In this episode of Changing Channels, Larry Walsh speaks with Tom Evans, Chief Partner Officer at Cloudflare, about how fostering an open, fun, and collaborative culture translates directly into partner success. Evans shares insights from his first year at Cloudflare, where he’s reshaping the company's channel strategy to accelerate growth and increase partner contribution. Learn how Evans cultivates an environment that balances high expectations with genuine enjoyment, promotes diversity of tho...
Jul 22, 2025•30 min•Ep. 86
In this episode of Changing Channels, Larry Walsh sits down with Chris Bell, Senior Vice President of Global Channels, Alliances, and Business Development at Sophos, for an inside look at MSP Elevate—the company’s bold new program designed to reward committed partners with richer margins, exclusive capabilities, and unmatched growth potential. Bell shares how Elevate goes beyond the existing MSP Flex model by offering architect-level training, performance-based rebates, and early access to new o...
Jul 08, 2025•30 min•Ep. 85
Autodesk has overhauled its channel strategy by moving to an agency model, where the company handles transactions directly while partners focus on delivering post-sale value. The change provides Autodesk with greater pricing and data control, reduces the administrative burden for partners, and enhances the customer experience through streamlined systems and self-service capabilities. Early results show stronger renewal rates, higher partner margins, and improved operational efficiency. Rachel Tu...
Jun 17, 2025•27 min•Ep. 84
Tariffs are top of mind across the channel. In this episode of Changing Channels, Larry Walsh talks with Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, CEO of Pluggable Technologies, about the wide-reaching effects of shifting U.S. trade policy. Lynn shares how Pluggable restructured its supply chain in response to Trump-era tariffs and how new rounds of uncertainty are forcing fast, complex decisions. The discussion covers pricing volatility, the limits of reshoring, and how to stay competitive in a crowded peripher...
Apr 15, 2025•30 min•Ep. 83
Vendors go to great lengths to create channel programs that enable and encourage partners to succeed in their mutual go-to-market activities. These programs define the rules and agreements under which vendors and partners operate. However, partners often have little direct influence over how these programs are crafted or managed. Vendors can either elevate partners to new heights or dash their hopes and aspirations. Channelnomics reviewed years of commentary from satisfaction surveys that gather...
Mar 11, 2025•33 min•Ep. 82
In this episode of Changing Channels, host Larry Walsh speaks with Alessandro (Alex) Cattani, CEO of Esprinet Group, about the unique dynamics of working within the IT channel and distribution landscape across Europe. Unlike the United States, the European market is complex, shaped by distinct local economies, languages, and regulations across different countries. Cattani shares insights into how these regional distinctions require a highly localized approach, making distribution essential for n...
Nov 05, 2024•32 min•Ep. 81
In this episode of Changing Channels, Channelnomics's Larry Walsh speaks with Stephanie Chiras, Senior Vice President of Partner Ecosystem Success at Red Hat, to discuss the critical role collaboration plays in building and leveraging successful ecosystem channels. Chiras highlights how no single company can solve all customer challenges alone, emphasizing the need for multiple partners to work together to deliver comprehensive solutions. Red Hat, as a leader in open-source software, has embrace...
Oct 08, 2024•32 min•Ep. 80
In this episode of Changing Channels, host Larry Walsh speaks with Sal Sferlazza, the CEO and founder of NinjaOne, a leading managed services platform, to discuss the evolving landscape of Managed Services Providers (MSPs). They dive into how NinjaOne has emerged as a competitive alternative in the crowded MSP market by focusing on simplicity, scalability, and superior customer service. From the rise of MSPs to the challenges they face in today’s complex and commoditized environment, this conver...
Sep 17, 2024•31 min•Ep. 79
Partner advisory boards (PABs) or councils (PACs) are integral components of many vendor channel programs, serving as crucial platforms for direct and candid dialogue between vendor leadership, channel managers, and partners. These forums allow vendors to gain valuable insights into their current operations and gauge partner sentiment regarding future plans and aspirations. While most vendors acknowledge the significance of PABs in their partner programs, the effectiveness of these forums can va...
Aug 20, 2024•30 min•Ep. 78
More than 90% of software and services vendors are selling their products on subscription plans, generating annual recurring revenue (ARR). The model is more advantageous than traditional sales through transactional perpetual licensing, as it provides predictable revenue that leads to higher market valuations. While software and services sold on long-term recurring contracts have many operational and economic advantages, generating sales through partners isn’t always easy. Many vendors are chall...
Aug 06, 2024•24 min•Ep. 77
The managed services segment of the channel has long operated on a “best of breed” basis. These companies developed services with collections of technologies from multiple vendors, providing what they considered the best options for their needs. While "best of breed" is considered a good means of developing effective systems, it is not always easy and often expensive to create and maintain. The holy grail of managed services is the simplification of systems into consolidated applications with we...
Jul 23, 2024•31 min•Ep. 76
Women in the IT channel face unique career challenges. These include skill development, gaining experience, and demonstrating their value for advancement in a predominantly male industry while also balancing motherhood and family responsibilities. Simply put, men don’t face the same pressures as women. Progress is evident, though, with more women holding leadership positions and rising through the ranks. However, mid-level channel professionals continue to face challenges balancing work and fami...
Jul 09, 2024•47 min•Ep. 75
No one technology vendor has all the products and services that businesses need to operate efficiently and effectively. Even the best vendors with the broadest portfolios have limitations. They need to partner with complementary products and services to extend the value of their applications. This need is at the heart of what makes ecosystems valuable. Through ecosystems vendors and partners are able to combine products into systems. A significant part of this ecosystem is independent software v...
Jun 25, 2024•36 min•Ep. 74
The term "ecosystem" has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, steadily replacing "channels" to denote indirect sales processes. By definition, ecosystems is the collaboration between two or more companies to address a customer's needs. Nevertheless, there is a trend where the term "ecosystems" is also applied to describe channel populations and communities, leading to some confusion. This conflation of terms can set unrealistic expectations about what ecosystems are and what outcomes t...
Apr 02, 2024•25 min•Ep. 73
In the latest episode of the podcast “Changing Channels,” host Larry Walsh spoke with Trevor Vickery, the vice president and general manager of Intel's global partners and support organization, about the concept of the "Siliconomy" – or the Silicon Economy – and how semiconductors are driving a new wave of innovation and opportunity. The Siliconomy, a term coined by Intel, refers to the ubiquity of semiconductors in our digitally connected world. As Vickery explained, the need for compute power ...
Mar 19, 2024•27 min•Ep. 72
The tech industry is the generator of great wealth and a contributor to economic growth. The industry has provided trillions of dollars in opportunities to entrepreneurs and investors around the world, and it has offered a pathway to a better life for millions. The last two years haven’t been kind to the tech industry. Many companies and their partners are struggling against strong economic headwinds resulting from the post-COVID recovery and geopolitical instability. While tech companies contin...
Feb 20, 2024•40 min•Ep. 71
Paul Hunter, managing director of North America at HPE, joins Changing Channel’s Larry Walsh to discuss the traditional data center hardware company’s transition to the Everything-as-a-Service model and what it meant to its channel program. In recent years, vendors across the tech industry have wholeheartedly embraced the Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) model. This revolutionary approach involves selling technology in various forms through subscription and consumption-based models, which offer nu...
Jun 06, 2023•33 min•Ep. 70
Eric Hembree, director of Internet of Things at Ingram Micro, joins Changing Channel’s Larry Walsh to discuss the state of Extended Reality and IoT in the channel. The reputation of Extended Reality (XR) technology is taking a hit as some consumer vendors are pulling back on their market development ambitions. But in the commercial segment, XR is just getting warmed up. Ingram Micro, one of the world’s largest technology distributors, partnered with Channelnomics to study the state of XR — an um...
Apr 18, 2023•38 min•Ep. 69
Economic uncertainty remains high, even as the general indicators start to point away from a recession disrupting the market in 2023. Channelnomics is adding to this more optimistic outlook with the recently released annual Channel Forecast report, which found that technology vendors believe indirect sales will increase this year. The prospect of a good sales and revenue year is somewhat surprising amid the continuing string of technology company layoffs and mixed sales results by product catego...
Mar 07, 2023•33 min•Ep. 68
David Rogers, senior vice president of alliances and global channel sales at Netskope, talks to Larry Walsh about the security risks of the expanding world of ecosystems. “Ecosystems” is a buzzword that everyone is talking about these days. In these collaborative networks of technology and value providers, vendors, distributors, resellers, service providers, and integrators work together to combine various applications and resources, resulting in a value that’s greater than the sum of their part...
Feb 21, 2023•25 min•Ep. 67
Ross Brown, senior vice president of North America Cloud Ecosystem Partners at Oracle, talks to Larry Walsh about what it means to make money in cloud computing. The cloud is now mainstream. Vendors and partners make more money on cloud and other automated services sold through subscriptions than they do through traditional hardware and software products. A large part of cloud computing’s appeal is the recurring revenue — steady, predictable income with a consistent expense correlation. Unlike f...
Jan 24, 2023•43 min•Ep. 66
Karl Soderlund, senior vice president of North America ecosystems at Palo Alto Networks, joins Larry Walsh to talk about what it takes for channel leadership and teams to continuously challenge themselves to look for improvements and better ways of doing things. Technology is a driving force behind the transformation of the way businesses operate. One important aspect of this transformation is the channel, which vendors use to get their products to market through partners. Staying ahead of the c...
Jan 10, 2023•28 min•Ep. 65
Changing Channels welcomed dozens of seasoned and insightful channel leaders from around the world and across the industry to share their experiences in developing modern routes to market. As we transition to the new year, Channelnomics is revisiting some of the best moments of Changing Channels over the last 12 months. We’re looking back at the deep thoughts and experiences shared by numerous industry executives, including: Rob Rae, Datto Cheryl Cook, Dell Technologies Louise McEvoy, Trend Micr...
Dec 27, 2022•24 min•Ep. 64
Cheryl Cook, senior vice president of global channel marketing at Dell Technologies, joins Larry Walsh to talk about the state of channel marketing, how marketing to and through the channel is evolving, and how to craft market-leading channel marketing programs. Successful channels require a combination of good products with demonstrable value propositions, training and enablement to transfer skills required to sell and support the offerings, and marketing resources and support to drive the dema...
Nov 29, 2022•36 min•Ep. 63
Dan Tomaszewski, executive vice president of channels at Kaseya, joins Larry Walsh to talk about what it takes to enable managed service providers for success and how to get partners to put skin in the game on joint efforts that result in growth. Managed services providers (MSPs) are the most sought-after partners in the channel. Built on recurring revenue models and service delivery, MSPs have the attributes that vendors adopting and developing subscription-based sales models seek in their go-t...
Nov 08, 2022•31 min•Ep. 62
Eric Buck, director of commercial partners and global distribution at Google Cloud, joins Larry Walsh to talk about the role two-tier distribution models and distributors play in aiding cloud service providers in engaging channels and supporting partners. Technology is increasingly being delivered via the cloud and sold through subscription payment models. End customers — from SMBs to enterprises — appreciate the ability to acquire and utilize computing resources hosted in public cloud infrastru...
Oct 25, 2022•28 min•Ep. 61
Todd Palmer, senior vice president of global partner sales at Tanium, joins Larry Walsh to talk about the mythical “right partners” that vendors always seek to sell their products and why it’s important to set the right expectations when developing go-to-market partnerships. Vendors often say that they want to work with the right partners — resellers and solution providers with the ability and willingness to sell their products, support their customers, and, most of all, book consistent sales an...
Oct 12, 2022•30 min•Ep. 60
Lou Serlenga, chief revenue officer at Nile, joins Larry Walsh to talk about the launch of a new Network-as-a-Service company that’s leveraging channel partnerships to take on the incumbents in the staid, commoditized networking segment. New technology companies spring onto the IT landscape all the time, but few launch into a well-established and commoditized segment that’s dominated by a giant such as Cisco Systems. Yet that’s what the folks at Nile are doing. Under the leadership of chairman J...
Sep 27, 2022•30 min•Ep. 59
T.C. Doyle, vice president of strategic content at Channelnomics, joins Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to discuss the challenges all vendors face in transitioning from transactional to recurring revenue models. Services sold through subscription or recurring contracts are fast becoming the dominant go-to-market model for all vendors. While cloud service providers are built on the recurring-revenue model, even hardware and component vendors are pivoting toward the predictable revenue model. R...
Jul 21, 2022•16 min•Ep. 58
Justin Crotty, senior vice president of channels at Netenrich, joins Channelnomics Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to discuss how data and device telemetry is transforming managed service delivery and value propositions. Managed services in the channel are nothing new. Partners started delivering them more than 20 years ago, augmenting and replacing their legacy break/fix support with remote monitoring and management. Increasingly, vendors — particularly legacy hardware and software vendors —...
Jun 22, 2022•22 min•Ep. 57
