01732 759725 VOX POP 40 ...continued promising, but when implemented widely, it caused significant issues, necessitating a laborious rollback. This underscores the importance of extensive testing before full adoption. While embracing disruptors can lead to advancements, it's crucial to balance this with thorough validation to avoid compromising service quality. In our case, our eagerness to innovate led to challenges, emphasising why the IT channel's cautious approach can be beneficial for both providers and clients.” Have you had any experiences with disruptors that have been notable successes or failures? Scott Dodds, CEO, Ultima “We haven't had any failures with disruptors, but we have some positives. For instance, our early decision to get deeply involved with the nascent automation market for RPA led us to develop our own IP around software automation, which has subsequently enabled us to move rapidly into the world of AI and Copilot with several years of automation experience.” Tom Henson, Managing Director, Emerge Digital “We've taken chances on some disruptors that didn't have the outcomes expected, but generally our experience with disruptors has been positive. Although not all ventures have been successful, the lessons learned from these experiences have been invaluable, contributing positively to our understanding and approach to new technology. “Our most significant success has come from transforming Emerge into a market disruptor through our own internal offerings and marketing messaging, a strategy that has brought considerable success in the past two years. We consistently seek out differentiated products, and our partnership with Microsoft has been particularly beneficial. It's enhanced our ability to offer innovative services, and with the advent of AI technologies, we anticipate further acceleration in our growth and service capabilities.” Phil Cambers, Commercial Director, Trustack “We have never got it wrong, but that’s because we always thoroughly test the technology and make sure there is a business need for it before we take the time to market any new disruptive tech. We’ve never regretted any of our disruptive tech choices. Some burn more slowly than others but that’s to be expected. “Over the years, many of our choices have paid off, starting off with VMware and Veeam back in 2008 when no one had really heard of virtualisation (around 5% of workloads were virtualised back then). We built an award-winning business off the back of those two disruptors, growing the business from zero to a £10m turnover MSP. More recently, Artic Wolf, who’ve only been in the UK a couple of years now, has really paid off for us. We were one of the first adopters of Artic Wolf and now we are reaping the rewards from having their tech in our stack. Picking a disruptor is all about timing. Get it right and you win; too early or too late and you’re wasting your time.” Jay Ball, CEO, Flotek “As I said in my previous answer, we were drawn to a vendor aiming to be a disruptor in the market. Eager to innovate, we consolidated various services under this vendor, expecting to make a significant impact. However, despite their promising position in online backup, they fell short in other areas. This led to substantial rollbacks and affected some of our customers. This experience taught us a valuable lesson about the risks of partnering with a disruptor to consolidate services without extensive evaluation & testing, especially when trying to introduce ground-breaking changes. “We've also had a positive experience with a disruptor. We chose Halo, a new PSA tool in the market, for its promise of a full 360-degree view of our customers. This decision has proved to be one of our best. Halo's comprehensive approach has significantly enhanced our customer understanding and service delivery. “While there were challenges in adapting to a new system, the benefits of having a holistic customer view far outweigh them. This tool has not only improved our operational efficiency but also our ability to respond to customer needs more effectively, reinforcing the value of embracing innovative solutions.” partly desirable due to potential risks, this careful approach ensures the stability and security our clients rely on. Embracing new technologies is key, but so is ensuring reliability for our clients' trust and dependable service. Our approach is more to do with deliberate consideration than mere risk avoidance.” Is the IT channel missing a trick and doing its customers a disservice by not embracing disruptors? Tom Henson, Managing Director, Emerge Digital “The IT channel's caution could be seen as a double-edged sword. On one hand, it ensures stability and reliability; on the other, it risks missing out on innovative opportunities. Clients increasingly value working with forward-thinking tech firms, so those channels that resist embracing disruptors may not only struggle to keep up but also potentially fail their clients by not offering the latest innovative solutions.” Phil Cambers, Commercial Director, Trustack “Pragmatic, forward-thinking MSPs like Trustack do bring our clients disruptive technology and that’s what clients have come to expect as it gives them a competitive advantage in their businesses. If we believe in the disruptive technology and we’ve thoroughly road-tested it inhouse before proposing it, then the belief we exude normally results in success. That said, MSPs need to get their timing right as reputation takes years to build and can be quickly eroded if you get it wrong.” Jay Ball, CEO, Flotek “In the IT sector, caution is often justified, as our experience shows. We adopted a renowned backup solution for additional services, believing it to be a secure choice. Initial tests on a small scale were Jay Ball Scott Dodds
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