [00:28:56] Yeah. [00:28:56] Vince Menzione: I think what you’re doing is you’re enabling the evolution of this market. [00:29:01] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, [00:29:01] Vince Menzione: that’s the way I would say it. [00:29:02] Oguo Atuanya: Well, that, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with, um, the shift from MSP to MIP is. Um, we’re driving the transformation in SMB. [00:29:12] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:29:13] Oguo Atuanya: I, I mean, the ultimate goal is to get that MIP channel as intelligent or even more intelligent and agile than any enterprise IT department. [00:29:23] Yes. ’cause they are the, [00:29:24] Vince Menzione: they are ones, the enterprise IT department [00:29:26] Oguo Atuanya: for that customer. Yeah. The, the word trusted advisor is gonna take a very, you know, it’s [00:29:31] Vince Menzione: fascinating, [00:29:31] Oguo Atuanya: more serious connotation in this space. Because the SMBs are dependent on you as the MMIP for that. [00:29:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Let’s talk, we, we had a session on marketplace yesterday. [00:29:42] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:29:43] Vince Menzione: Um, you have been a great driver now through, especially through this new program, the new unified marketplace. [00:29:50] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:29:50] Vince Menzione: Uh, PAX eight is stood, stood above and beyond and doubled sales, I think is what I thought I heard. Take, take us through some of the, [00:29:58] Oguo Atuanya: well, I mean, uh, uh, a marketplace. Uh, marketplace sales has grown exponentially, [00:30:04] Vince Menzione: exponentially, [00:30:04] Oguo Atuanya: right? [00:30:05] Um, um, this partnership with Microsoft is really all about for the first time, um, integrating, you know, both the, uh, Microsoft, uh, marketplace and the P State marketplace into the MSP delivery, you know, system. Right? What does that mean for the MSP? It means that for the first time, the MSP is gonna have an ability to, um, you know, uh, bundle seamlessly or package seamlessly. [00:30:36] I know from a Microsoft Yeah. Package seamlessly. Um, you know, so Microsoft, uh, solutions and third party solutions that are complimentary again, to driving the outcomes that, you know, uh, the SMB needs. It’s really all about provisioning. Um, and, um, you know, building those solutions intelligently and, and dynamically, right? [00:31:05] Where it’s very scalable, right? So that, that’s sort of what the intelligence and the, the dexterity of our marketplace, uh, does. Right? So, so it’s, it’s, it’s creating, you know, um, provisioning, building, uh, transacting. Then really managing in a very automated fashion. Right. So that’s what the MSP gets. Yes. [00:31:32] The vendor, like Microsoft and other vendors remove the guesswork from, is this actually gonna hit the mark for, uh, SMBs? ’cause we do that curation through the discovery when we, you know, integrate marketplaces. Make sure that those solutions, those agents that land in the marketplace are SMB applicable. [00:31:57] ’cause the other thing we, we, we see in the marketplace, and I’m using the general marketplace is, um, a lot of companies will tell you that they have SMB solutions or agents. Yes, in the marketplace. And then you go into the marketplace and these are really enterprise, enterprise [00:32:14] Vince Menzione: solutions. Solutions that are [00:32:15] Oguo Atuanya: being forced down into SMB. [00:32:18] Well, you can’t do that these days ’cause you have to hit that, you know, customer, um, precision when you’re driving, you know, outcome based solutions. You have to be precise. [00:32:29] Vince Menzione: What is, what is the curation process for? Um, I’m an SMB customer. I come to the MSP. And you help at your marketplace level, it sounds like you help design what the right solution is. [00:32:42] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. [00:32:42] Vince Menzione: So what, tell, take us through that process real quick. [00:32:45] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So, um, you know, we have a set of folks internally. Along with our PXI labs people. [00:32:52] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:32:53] Oguo Atuanya: When we’re actually intaking, you know? So [00:32:56] Vince Menzione: you’re using AI as well on that side of Yeah. We use AI Doing your discovery process for the customers. Yes. [00:33:02] Using [00:33:02] Oguo Atuanya: AI as well. It, it uses ai, the rules that are being written into it, you know, [00:33:06] Vince Menzione: it [00:33:06] Oguo Atuanya: processes, Hey, it’s gotta be applicable from an SMB perspective. Right. This [00:33:10] Vince Menzione: is very cool. [00:33:11] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So, um, you know, we, we do that, we ensure that it’s, um. It’s applicable. There’s no guesswork. Right. Then we put it on the, um, on the agent store. [00:33:22] Right. And then, um, you know, we help the, uh, uh, MSPs, um, architect and fit solutions around the agents, you know, for very specific outcomes. That’s, uh, so it’s, [00:33:36] Vince Menzione: this is fascinating. [00:33:37] Oguo Atuanya: It’s a very curated process. [00:33:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. So for, um, the market, the MSP market or MIP market that are watching and listening today, and maybe they’re not with PAX eight yet. [00:33:49] Like what would, what would be the, the, I mean you’ve already described what the differentiation Yeah. Just, I’m just thinking out loud here. Like what would you say to them today, especially as this market is changing, not your market, but the, just the technology sector, the, the shifts are happening so fast right now. [00:34:07] What would be the. I guess the one piece of advice you would give to this community of technology companies out there that they should think about for 10 26. [00:34:18] Oguo Atuanya: It’s, it’s really refrain from Yeah. Selling just tools and infrastructure. Yeah. [00:34:30] Vince Menzione: Which is the way a lot of them have been structured. That’s right. [00:34:32] They’ve done right. [00:34:33] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Think about [00:34:34] Vince Menzione: they’ve gone down a road with a vendor because they got great margins for some reason. [00:34:37] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So understand your customer, the space they’re playing and how you can build, you know, solutions, uh, for them. Be specific vis-a-vis the solutions that you’re building. Right. [00:34:50] Again, um. I was having a conversation yesterday with Nina Hard, and we’re talking about the high heat of, uh, traffic verticals, right? Yeah. Uh, you know, things like healthcare, uh, things like financial services, right? Be very specific in the solutions that you’re building, right? Don’t experiment too much land on what an applicable solution is. [00:35:18] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Predictable [00:35:18] Oguo Atuanya: solution. Make it repeatable, make it. Scalable. Emphasize on the upscale and enablement right, and focus on the monetization. Understand exactly how you’re gonna articulate the value add and the ROI. To [00:35:40] Vince Menzione: To the customer. [00:35:41] Oguo Atuanya: The SMB. [00:35:41] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:35:42] Oguo Atuanya: Because that’s where a lot of folks struggle, right. They still cannot do all that, [00:35:47] Vince Menzione: and they get stuck on the cost to the customer. [00:35:50] They get hung up, I guess, is what I would say. Right. They don’t, they don’t articulate the value enough. [00:35:55] Oguo Atuanya: Well, they’re not selling outcomes. [00:35:57] Vince Menzione: They’re not selling outcomes. They’re selling, [00:35:58] Oguo Atuanya: they’re trying to piece together tools. [00:36:00] Vince Menzione: Hot [00:36:00] Oguo Atuanya: and hot [00:36:01] Vince Menzione: tools, [00:36:01] Oguo Atuanya: spot applications. [00:36:02] Vince Menzione: Tools, tools is the best way to [00:36:03] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:36:04] Vince Menzione: To describe it [00:36:04] Oguo Atuanya: to [00:36:05] Vince Menzione: the [00:36:05] Oguo Atuanya: company and all else spills come to Pax it. [00:36:07] Yes. Teach you how to do it. [00:36:09] Vince Menzione: Well, I, I’m fascinated to join you in June at Beyond. [00:36:13] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:36:13] Vince Menzione: Um, same [00:36:15] Oguo Atuanya: here. [00:36:15] Vince Menzione: So dates again. [00:36:18] Oguo Atuanya: Vincent, you put me, I think it’s, uh, June 7th to the ninth. [00:36:21] Vince Menzione: June 7th to the ninth. [00:36:22] Oguo Atuanya: And this is, uh, in Salt Lake City. In Salt Lake City [00:36:25] Vince Menzione: this [00:36:25] Oguo Atuanya: year. [00:36:25] Vince Menzione: Salt [00:36:25] Oguo Atuanya: Lake [00:36:26] Vince Menzione: year. Yeah. You had it, you had it in a different in Colorado last year [00:36:28] Oguo Atuanya: we had it in Denver. [00:36:29] So this is actually, this is actually, um, this is [00:36:32] Vince Menzione: your hometown, [00:36:33] Oguo Atuanya: the company. Yeah. This is, this is the mainstream. Beyond. So [00:36:36] Vince Menzione: I love [00:36:37] Oguo Atuanya: it. This is a big event. [00:36:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:36:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. ’cause we also have regional events. [00:36:40] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Like four or 5,000 people. I think last year [00:36:43] Oguo Atuanya: it was right around three to 4,000. Three to 4,000 last year. [00:36:45] I think we’re gonna get, you know, more than that. Yeah. In, in, uh, salt Lake City. Then of course we have, um, a regional beyond. We just had the Em me version in, um, Berlin. Um. Netherlands, [00:36:56] Vince Menzione: Netherlands [00:36:57] Oguo Atuanya: after that. [00:36:57] Vince Menzione: But you did Berlin last year? We [00:36:59] Oguo Atuanya: did Berlin. Berlin last I knew years ago. Next year we’ll be in, uh, uh, Copenhagen. [00:37:03] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:37:03] Oguo Atuanya: And then we’ll also have, um, uh, Asia version. Nice. Uh, in 27 [00:37:08] Vince Menzione: Milano. Maybe the year after would be good. [00:37:11] Oguo Atuanya: We, we, we need to arrange, I’ll work with, um, uh, you know, uh, MCEO. Harold. [00:37:16] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. [00:37:17] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:37:17] Vince Menzione: Um. I would, uh, so I have one question. I might’ve asked you this question before, but I would love to just ask you now. [00:37:24] ’cause times have changed. Our lives change, but this is my favorite question. I ask all my guests, especially all my good friends like you, you’re hosting a dinner party and you can host a dinner party anywhere in the world. It might be here, it might be in Houston, it might be in Kenya, it might be anywhere. [00:37:41] We maybe, maybe it’s in EMEA or AsiaPac. Um. You can invite any three guests from the present or the past to this amazing dinner, whom would you invite? A guo and why? [00:37:55] Oguo Atuanya: So this one always gets me because [00:37:58] Vince Menzione: I love that. [00:37:59] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So, you know, you and I have talked before, right? So there’s a standing, uh, invitation for my mom, you know, who know? [00:38:05] Love that. Yes. Swear a while ago. [00:38:07] Vince Menzione: Yes. Yes. [00:38:07] Oguo Atuanya: And then, you know, my sister also who [00:38:09] Vince Menzione: passed [00:38:10] Oguo Atuanya: away, passed away in May [00:38:10] Vince Menzione: last year. [00:38:11] Oguo Atuanya: So I’d love to have this tea because, you know. [00:38:14] Vince Menzione: Some great conversations. We’ll see how [00:38:15] Oguo Atuanya: he’s doing and, you know, and check [00:38:17] Vince Menzione: in with [00:38:17] Oguo Atuanya: how, how, how things, um, are going and now Wow. This third one, [00:38:24] Vince Menzione: who’s the third one? [00:38:26] Oguo Atuanya: This third [00:38:26] Vince Menzione: one is, he talked about your son a little bit the last couple of days. Yeah. Days. But I don’t think, [00:38:30] Oguo Atuanya: I don’t think he’s, he wants to be bored. [00:38:33] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:38:33] Oguo Atuanya: Having, having, um, a dinner with you [00:38:35] Vince Menzione: and you’ll be there. So now we need to ask add one more [00:38:38] Oguo Atuanya: person. Yeah. We need to add one more person. I’m thinking about that. [00:38:42] MSB. Who’s become an MIPI [00:38:46] Vince Menzione: love it. [00:38:47] Oguo Atuanya: I [00:38:47] Vince Menzione: would [00:38:47] Oguo Atuanya: love to have him at the, or her at the table. [00:38:50] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:38:51] Oguo Atuanya: And, and talk about what that journey was like. [00:38:53] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. Well, that’ll be a fun dinner and I might come by and bring dessert or something. [00:38:58] Oguo Atuanya: You, [00:38:58] Vince Menzione: you, you, [00:38:59] Oguo Atuanya: you’re [00:38:59] Vince Menzione: always maybe just stop by and say, [00:39:00] Oguo Atuanya: you’re always welcome. [00:39:01] Vince Menzione: I’d love to meet your mom and your sister. So [00:39:03] Oguo Atuanya: thank you Vince. [00:39:04] Vince Menzione: Um, you are a great friend. I’m so excited to have you here in the room. Your organization is doing incredible things and we love having you as part of ultimate partner in our community. So, so great to see you again, my friend. [00:39:18] Oguo Atuanya: Appreciate it, Vince. [00:39:19] It’s always a, a pleasure being here with you and seeing you and, uh, I can’t wait to see you beyond. [00:39:24] Vince Menzione: I love [00:39:24] Oguo Atuanya: it folks out there. It’s selling out. So [00:39:26] Vince Menzione: babe, [00:39:27] Oguo Atuanya: get our, [00:39:27] Vince Menzione: get your tickets [00:39:28] Oguo Atuanya: soon. June 7th to ninth. It’s, uh, the biggest show in the MSU [00:39:31] Vince Menzione: world. It’s the biggest show. And then we, uh, is also gonna participate, I believe, at our, at our Bellevue event, Bellview Forum, which will be an incredible event. [00:39:39] Yeah. And May 13th, May 11th, through the 13th. I want to thank you for watching. I wanna thank you for listening to this episode of The Ultimate Eye, to partnering and following our YouTube channel, ultimate Partner, and for being part of our community at Ultimate Partner. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. [00:39:55] Thank you. Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, may 11 through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

⁠⁠Enio Augusto⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ e ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Marcos Buosi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ trazem as notícias do mundo da corrida com os comentários, informações, opiniões e análises mais pertinentes, peculiares e inesperadas no Redação PFC. Escute, informe-se e divirta-se.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SEJA MEMBRO DO CANAL!!!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠