Kirsten MacGregor - From Product to Partnership: Delinea's MSP bet

Kirsten MacGregor - From Product to Partnership: Delinea's MSP bet

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2057944/fan_mail/new] In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Kirsten MacGregor, Global Head of Managed Service Providers at Delinea. Coming to Delinea after nearly eight years building the managed service provider motion at Riverbed and a career spanning networking, digital experience, and identity security, Kirsten brings a sharp perspective on building a program that fits how these partners actually operate. Kirsten opens with a framework she has carried across her career: people, process, and platform. Platform architecture is not a technical detail, she explains, but the foundation of the whole service model. Cloud-native design matters because the operational efficiency managed service providers need has to be built in from the start. Process has to reflect that these providers carry real service accountability, so vendor support, enablement, and escalation paths have to be designed with that in mind. And the human aspect anchors everything. The people a vendor puts in front of partners are what turn a program into a genuine partnership. That framework is what Delinea now has the chance to build on from scratch. Because the company hasn't run a true managed service provider program before, Kirsten is designing the commercial structure, support tiers, enablement, and pricing around how these partners actually operate. She also reframes the shift from reseller to managed service provider as a move from margin-pressured product sales to outcome-based partnerships. Identity has become the primary attack surface for enterprises, and continuous delivery through MSPs is a natural fit for the deeper relationships that model creates. Kirsten closes on where the strongest managed service providers will land in the next three to five years: leading with outcomes, governing the full identity estate across human, machine, and AI, and treating zero standing privilege as the baseline. It's a moment worth building for. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Jason Henry - The channel opportunity nobody talks about

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2057944/fan_mail/new] In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Jason Henry, Vice President of MSP Platform Sales for the Americas at Hornetsecurity. With three decades of enterprise sales leadership behind him and a mandate to build the Americas partner business from scratch, Jason brings a fresh lens to where the channel opportunity really lives. Jason opens with the story of Hornetsecurity's new chapter. After being acquired by Proofpoint late last year, the company is now making the small-to-medium business and managed service provider space a true focus, and Jason is leading the Americas build. His first 90 days have centered on two things: the people and the partners. Deep listening sessions with top partners have surfaced honest feedback on what is working and where the biggest opportunities sit. Partners, Jason has found, are genuinely invested in the mission, and that shared excitement is one of the strongest foundations to build a channel-first business on. From there, the conversation turns to where the space is heading. Jason makes the case that AI will have an even bigger impact on the small-to-medium business market than the enterprise, because it lets small businesses do more with far fewer resources. That opens up a real evolution for managed service providers, who are moving from technology support into a business consultant role for the founders and CEOs they serve. The providers who lean into this shift, deliver agent-based services, and lead their customers through the transformation are the ones set to capture the biggest opportunity of the next few years. Jason closes on what he's carried through three decades of sales leadership. Believe in your people, build great teams, support them well, and build the next generation of leaders. That's how the businesses that last actually get built. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Christina Tubb - The channel partner as your local bodyguard

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2057944/fan_mail/new] In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Christina Tubb, Americas Director of Regional Alliance Managers at Ping Identity. With a career spanning theoretical physics, private equity, consulting, and channel leadership across ten countries, Christina brings a wide-lens view of what it takes to build partnerships that connect vendors directly to end customers. Christina opens with a philosophy that runs counter to how many people think about channel: partnerships are a way to get closer to end users, not further from them. When partners handle the pieces they're built for, vendors get the room to focus on what customers actually need. That principle sharpens with a global lens. For a US multinational, the nuanced requirements of customers in every country and vertical are almost impossible to grasp without local partners who translate the market for you. Christina calls it thinking globally and acting locally, and nowhere does it land harder than in the channel. From there, the conversation moves into what Christina learned running channel in Asia. Markets without friction stop innovating, she says, and Asia's density and diversity is a crucible that forces builders to move faster. Bringing that lens to the Americas, she highlights just how much automation, adaptation, and intentionality matter even in a single large market. The conversation then turns to identity in the AI era. With deep fakes rising and traditional markers of recognition losing reliability, digital identity is heading toward verified trust, and channel partners are central to how that plays out on the ground. Christina closes on the mindset that has anchored her whole career: follow curiosity as your north star. It won't guarantee an illustrious career, but it will guarantee real enjoyment and growth, especially in a moment where the security industry is being redefined week by week. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Pax8 Roadshow Special - Phylip Morgan

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2057944/fan_mail/new] In this special Pax8 Beyond '26 feature of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Phylip Morgan, Senior Vice President of Marketplace and Channel Expansion at Pax8. A former managed service provider and 30-year channel veteran, Phylip is leading Pax8's work helping partners transform from managed service providers into managed intelligence providers. Phylip opens with the case for why the managed intelligence shift is a revolution, not an evolution. Borrowing Scott Chason's framing, he positions this as the same kind of cataclysmic change as steam, electricity, the PC, and the cloud, with AI delivering cognitive power the industry has never had before. The proof point is what's already happening: models are getting better, hallucinations are receding from the conversation, and practical use cases are stacking up. At the same time, Phylip is clear that partners have options, and there's still a real living to be made in break-fix and traditional managed services. From there, the conversation reframes the partner role as a trusted advisor evolving from technology advisor into business advisor, with managing intelligence risk and governance, risk, and compliance around digital agents as part of the new job description. Phylip shares a Welsh example of two managed service providers who decided their best play was to partner with a managed intelligence provider, which opens a discussion about partner ecosystems where everyone builds around their strengths. He also walks through two market shifts: the digital buyer who prefers apps to conversations, and the death of brand, where reputation and shared values matter more than the logo at the bottom of a website. Phylip closes with practical counsel for the partner community. Regret is a terrible thing, so take the time to look at the opportunity, do the research, and come to your own conclusions. As he puts it, lead with humanity and scale with AI. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Pax8 Roadshow Special - Gene Kim

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2057944/fan_mail/new] In this special Pax8 Beyond '26 feature of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Gene Kim, Vice President of Managed Service Providers at Absolute Security. With a career spent on both sides of the channel as a service provider and now leading Absolute's MSP motion, Gene brings a grounded view of what MSPs need to deliver real business continuity in an AI-driven world. Gene opens with the story of building Absolute's MSP motion from the ground up. The company has a long enterprise track record, with 40% of the Fortune 500, 80% of the top airlines, and nearly all of the largest state and local governments as customers, and its presence in the MSP community is now being built with the same intent. He walks through how Absolute's technology, embedded in the BIOS and firmware of more than 600 million devices from Dell, Lenovo, HP, and 25 other manufacturers, is already deployed in MSP fleets today. The opportunity is in activating that capability and showing MSPs how it strengthens their service delivery. From there, the conversation moves into where Absolute fits in the AI era and the shift toward managed intelligence providers. As MSPs add automation, orchestration, and chat layers across their stack, every one of those capabilities relies on the underlying tools being up and available. Absolute keeps the RMM, EDR, encryption, and backup tools resilient through automated self-healing, which Gene frames as a foundational layer for any MSP's AI strategy. He also reframes the customer conversation around business continuity, where the question is how quickly the business is back up. Gene closes on what he calls a winning formula for MSPs: pairing prevention with recovery and resilience to build differentiated, outcome-driven service offerings that capture new business and grow customer mind share. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners