Okta Canada check-in: Agentic AI hits the boardroom, partner contribution doubles, and the pitch is ‘sell better, not more’

Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show.

Back in March, I sat down with Ryan Sydor, the head of Okta Canada, at a moment when the story was investment: a Canadian data cell in Montreal, with a Calgary failsafe, an engineering hub in Toronto, more than 600 employees across the country, and a plan to triple the business. Last week at Oktane in Las Vegas, we ran it back – because in six months, the story has changed. Agentic AI has gone from conference panel fodder to board mandate. Okta has launched the Blueprint Alliance on the premise that no single vendor can secure AI agents alone. And in Canada, Ryan says partner contribution is up more than 100 per cent year over year.

We got into all of it: how the identity conversation has evolved since March, how Okta positions itself when the customer already runs Microsoft Entra, what Todd McKinnon meant when he said the biggest competition is confusion, and why Ryan’s biggest ask of his own team is not to sell more, but to sell better.

Let’s get right into it, my chat with Ryan Sydor.

Ryan, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. I’m sure it’s a busy week here at Oktane.

Ryan Sydor: Yeah, good to see you again, Rob. It is a very busy week. Exciting week. A lot of good energy.

Robert Dutt: The crucial question, as we sit down – this is partway through day two of the conference – how many dinners did you have last night?

Ryan Sydor: There’s two dinners. Two dinners tonight. You just got to watch how much you eat. That’s all. But I find that these dinners are really important. Great chances to sit down with customers, get to know them on a personal level, and certainly it makes talking about business much easier.

Robert Dutt: Yeah, absolutely. We last chatted about six months ago, give or take. How has the overall discussion around identity, and specifically around agentic identity, evolved in Canada since that conversation?

Ryan Sydor: Yeah, I think back six months ago – or 15 years, as it’s known in the real world. It really does feel that way. Things have changed and have sped up in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen in a long time. The way we were thinking about agentic AI and how it ought to fit, and the conversations we’re having, has accelerated so much.

I think it’s the customers who are sitting around thinking about how important AI is to their business models, their need to innovate, their need to be more efficient, and that there’s a fear. How do we do this? How do we protect ourselves? We are having more conversations than I think we expected. Conversations are opening doors that maybe weren’t open in the past, because customers are looking for a solution. They’re looking for advice.

I think it’s an unusual time where no one really knows what the next six months look like, because it happened so fast. They’re looking for partners. It’s not a vendor model. They’re looking for partners who can come in and advise them. That’s a big change.

On top of that, what we’re seeing is there’s a focus on it in a way that we haven‘t seen in the past, where boards are mandating it. It’s amazing how things get done when the board mandates something.

Robert Dutt: It does tend to be a big motivator in business, that’s for sure. Do you find that the light has gone on more than in the past in terms of connecting the dots between, “Yes, we have to secure our AI,” and a big part of that is the identity side of the equation, as opposed to some of the other aspects of security that companies inevitably have to deal with?

Ryan Sydor: I do. Two parts to that. I think, again, because the board brings it up, it’s a focus priority. You have the business who’s thinking about how they can use AI to be better, and then you have security who’s trying to figure out how to protect it. We’re often talking about both. How do we speak to both sides? How do we work with them? How do we partner with them?

The other thing I’ll say is Canadians are doing a good job of innovating, but we’re still probably a bit behind what you might see in other parts of North America. So when it comes to working with some of our Okta for AI deals and these types of conversations, we’re catching up. We don’t see as many of those conversations yet, and it’s nice to see that as we move into the fall, those are really picking up on our side. As customers are realizing, “We didn’t have a strategy, we need to talk to a partner” – and then we’re talking to us.

Now, this is not just people who are doing business with Okta, who have this as their identity provider, but also those who are not, saying, “I need to find best in breed. I need to have a solution, and I’ll talk to everybody.” From a business perspective, we like that.

Robert Dutt: What are your partners doing with ramping along with that ramp up in the business conversation? The one does tend to lead to the other. I’m just curious in terms of capacity, ability to meet the demand that is growing out there. How’s the partner base doing today?

Ryan Sydor: I think they’re doing very well. I think there’s two sides of it. One, it’s about the conversations. Two, then it’s about the technology. I know we’re working with partners, training them up so that they’re able to actually roll out our AI solution.

But I think you were in Todd’s keynote, and he said that the biggest competition is confusion. I think what we’re seeing is that the need for us to work with our partners more closely, and the need for us and our partners to work with our customers more closely, because it’s like the car is moving really fast in a way that we’re not used to. I used to drive, traveling at 100 kilometres an hour. Now it’s going 150, and it feels a little uncomfortable. You want to have people in that car with you that can help you make proper decisions.

And so it’s us working together with our partners, with the customers, really to understand: What is it they’re doing? Where do they want to go? What is the safest way to do it? What are others doing? What mistakes are happening? How do we learn from what the previous company did so that we can accelerate the technology faster and allow for the innovation faster in a way that you still have visibility and control over your AI agents?

And so that’s brought us closer together with our partners, that need to make sure that it’s not a vendor relationship, it’s a trust relationship. Because when things are moving fast, you want to work with somebody you trust.

Robert Dutt: It’s funny you mentioned that. That exact quote is something that, during the keynote, looking at things as I do from a partner, a channel-centric lens, it kind of struck me as the inverse – or at least working hand in hand – with the old channel maxim of where there’s mystery, there’s margin, because you can just kind of take out the word mystery, replace with confusion, same story. The Blueprint Alliance is kind of built on the idea that no single vendor can secure agents alone, because – it’s a big, the security world, this is not breaking news, is a big world with a lot of different players. We talked on the idea that Canadian customers tend to be on the more cautious side, and that’s kind of the trend. Do you think cross-vendor architecture like Blueprint resonates more strongly in Canada than, say, a single stack pitch would?

Ryan Sydor: I don’t think that’s even a Canadian thing. I wouldn’t say that’s a specific Canadian need. I think it’s for all customers. I think that joint collaboration amongst companies creates that. First of all, it calls out the fact that there’s no one solution that solves everything. And the fact that the more smart companies you have working together, focused on a priority of security and allowing for safe innovation – that it’s not just a solution you’re trying to sell. It’s not like a widget. It is a partnership. It is an alliance. And I think that creates a level of trust and safety that I think Canadian companies would appreciate. But I don’t think that’s a specific thing. It’s not peculiar.

Robert Dutt: One name, at least in day one, that’s notably absent is Microsoft’s. Entra is pretty well established because of existing 365 footprints. I’m curious how you position Okta, and how partners can position Okta, in environments where they’re walking in the door and the incumbent is already there in the building.

Ryan Sydor: There’s other ways. We speak to Microsoft customers when it comes to, say, our governance, our privilege access management tool. If you think about what our Okta for AI tool does, it’s identifying where your AI agents are. I think we are an ISPM tool. It’s something that Microsoft customers can also use. So it’s really about how do we support Microsoft as the IdP.

But when you talk about Okta for AI, this is not just a Microsoft thing. It allows us to have conversations with companies who aren’t ready to make that change to Okta, but they need this type of solution that can help support their AI plans.

And I think that’s part of what we try to do as a company is be independent, allow you to choose what technology you use. So you’re not stuck into our stack, and we give you flexibility. You can use us for single sign-on and MFA, or you can use this for governance, or you can just use this for Okta for AI. And I think that flexibility is what helps make us a market leader.

Robert Dutt: And to Todd’s credit, one of his big applause lines was introducing or discussing the idea that third-party IdPs are supported and play nicely in that world. And that creates, for your partners, I have to imagine, a “yes and” kind of conversation as opposed to an either/or.

Ryan Sydor: It does. It does. My role, I’m a sales leader. It also allows us – it gets us in the door to have a conversation and earn the trust of customers. This has always been a thing, but as I mentioned earlier, trust is a big deal in 2026. It’s a big deal in 2027. When things are moving fast, you got to work with people you trust. You have to be able to demonstrate that trust.

And I think having conversations and showing our competence and showing our flexibility, one as a solution, as a company – and to my team, I have a great team in Canada where they can show how smart they are and how they care about the customer and their objectives. You create that level of trust and then it opens the door to other conversations. “Oh, we’re in business. We want to grow.” And I think the fact that we can work with Microsoft customers, or customers with other IdPs, and have these conversations with AI, it just allows us to then demonstrate our credibility more frequently. And we love that opportunity.

Robert Dutt: You guys have just over the last six months put out Okta for AI agents as a platform. How does that change the playbook for partners who’ve sold based on workforce identity in the past? Is there sort of a services revenue shift here? What does it look like compared to what they’re used to?

Ryan Sydor: The business side of it? Yeah. Well, one, there’s the investment in – it’s not as if it’s a brand new solution, or they have to learn a whole new language. I think it’s certainly an advantage, because if you’ve been working with customers – go back to trust – they’ve been working with a customer, implementing the workforce solution. Now they understand what the customer’s looking for. So it’s a natural evolution for them to work with Okta for AI.

Again, it goes back to trust. There’s a process of making sure you understand how to roll it out. We’re pretty cautious right now about ensuring that customers are successful. We always have been, but there’s been even more of a focus on making sure we do it right. We owe it to the customer to help them. It’s not just selling the solution – it’s going to help their business – is ensuring that they can actually roll it out properly. And they have accountability for it. Regardless – you know, things happen on both sides – but we have an ultimate accountability.

So for us, having partners who understand what Okta does, have a relationship with the customer, and then can help support them with the rollout of Okta for AI agents, it makes them super, super valuable to us and valuable to the customer. And so that’s been a big focus of our time working with our partners this year.

Robert Dutt: In the spring, Okta company-wide made a push towards more professional services through partners rather than direct. Curious how that’s landed in Canada. You know, are Canadian partners equipped and ready to absorb that, or is there a skills gap problem that needs to be solved for still?

Ryan Sydor: Oh yeah, good question. We in Canada probably didn’t have the same balance. I think we were using partners more in the last couple of years. In fact, I felt like maybe we were using Okta Professional Services – we’re starting to catch up in the last little while. Partly, they understand customers come to them, and there is the default. They want one throat to choke, and there seems to be some comfort.

As our partners have had more success – that when you have customer testimonials that you can share, it creates a level of comfort. We find that the Canadian consumer, they’re comfortable working with our partners. Our partners are very good. They’re very experienced. Not only can they execute on the technology plan, but they can advise on roadmap. I think those are things that are really, really helpful and create value. I think our partner ecosystem has done a good job in the past and continues to do so.

Robert Dutt: Okay. Especially in SMB and mid-market, I feel like identity governance is still treated like a cost centre. Is there a business case there for partners to make to their clients now that identity has become part of the overall AI security fabric and not just sort of a standalone access kind of thing?

Ryan Sydor: Is the business case? When I think of Okta for AI agents, it’s a governance conversation. And so it has changed what the value is, certainly around Okta, and around how we fit from a governance perspective. Specifically to your question about how are we doing in the SMB space when it comes to governance – as our governance tool has continued to evolve and earn respect, the conversations have continued. I think customers, a few years ago as we rolled out governance, were waiting to see. We’re Canadian, we understand. We don’t want to be first, we want to be a close second. And I think that permeates throughout the Canadian economy.

And I think we’ve seen certainly a big pickup in our governance conversations through all segments, as we work with large customers, they’re seeing success, we’re getting more on the Gartner quadrant, more respect. And I think what this does is it opens up these conversations, and we’re talking to customers about it much more frequently.

Robert Dutt: When last we spoke, it was right on the heels of some significant hiring – sorry, I forget the company-specific term for data residency, but spinning that side of things up, so that was solved for. Any developments in terms of hiring, support, the data centre side of things – basically, what’s changed over the last six months since we talked, in terms of the investments you’re making in country, in headcount, in technology, and all of that?

Ryan Sydor: Yeah. What’s changed in the last six months? It starts with, if you think about it from the big picture, the AI conversation has accelerated. And there’s been some minor economic and global conversations that shape the way that the Canadian consumer is thinking, right? Tariffs – that’s something that we’re hearing, that we have at the Canadian cell. It’s the terminology we use. We have a cell. More and more customers asking about, wanting to be on the Canadian cell, concern about data sovereignty. These are conversations that we wouldn’t have had a year ago that we’re having today. And I think that’s understandable if you think about what’s happening in the current environment.

The investments we made, we’re certainly seeing them pay off. We talked about how Canada wanted to grow, and we’ve shown great growth this year – and great growth, not only from an overall revenue perspective, but also from our partner contribution. The growth is over 100 per cent year over year to date. So love seeing those numbers grow. And so I think the investments we’ve made are paying off. And then part of our job now is to secure additional investment for next year.

Robert Dutt: Has there been a significant expansion of the partner base behind that? Or is that largely the folks you’ve been dancing with for all these years kind of stepping up?

Ryan Sydor: I think we’re getting more from the people we’ve been dancing with over the last couple of years. It also is about the relationship that we have with them. It’s about the evolution of how our team works with them. That’s probably the biggest thing – is being a partner-first organization. It’s not something you can just say. You can’t just have the mind say it. The body has to follow. And we are a partner-first organization, and we continue to get the full body to understand how that works and how you think.

And it goes right down to the AE level. It has to be the individual AE has a relationship with a partner, and they’re having conversations early. They’re building that combined trust with the customer. And this is how you want to grow the business and how you create happy customers. And I think we’ve continued and evolved. It wasn’t bad, but it’s evolved this year. And I think that’s part of why you see our numbers continue to grow on the top line as well as the partner contribution.

Robert Dutt: It’s nice to see. If you could get every Canadian MSP listening to this, whether they’re an Okta partner today or not, to change one thing about how they think or act around identity, say over the next quarter, what would that be?

Ryan Sydor: I mean, we’ve been saying this for a long time: identity is security. Thinking about identity differently. And when you think about – that goes back – and when you think about all the breaches that companies face, 80 per cent involve identity. Identity is a core application in the success of a company. And without it, it creates such risk.

And as we move into this agentic era – you can see from what you’re hearing at Oktane – the importance of having a sound solution that identifies threats, enables access, enables innovation, and is able to protect the company while allowing them to grow and be more efficient. This is where we’re heading. And I think when you think about identity, it’s not just single sign-on and MFA. It is a platform. It is a solution to help enable AI growth.

Robert Dutt: Okay. Kind of hand in hand with that. Aside from the obvious – sell more – what would you most like your channel partners to do more, better, different? Basically, where do you think Okta in Canada would benefit most from more air support from your partner base?

Ryan Sydor: You said, besides selling more, I would say – and this isn’t, I don’t mean this from a criticism perspective, but I think this is for all of us – it’s to sell better. Sell better. It is about the understanding of the long-term. It is about creating accountability for these initiatives one year down the road, right? That is what’s going to make us more successful than just selling more. You can sell more, and if it doesn’t work, if it doesn’t fit, it goes away, right? It goes away. So from a revenue perspective, there’s a challenge there.

You also – we do care about our customers. Well, secret sales people, we do care about their success. And when we don’t sell it properly, we create risk for our customers. When it’s not rolled out properly, it creates risk for them. We don’t want that. Our job is to help them. Our job is to eliminate that risk. And so it’s just, it’s not sell more, but sell better too.

Robert Dutt: All right. That’s fair. Flip side of that – when you’re talking to partners, what do you hear from them that they most want to see Okta do more, different, better, in support of their efforts?

Ryan Sydor: They want us to bring them in earlier. Yes. Again, to go back to this trust that they want. And it happens for a lot of reasons, but when you first have these initial conversations, and you’re digging deep into understanding what the customer’s plans are, what the roadmap is, it creates a level of trust. I want to make the trust because it seems to, it’s a big thing right now.

Our partners are asking us to bring them in right away – is to identify, before that first discovery, a partner that’s going to work with them, that kind of fits the customer’s values, their capabilities, and in some cases, budget. Have them there so that they’re able to be part of that conversation, that they understand everything the same way we do, and they have that relationship with the customer that allows them to ask the hard questions, right? And sometimes you have to point out things that are awkward. That’s what true partnership is. Partnership has conflict in it, and you have to be in a position where you can do that without breaking the relationship. And so I think that’s a reasonable ask.

Robert Dutt: All right. And last one for me, just in general terms, what can partners expect from Okta in Canada over the course of, say, the next six months – since trying to predict much beyond that in this industry is good luck?

Ryan Sydor: I think what they can expect is that we want, we’re going to work with them closely. We’re going to bring them in early. We’re going to make sure that they’re enabled. We’re going to make sure that we want to have the honest conversations with our partners too, because if there’s a part of, as everything evolves quickly, if there’s an enablement that’s required to make sure that all of their team is up to speed, we’re going to do that. It’s okay if they’re not. We just need to make sure we’re having conversations and we’re on the same page. And we have the resources to help them. And that’s something that we would certainly provide.

Robert Dutt: All right. Once again, I appreciate your taking the time, and what I’m sure is a very busy week for you. I hope the rest of Oktane treats you well too.

Ryan Sydor: Thanks. It was good to see you.

Robert Dutt: There you have it: Ryan Sydor, Okta’s vice president and country manager for Canada. I’d like to thank Ryan for his time. And thanks to you, the listeners, for downloading, sharing, and telling me which conversations you want to hear next.

A few things to take with you from this one. First, the AI identity conversation in Canada is increasingly being driven from the top. Boards are mandating it, and it’s opening the doors for partners that were closed six months ago. Second, Okta for AI is a wedge, not a migration pitch. You can lead with agent discovery and governance in a Microsoft Entra shop and earn the broader identity conversation over time. And third, note the symmetry. Ryan’s ask of partners is to sell better, not more. The partners’ ask of Okta is to bring them in earlier. Both are trust plays, and in a market that moves this fast, trust is the whole thing.

If you haven’t yet, please do follow or subscribe to the podcast. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most podcast directories. And if the show is useful to you, a rating or review goes a long way. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.