Channel challenges used to show up as isolated problems — a tricky client, a tough quarter, a product transition that didn’t go quite as planned. This month, they feel more systemic. The pace of change, the pressure on margins, the need to rethink how we build and deliver value in the channel are all hitting at once, and this issue is very much a snapshot of what it looks like to face that reality head-on.
In my SpeakEasy interview, ConnectWise’s Jamie Hunter talks about “curve jumps” and why this one — driven by automation, AI and tighter integration — is moving faster than anything the channel has seen before. Her insistence that predictive intelligence, not AI for its own sake, is the destination sets a high bar for MSPs and dealers who are still wrestling with fragmented tools, manual processes and security threats that no longer wait for human intervention.
That theme of disciplined modernization carries through Christina Robbins of Digitech Systems’ look at composable technologies and microservices. As workloads shift and data sprawls, the ability to assemble, integrate and reconfigure services without breaking everything underneath becomes a competitive advantage, not an abstract architecture discussion. Heather Valvoda of GreatAmerica takes a look at automation, change and mindset, Michael Hannon of FP Mailing focuses on using workflow to drive profitable growth, and Image Star’s take on supply and support all underscore the same point: good processes, flexibility and execution matter more than ever. And if you sense a thread of pressure running through these stories, you’re not wrong. In “Under Pressure,” I look at how dealers and vendors are adapting to a landscape where expectations rise faster than budgets, and where resilience is less about endurance and more about intelligent redesign. Channel challenges are real — but so is the opportunity, if we’re willing to rethink the way we work.
Patricia Ames is president and senior analyst for BPO Media, which publishes The Imaging Channel and Workflow magazines. As a market analyst and industry consultant, Ames has worked for prominent consulting firms including KPMG and has more than 15 years experience in the imaging industry covering technology and business sectors. Ames has lived and worked in the United States, Southeast Asia and Europe and enjoys being a part of a global industry and community.