Telecom Reseller / Technology Reseller News

Rob Slaughter Rob Slaughter, CEO and co-founder of Defense Unicorns, discusses the modernization of the Department of War and the company’s role in facilitating technology integration with Don Witt of the Channel Daily News, a TR publication. Rob and Don comment on the modernization focusing on technology advancements and AI applications. They discussed how the nature of warfare has changed, transitioning from traditional systems to autonomous drones and other advanced technologies. Rob explained that the rapid pace of technological development means that outdated capabilities are no longer acceptable in modern conflicts. Don then asks Rob Slaughter about their platform solution UDS. Rob explains that UDS enables faster integration of modern software and AI solutions into military systems. Rob explained that UDS can integrate with both legacy and modern systems, significantly reducing the time needed for technology deployment compared to traditional methods. They discussed the challenges of deploying technology to the government and how Defense Unicorns helps streamline the process, making it easier for companies to contribute to national defense. This holds true for enterprise software as well. About: Defense Unicorns was created by people who knew firsthand how desperately the people protecting our world needed software that could move as fast as the threat. At the time it was impossible. They imagined a solution that could update in minutes, be CVE-free as a baseline, and thrive in air-gapped and edge environments. And then they built it. Defense Unicorns was officially founded, building on their deep experience delivering software in air-gapped, mission-critical environments. After helping stand up Platform One and Big Bang, the team began aligning real-world services work with product R&D—starting with Zarf, an air-gap-native delivery tool. This product-led approach, grounded in the needs of mission operators, drove early growth. For more information go to: https://defenseunicorns.com

Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, interviewed Roger Brown, Vice President of Mobile North America at Allstate Protection Plans, to discuss new consumer research examining how Americans think about smartphone upgrades, trade-ins, and sustainability—and what it means for carriers and the broader mobile ecosystem. Allstate Protection Plans, a division of Allstate, works globally with carriers and retailers to provide device protection, upgrade, and second-life solutions for smartphones and other connected devices. Brown shared findings from a recent survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers. The first major takeaway: upgrade cycles continue to lengthen. Consumers are keeping their smartphones longer, driven by higher device prices, extended financing terms, and slower perceived innovation. The second key finding was that practicality now outweighs novelty. For the first time, battery performance ranked as the most important feature—above price or camera improvements—signaling that dependability now trumps incremental feature upgrades. A third headline centered on sustainability. While more than half of consumers say environmental impact matters, only about 20% actually recycle their old phones, and just 16% purchase refurbished devices. Brown noted that lingering concerns about personal data security remain a barrier, even though industry safeguards are strong. “There’s still a lack of confidence,” he explained, particularly around handing over devices containing personal photos, financial data, and contacts. The survey also has strategic implications for carriers. Longer device life cycles improve retention but make customer acquisition more difficult and expensive. As Brown observed, simply offering the latest device is no longer enough to differentiate. Instead, carriers are exploring bundled and subscription-style offerings—combining connectivity, device access, and protection into a single monthly solution—to simplify the consumer experience and create stronger value propositions. Building confidence in refurbished devices by backing them with warranties comparable to new products may also help close the sustainability gap. Ultimately, Brown emphasized that flexibility is key. Consumers have different upgrade appetites, and solutions must allow them to upgrade, repair, protect, or recycle on their own terms. The full survey and additional information about Allstate Protection Plans are available through the Allstate website. Visit https://www.squaretrade.com/

Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, interviewed Kotryna Ragaisyte, Head of Content & Brand at Decodo, to spotlight a growing threat many businesses underestimate: digital squatting—fraudsters registering lookalike domains to impersonate brands, steal customers, and damage reputations. Ragaisyte explained that Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) is a web data collection infrastructure provider offering proxy and scraping solutions—“the backbone of the businesses that need publicly available data” for functions like price comparison and information gathering. Her team encountered digital squatting firsthand when attackers registered a country-code domain using their former brand name, forcing them to confront how difficult it can be to shut down impersonators even when you discover the scam quickly. The business impact, she said, is immediate and severe: reputational harm from fraudulent “service,” negative reviews, lost revenue, and significant legal and operational costs. “It impacts the whole business,” Ragaisyte noted, adding that fighting squatters becomes a cross-team crisis involving legal, marketing, customer support, and security—not a problem any one department can solve alone. Ragaisyte tied the surge in squatting to the post-COVID acceleration of online commerce and habit-driven clicking behavior—warning that top search placement doesn’t guarantee legitimacy. She outlined why legal remedies can help but aren’t a silver bullet: disputes may require proof of bad faith, can take a long time, must often be handled case-by-case, and don’t stop future registrations. Her advice emphasized proactive defense—broad trademark coverage, building a robust domain portfolio beyond “.com” (including misspellings and country-code domains), and maintaining monitoring and internal readiness. Finally, she stressed that response requires disciplined evidence gathering, fast coordination with registrars/hosting providers and legal counsel, and transparent customer communication. Rather than hoping the issue will “go away,” Ragaisyte urged brands to clearly publish official domains and warn customers across email and social channels so scams don’t define the narrative. Visit https://decodo.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Jim Gurol, CEO of California Telecom, joined Doug Green to discuss NetVerge, a modern software platform designed to address a persistent challenge for MSPs: SaaS sprawl and operational inefficiency. NetVerge was born from Gurol’s own experience running an MSP. Faced with juggling multiple ticketing systems, monitoring tools, and documentation platforms, his team found themselves “swivel chairing” between applications that didn’t integrate cleanly. Rather than accept outdated workflows, they built their own platform from the ground up. “We wanted to build something from scratch, from the ground up, from our pain,” Gurol explained, emphasizing that NetVerge evolved directly from real-world MSP feedback. The platform consolidates core MSP functions into a modern, AI-enabled environment. Its ticketing interface resembles real-time chat, allowing technicians to collaborate through mentions and threaded conversations rather than traditional form-heavy systems. NetVerge also incorporates AI workflow agents that assist with troubleshooting, pen testing, and other operational tasks. MSPs can even design their own AI agents to automate repetitive processes—helping firms scale without proportionally increasing headcount. Gurol believes this practitioner-driven design is a key differentiator. “We live it,” he said, noting that firsthand MSP experience informs how the platform handles alert management, ticket flow, and day-to-day operational realities. For MSPs looking to reduce tool fragmentation, modernize workflows, and deploy AI in practical ways, NetVerge aims to offer a unified alternative. Visit https://californiatelecom.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Ty Richardson, CEO of One Global Business Financing Corporation, joined Doug Green to discuss one of the most consequential realities facing MSP owners: at some point, you will either acquire—or be acquired. Richardson outlined how today’s M&A environment has expanded beyond large “behemoth” firms, enabling even $1–$5 million MSPs to pursue viable exit strategies or strategic acquisitions. One Global Business Financing Corporation operates as a capital advisor and intermediary, working between MSPs and a broad network of lenders, private credit firms, family offices, SBA providers, and private equity sources. “We do the work so that you don’t have to,” Richardson explained. Rather than forcing MSPs to navigate banks and paperwork alone, his firm evaluates financial positioning, collects documentation, surveys more than 6,000 capital providers, and returns with structured options tailored to the owner’s goals—whether that means a line of credit, equipment financing, a term loan, real estate acquisition, or full M&A funding. Richardson emphasized that financing strategy begins years before a sale. MSPs planning an exit in three to five years must structure recurring revenue, strengthen contracts, build leadership teams, and maintain solid financial reporting. “If you are structuring yourself for a sale, the one thing you should be thinking about is how do I make this easy for a buyer to qualify?” he said. That preparation can significantly impact valuation and buyer confidence. The conversation also highlighted alternative deal structures, including partial acquisitions, staged buyouts, and SBA-backed transactions for smaller firms. Richardson noted that many MSPs initially assume they simply “need a loan,” when in reality more tax-efficient or strategically structured financing solutions may exist. The firm often works in consultation with tax professionals and legal advisors to optimize long-term positioning. Finally, Richardson advised MSP owners to begin networking early if a sale is on the horizon. By cultivating relationships over several years, owners may find qualified buyers privately—avoiding the noise and unqualified interest that often comes with broadly marketing a business for sale. Visit https://oneglobalfinancing.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Jon Arnold, Principal of J Arnold & Associates, joined Doug Green to share his perspective on the event’s evolution, the growing dominance of AI in conference programming, and the escalating fraud challenges facing the communications industry. A long-time analyst and contributor, Arnold participated in four sessions during the show, primarily focused on cybersecurity, mobile communications, and fraud mitigation. Arnold noted that while ITEXPO continues to feature its traditional telecom and MSP programming, AI now permeates nearly every track—from agentic AI discussions to vertical-focused sub-events. At the same time, he observed a visible shift on the show floor, with fewer hardware vendors and more companies centered on cybersecurity and risk mitigation. “There’s a steadiness to this show that I kind of like year after year,” Arnold said, while acknowledging that the exhibitor footprint and attendee mix are evolving. Across his moderated sessions, a central theme emerged: fraud is accelerating, and AI is amplifying the challenge. Topics included branded calling, RCS, KYC/Know Your Customer frameworks, and the persistent vulnerabilities within mobile networks. Arnold emphasized that fraud has become a multi-layered ecosystem problem. “Before AI, the bad guys were maybe half a step ahead. With AI, they’re three or four steps ahead,” he observed, highlighting how rapidly attackers are leveraging automation and generative tools. A standout moment for Arnold was a presentation by ethical hacker Jesse “Hackajack” Tuttle, who illustrated the pervasiveness of fraud from a former attacker’s perspective. The session reinforced the need for stronger regulatory frameworks, greater carrier coordination, and increased industry urgency around consumer protection. As the communications industry balances innovation with risk, Arnold’s takeaway was clear: the fraud problem is worse than many assume, and solving it will require deeper collaboration across the ecosystem. Visit https://www.jarnoldassociates.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Simon Bradbrook, Senior Sales Engineer BSG at Snom, joined Doug Green to discuss why hardware reliability, mobility, and voice infrastructure still matter in a cloud-first world. Snom, a member of the Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA), was one of the original IP phone manufacturers, launching one of the first commercially available IP phones in 2001. Today, Snom operates under the global manufacturing strength of VTech, one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, with additional portfolio depth through the acquisition of Gigaset. Bradbrook highlighted Snom’s wireless DECT solutions as a major differentiator for MSPs. Unlike Wi-Fi-based voice devices, DECT was purpose-built for voice communication, providing secure, encrypted, and highly reliable connectivity—especially critical in healthcare, assisted living, and large campus environments. “When I need to make an emergency call, I want to rely on a product that’s actually going to complete that call,” Bradbrook noted, underscoring the importance of dependable voice in mission-critical settings. The Snom M900 multi-cell DECT system, which was used live during MSP Expo for staff communications, supports use cases ranging from hospitals and retirement facilities to warehouses. Features such as encrypted voice channels and optional accelerometer-based emergency alerts—capable of detecting a fall and automatically triggering assistance—expand the value proposition for MSPs serving vertical markets with safety and compliance requirements, including HIPAA-sensitive environments. Through VTech’s global manufacturing footprint and distribution network, Snom is able to offer a three-year advanced replacement warranty. If a hardware issue is confirmed, a replacement unit is shipped immediately—without waiting for return processing—providing operational continuity for MSP partners and their customers. For MSPs seeking to expand beyond standard desk phones into scalable mobility and enterprise-grade wireless solutions, Snom and Gigaset offer complementary portfolios designed to fit environments from SMB retail to large enterprise campuses. Visit https://www.snomamericas.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Zack Schwartz, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Trustifi, joined Doug Green to discuss a critical but often overlooked reality: while AI dominates headlines, email remains the primary attack vector for cybercrime. Trustifi delivers a full-suite email security platform purpose-built for MSPs, enabling easy deployment, centralized management, and advanced protection against next-generation AI-driven phishing attacks. Schwartz emphasized that over 91% of cyberattacks still originate from inbound email—and the sophistication of those attacks has grown dramatically with AI tools. “Cyber criminals are leveraging AI to create extremely nuanced attacks,” he explained. Trustifi addresses this by combining high-efficacy inbound phishing detection with innovative AI-driven training tools. One standout feature allows MSPs to convert a real phishing attack into customized security awareness training, generating targeted video content based on an incident that actually occurred within a customer’s environment. A key differentiator is Trustifi’s “journal-only mode,” which allows MSPs to deploy the platform without interrupting live email flow. The system produces a full report showing how Trustifi would have responded to threats, creating what Schwartz described as a powerful “aha moment” for customers. According to Trustifi, this approach converts over 80% of opportunities and requires only minutes to set up—at no cost to the partner or end client. Beyond inbound threats, Trustifi also addresses outbound risk and compliance requirements, including HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, and broader data loss prevention (DLP) concerns. Many organizations underestimate how much sensitive information leaves their network via email. “It’s a big issue of not knowing what you don’t know,” Schwartz said, highlighting how classification and encryption tools expose hidden vulnerabilities. With no minimum requirements, free NFR licenses for MSPs, and strong momentum away from legacy email gateways, Trustifi is positioning itself as a high-margin opportunity within the channel. The message to MSPs: start internally, see the exposure firsthand, and then extend protection across your customer base. Visit https://trustifi.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Paul Daigle, Senior Managing Partner and Founder of BizAdvisoryBoard, introduced a new free resource designed to help MSPs grow more strategically: the MSP Business Growth Marketplace. In his conversation with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, Daigle positioned the platform as a response to a common challenge in the channel—MSPs working in their business rather than on it. Unlike vendor-led marketplaces that focus on extending product reach, this marketplace takes what Daigle calls a holistic approach across eight operational focus areas: sales, marketing, legal, CPA, HR, coaching, services, and support. “We’re the only marketplace in the world that specializes in the holistic approach within the eight operational focus areas of an MSP,” Daigle said. “It’s like an eight-cylinder engine—you need all those pistons working together.” The platform is vendor-agnostic and designed to match MSPs with vetted resources aligned to their size and growth stage. Whether an MSP needs specialized legal counsel, HR guidance, financial expertise, or operational coaching, the marketplace aims to connect them with providers who understand the MSP model. The goal is to streamline access to trusted partners at the precise moment MSP executives are actively seeking solutions. The concept emerged from BizAdvisoryBoard’s executive coaching and M&A advisory work, where Daigle’s team consistently fielded requests for qualified referrals. With strong interest from vendors and service providers at MSP Expo, the MSP Business Growth Marketplace is positioned as a centralized growth engine for MSP leaders focused on scaling with structure, discipline, and long-term value creation. Visit https://bizadvisoryboard.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO in Fort Lauderdale, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Lloyd Tjom, Director of Sales at Transaction Network Services (TNS), about the growing importance of RCS and the future of trusted messaging. TNS is also a member of the Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA). TNS operates at the center of the communications ecosystem, providing numbering, routing, authentication, and identity services to carriers and communication service providers (CSPs) worldwide. As messaging evolves beyond SMS and MMS, TNS is focused on helping the industry deliver secure, reliable, and commercially viable Rich Communication Services (RCS). “RCS is the evolution,” Tjom explained. Originally introduced by the GSM Association in 2007, RCS has gained new momentum with broad device support—including adoption by Apple—bringing both Android and iOS into alignment. With that shift, RCS is positioned to become a mainstream messaging channel capable of supporting richer interactions and higher trust. Unlike traditional SMS, RCS enables branded messaging, verified sender badges, logos, read receipts, and interactive features such as carousels and embedded actions. “If they’re a vetted partner that has got the branding as well as the verified mark, then you know you’re dealing with the right party on the other end,” Tjom said. In an era of phishing and spoofing, verified identity and “know your business” (KYB) vetting are essential components of restoring trust in messaging channels. Tjom emphasized that the phone number remains central to digital identity. For many consumers, a single mobile number has followed them for decades, becoming a stable anchor of trust across carriers and geographies. As RCS scales, however, CSPs must address fragmentation, infrastructure inconsistencies, and bad actors within the ecosystem. Broader adherence to standards, stronger onboarding controls, and rapid mitigation of vulnerabilities will be critical for unlocking RCS’s full commercial potential. Looking ahead, Tjom sees RCS becoming the default channel for trusted business communications—enabling full conversational commerce, customer service workflows, flight changes, purchases, and more within a verified, branded environment. “It really has got so many different potentials out there,” he noted, “but it all comes back to trusted communications.” Visit https://tnsi.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO in Fort Lauderdale, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Jon Brinton, Chief Revenue Officer at Crexendo, about the company’s latest announcement: the launch of the Crexendo Marketplace. Crexendo is also a member of the Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA). Crexendo, a unified communications service provider, merged with NetSapiens five years ago, bringing together a robust UCaaS platform now powering approximately 240 service providers globally. That ecosystem supports nearly 7.5 million users—a number that has grown more than fourfold since the acquisition. The new Crexendo Marketplace builds on that momentum by delivering a centralized, frictionless application store for certified integrations and third-party solutions. “What we’ve now released is a Crexendo Marketplace,” Brinton explained. “If you think about it like the Google Play Store or the Apple Store, it’s an application store that somebody can go to download, activate or integrate with applications that are certified for our platform.” Through one-touch provisioning, service providers can enable integrations such as mobile dialer support, analytics, Microsoft Teams connectivity, and Crexendo’s AI-powered receptionist and orchestrator, Cairo—all without complex implementation paths. The Marketplace reinforces Crexendo’s sessions-not-seats licensing model, which allows MSPs and service providers to own their customer relationships while building equity in their businesses. Brinton noted that AI-driven add-on applications are driving significant incremental revenue, often far exceeding traditional per-user UCaaS pricing. “Some of these AI applications… may be worth four to five to ten times that in monthly revenue to our partners,” he said, underscoring the opportunity for higher-margin growth. As innovation accelerates across the cloud communications landscape, Crexendo continues to invest heavily in platform development and ecosystem expansion. With its annual NetSapiens user group meeting scheduled for Austin later this year, the company remains focused on empowering partners with tools, integrations, and community support to compete—and win—in an evolving market. Visit https://www.crexendo.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO in Fort Lauderdale, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Corey Moullas, Founder & CTO of EMAK Telecom, about a bold thesis: in the age of generative AI, voice will not be a side channel—it will be central to how businesses communicate and brand. EMAK Telecom, a VoIP and UCaaS provider founded a decade ago, built its own platform from the ground up with a focus on improving internal workflows and elevating the caller experience. Moullas emphasized that for EMAK, voice has always been about more than dial tone. “What can we do to make the caller experience amazing?” he said, describing a decade-long commitment to refining how customers interact with businesses through voice channels. Now, with the rise of generative AI and voice-to-voice agents, EMAK is integrating advanced AI capabilities directly into its telecom stack. While much of the industry conversation around AI centers on chat interfaces and automation dashboards, Moullas argues that the real transformation will occur in human conversation. “Voice is a very comfortable channel for a lot of people,” he noted. “Humans have a voice. We use it to communicate. It’s not going away.” AI-powered voice agents, when implemented responsibly, can dramatically accelerate problem resolution, enrich brand presence, and create more natural customer interactions. Importantly, Moullas acknowledges the industry’s legacy frustrations with earlier voice recognition systems. The difference today, he says, is the maturity of AI models capable of delivering empathetic, context-aware responses. “With the new technologies rolling out today, it’s actually extraordinary,” he explained. At the same time, he stressed the responsibility that comes with such power. “We have to be very responsible about how we use these tools… they can be used for good or used for evil.” EMAK’s internal philosophy—“do the right thing”—guides product decisions and long-term vision. As AI becomes embedded in enterprise communications, EMAK’s strategy positions voice not as an afterthought but as the primary interface between humans and technology. In Moullas’ view, when AI enables voice interactions that feel seamless and human, businesses will discover new ways to differentiate, connect, and deliver value. Visit https://emak.tech/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Tejas Patel, Software Engineer at Amazon, for a technical deep dive into how one of the world’s largest platforms manages scale, reliability, and the growing role of AI in operations. Amazon operates in an environment defined by extreme traffic variability—from daily fluctuations to massive surges during Prime events. Patel explained that the company relies on distributed systems and microservices architecture to scale every layer of the stack, including databases, caching layers, and application servers. “We scale everything at a massive scale,” he noted, adding that AI-driven traffic prediction models help prepare systems for anticipated spikes, ensuring elasticity and resilience under pressure. Even with rigorous lower-environment testing and simulated traffic, real-world production environments introduce unpredictable behaviors. When outages or functional errors occur, the first priority is customer impact mitigation. “The short-term goal is to make our functionalities available for customers as soon as possible,” Patel said. After stabilizing services, engineering teams conduct root cause analysis and implement long-term fixes to prevent recurrence. On-call teams remain a core part of this model, though that may evolve. AI is increasingly part of that evolution. Patel described how AI systems can detect latency drops, identify anomalies, trigger workflows, and begin root cause investigations—sometimes before engineers are alerted. While still in a supervised phase, AI is gradually moving from passive support to more autonomous operational roles. “AI has a lot of protocols built where it can talk to all the systems,” he explained, envisioning a future where AI mitigates issues proactively while engineers oversee the broader architecture. For MSPs and channel professionals looking to understand large-scale technology environments, Patel emphasized the foundational importance of distributed systems. “Distributed system is everywhere,” he said. “It’s the backbone of a large-scale product.” As AI models and inference platforms continue to expand globally, scalable distributed infrastructure will remain essential to delivering reliable, uninterrupted user experiences. Visit https://www.amazon.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Mahen Gundecha, Broker at Bristol Group, about mergers and acquisitions activity in the MSP and cybersecurity markets—and what business owners should be thinking about long before they decide to sell. Bristol Group is an M&A advisory firm focused on small- and mid-sized companies across multiple industries, with Gundecha concentrating on IT and managed services. Drawing parallels between biotech and the rapidly evolving MSP and cybersecurity sectors, he emphasized that today’s environment is knowledge-intensive, fast-moving, and increasingly shaped by consolidation and private equity activity. For MSP owners dreaming of an eventual exit, Gundecha offered practical guidance rooted in three core areas: personal goals, financial readiness, and market risk. “Ask yourself what you want personally, what your financial situation looks like, and what risks are coming your way,” he advised. Many owners assume aggressive growth will dramatically increase valuation in a short period, but in reality, sustained, realistic growth—and careful timing—often determine the outcome. Understanding whether there is a gap between retirement goals and current valuation is a critical first step. He also highlighted the growing impact of consolidation. As private equity-backed platforms acquire regional MSPs, competitive pressure increases—bringing stronger capabilities, deeper cybersecurity stacks, and potentially lower pricing. This can affect both customer retention and employee retention, particularly for highly skilled cybersecurity professionals. For owners nearing retirement, a dip in valuation due to lost accounts or talent may be difficult to recover from within a limited time horizon. Importantly, selling does not have to mean walking away entirely. Gundecha described partial exits where owners retain equity in a larger acquiring platform. This approach can reduce customer concentration risk, provide immediate liquidity, and potentially deliver greater long-term upside if the buyer scales aggressively. “You’ve cashed out part of your risk, diversified the rest, and positioned yourself for additional wealth creation,” he explained—while underscoring that selecting the right buyer is the key strategic decision. Visit https://bristolgrouponline.com/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Lyle Pratt, CEO of Vida, about the company’s latest release: an expanded AI Agent Operating System designed for enterprise scale and built specifically for MSPs and channel partners. Vida provides AI-powered phone agents that integrate directly into existing UCaaS and telecom environments. With native SIP registration, Vida’s agents can register back to an MSP’s current UCaaS platform and appear just like any other VoIP endpoint. The new release enhances omnichannel capabilities, centralized control, observability, billing integrations, and reseller management—allowing MSPs to deploy, monitor, and monetize AI agents at scale across multiple customers. Pratt emphasized that the platform was architected from a telecom channel background. “We’ve designed the OS specifically for MSPs,” he said. “We make it extremely easy to roll those out to all your customers using our AI Agent OS.” Vida supports a multi-tier model—partners, resellers, enterprises, and agents—enabling white-label deployments where MSPs retain brand control and pricing authority. The platform also includes built-in billing and reporting capabilities to streamline recurring revenue operations. A key opportunity lies in redirecting call traffic that traditionally flows to third-party call centers or BPOs. Vida’s AI phone agents can handle first-tier interactions at approximately 15 cents per minute, enabling MSPs to capture revenue streams that previously bypassed them. “Software is going to begin to eat into the labor market,” Pratt noted. “And that actually is great for MSPs because they sell software solutions—now they can collect those margins for themselves.” As AI continues to reshape communications infrastructure, Vida is positioning its platform as the backbone for next-generation IVRs, auto attendants, and voice-driven automation. With SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance, flexible integrations, and omnichannel automation capabilities across voice, SMS, and email, the company is aiming to simplify AI deployment for MSPs while opening new, high-margin revenue paths. Visit https://vida.io/

At ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, sat down with Rick Mancinelli, CEO of C3 Complete, along with Tim and Tasha of Nerds To Go, to discuss a new partnership designed to accelerate MSP growth and expand service capabilities across a national franchise network. C3 Complete, a multifaceted technology, telecom, and cybersecurity provider with 16 years of industry experience, has partnered with Nerds To Go to help strengthen and scale its managed services model. Nerds To Go, a franchise-based IT services brand that evolved from a break-fix concept into a managed services provider, is focused on expanding both its B2C and B2B footprint. The partnership brings additional backend support, broader product offerings, and operational depth to franchisees looking to move upstream into larger, more complex accounts. As Mancinelli explained, the goal is to “complete their product portfolio and allow them to bring a total solution to each and every one of their customers.” Through C3’s telecom, data center, and advanced services capabilities, Nerds To Go franchisees can now pursue opportunities that previously exceeded their internal bandwidth. At the same time, the franchise network provides C3 with boots-on-the-ground coverage in markets where local presence is critical. The collaboration reflects a broader industry trend toward partnership-driven growth. By combining franchise scalability with enterprise-grade backend support, both organizations aim to increase margins, enhance recurring revenue streams, and enable franchisees to confidently say “yes” to larger opportunities. As the group emphasized during the conversation, this is not a vendor-client relationship but a mutual growth strategy built on shared opportunity. Read the press release Visit C3 Complete: https://c3-complete.com/ Visit Nerds To Go: https://www.nerdstogo.com/

In a podcast recorded at ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Gregory Tellone, CEO of Cloud IBR, about simplifying disaster recovery (DR) testing and turning recoverability into a practical, recurring revenue opportunity for MSPs. Cloud IBR is a SaaS platform designed for organizations using Veeam backups. With a single click, the system provisions dedicated bare-metal cloud servers, installs operating systems, restores encrypted backup repositories, configures networking, VPN access, firewalls, and hands off a fully operational environment for either a live disaster or a scheduled recovery test. “Most backup products are great at backup,” Tellone explained. “The problem is knowing whether your backups are actually good and being able to test recovery easily.” The platform addresses a longstanding gap in the SMB market: the complexity and cost of maintaining secondary DR sites and conducting realistic recovery testing. Traditional DR requires duplicate infrastructure, bandwidth, replication management, and ongoing maintenance—often making full testing impractical. Cloud IBR automates that entire process in approximately 20 minutes of onboarding time, enabling monthly recovery testing by default and generating detailed PDF reports documenting every recovered server and recovery time objective (RTO). For MSPs, the opportunity is strategic. Starting at $299 per month, the service provides a low-barrier entry point into customer accounts while strengthening trust and expanding monthly recurring revenue. Tellone described it as a relationship builder: “It’s always easier to sell to a customer than to a prospect. You start with something simple that works, and from there you grow.” With automated reporting suitable for cyber insurance applications and RFP responses, Cloud IBR transforms disaster recovery from a checkbox exercise into a demonstrable operational advantage. Visit https://cloudibr.com/

In a podcast recorded at ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Mike Wehrs, CTO of TieTechnology, about the upcoming launch of Genie 1.1 and the company’s broader mission to reposition voice as a fully integrated component of modern IT infrastructure. TieTechnology focuses on making voice a “first-tier partner” within business systems rather than a disconnected afterthought. Genie, the company’s SMB product family, provides a backend softphone capability for PCs along with applications that connect voice into tools such as Slack, CRMs, and EMRs. With Genie 1.1, the company is deepening its ability to capture, transcribe, summarize, and structure voice interactions so that the most valuable customer data—what was actually said—flows directly into business systems. “AI is not magic,” Wehrs noted. “If you don’t have good data going into the system, you’re not going to get the results out of it that you want.” He emphasized that many organizations layer AI on top of incomplete infrastructure, resulting in underperformance. Genie addresses that gap by cleaning audio streams, identifying speakers, summarizing conversations, and delivering structured data—often in JSON format—into CRM environments. The result, according to Wehrs, can represent as much as a 40 percent increase in high-quality CRM data, driving better customer support, marketing automation, and operational insight. For MSPs, the opportunity is twofold. First, Genie simplifies voice integration through straightforward APIs, eliminating the need to understand complex SIP stacks or telecom architecture. Second, it opens new revenue potential by allowing MSPs to modernize dated phone systems and embed voice-driven intelligence directly into client workflows. As Wehrs framed it, voice should become as native to the PC environment as networking did in the Windows 95 era—fully integrated, flexible, and foundational to digital operations. Visit https://tietechnology.com/

In a podcast recorded at ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Federico De Faveri, founder of De Faveri Consulting, about the growing demand for highly technical, hands-on consulting that bridges gaps between business needs and complex software systems. De Faveri Consulting focuses on what Federico describes as “tech enablement consulting”—hands-on work that includes software development, system integrations, automation, and custom tooling. Rather than operating through large consulting layers, De Faveri works directly with clients to design and implement solutions that remove bottlenecks, reduce manual processes, and create more auditable, data-driven workflows. “I like going into a company with a real problem and building something that saves time, improves visibility, and just works,” De Faveri said. During the discussion, De Faveri explained that clients engage him both reactively and proactively—either to fix broken or inefficient systems or to bring new ideas to life. His interest in attending MSP Expo centered on identifying emerging challenges faced by MSPs, enterprises, and channel partners, particularly as AI-driven tools and integrations reshape operations. While based in South Florida, De Faveri emphasized that most projects are delivered remotely, allowing him to support clients nationwide while still prioritizing trust-building and occasional in-person collaboration. As a newer independent consultant, De Faveri highlighted the freedom and focus that come with running his own firm, along with a core piece of advice for organizations evaluating technology solutions. “Always get multiple technical opinions,” he noted. “Sometimes the best solution isn’t another platform—it’s a smart integration or a custom script that connects what you already have.” Visit https://df.consulting/

Channel Sales Pro’s Rick Beckers on Building Scalable Channel Programs for MSP Growth, Podcast , “Trying to build a channel program on your own can slow you down by 18 months to three years,” Bekers said, noting that missteps and trial-and-error often delay revenue and partner momentum In a podcast recorded at ITEXPO / MSP EXPO, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Rick Beckers, CEO of Channel Sales Pro, about how MSPs and technology vendors can design effective channel programs that accelerate growth while avoiding common pitfalls. Beckers brings more than four decades of experience to the conversation, including 35 years as an MSP owner, time leading a Technology Services Distributor (TSD), and years as a consultant helping vendors and service providers enter and scale through the channel. He emphasized that channel programs—whether built by vendors or MSPs evolving into “master MSPs”—require specialized expertise. “Trying to build a channel program on your own can slow you down by 18 months to three years,” Beckers said, noting that missteps and trial-and-error often delay revenue and partner momentum. The discussion focused on how Channel Sales Pro engages with MSPs seeking to expand. Beckers described a structured discovery and gap analysis process designed to align channel strategy with business goals, followed by execution that leverages established industry relationships. Drawing on his own experience running an MSP, he stressed the importance of solid operational foundations—repeatable processes, PSA and RMM tools, and consistent onboarding—to prevent burnout and customer churn as firms scale. “You don’t want to try to scale a program on broken processes,” he explained. Bekers also delivered a direct message to MSP founders who feel stuck managing growth alone. By standardizing operations and seeking experienced guidance, MSPs can move from reactive, exhausting growth cycles to predictable, repeatable expansion. His confidence in the model is underscored by a performance guarantee tied to measurable revenue outcomes, reinforcing his belief that disciplined channel strategy can deliver returns within months. Visit https://www.channelsales.pro/