In The Channel
In The Channel

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

Six months ago, Okta Canada’s Ryan Sydor talked about investment: a data cell, 600 employees, a plan to triple the business. At Oktane 2026, the story is demand – for agentic identity, for agent security, and for partners who can advise rather than sell. Sydor on board mandates, the Blueprint Alliance, Microsoft coexistence, and 100 per cent partner growth.

In The Channel

ESET’s Tony Anscombe on why breached SMBs feel more confident, and where MSPs fit in the insurance collision

ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe joins In The Channel to unpack the 2026 SMB Cyber Readiness Index. We discuss the confidence paradox, the collision between cyber insurance and MSPs, why AI headlines distract from phishing fundamentals, and why monthly micro-training is the antidote to checkbox compliance.

Podcasts
In The Channel

Beyond the Hype: Bridging the AI Governance Gap with Auvik’s Steve Petryschuk

In this episode of In The Channel, Auvik’s Steve Petryschuk joins Robert Dutt to discuss the findings of the 2026 IT Trends Report. They dig into the “Maturity Mirage,” the rise of Shadow AI, and why the path to AI readiness actually starts with better documentation and visibility.

Podcasts

The Buzz: inforcer brings shadow AI monitoring to MSPs, SUSE launches sovereign partner specialization, and Cayosoft targets the Microsoft identity migration gap

Podcasts

The Buzz: WatchGuard acquires Perimeters.io, Meter launches $100M partner fund, and ServiceNow and Tanium announce Autonomous IT solution

In The Channel

On site at SAS Innovate: SAS Canada’s Ryan MacDonald on AI governance, the partner opportunity, and fifty years of trust

What does fifty years of analytics heritage mean in a market that reinvents itself every eighteen months? Recorded on site at SAS Innovate 2026, Robert Dutt sits down with Ryan MacDonald, managing director of SAS Canada, to dig into the week’s major AI governance and agentic AI announcements, the state of Canadian enterprise AI maturity, and why the channel is SAS’s answer to the SMB opportunity.

Podcasts

The Buzz: Acronis launches GenAI Protection, Everpure CEO warns of sustained RAMageddon pricing, and Cisco’s quantum networking milestone

Acronis launches GenAI Protection, giving MSPs a billable way to govern shadow AI across client environments. Everpure CEO Charles Giancarlo publishes an open letter warning of 70-percent average price increases driven by AI-fuelled semiconductor demand – with multi-year disruption likely. And Cisco announces a working Universal Quantum Switch prototype that routes quantum information between incompatible systems without destroying it. Three stories worth your attention to close the week.

In The Channel

Jennifer Roy on culture, scale, and what PE really looks like from inside a Canadian MSP

Jennifer Roy didn’t know what half the acronyms in the job description meant when she applied for her first role in managed services. Fifteen years later, she’s CEO of Nucleus Networks, operating across five Canadian cities, and one of the more candid voices in the Canadian channel on what people-first leadership actually costs you.