Channel 2.0 Podcast

Recorded live at Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas. Kameron sits down with Gary Coben, SVP of Channels at Xtium, the next-generation managed service provider formed from the merger of ATSG and Evolve IP. Gary has spent 35+ years in the channel, holds five CRN Channel Chief honors, and has the receipts to prove it: 15+ Channel Partners shows, decades of supplier experience, and a clear-eyed read on where the money is actually moving in the channel today.

The conversation cuts straight to the number that should reshape every Technology Advisor's pipeline: only 9% of every technology dollar is being spent on voice. The other 91% is going to IT. Gary walks through what that shift means for the channel, why most Technology Advisors are still selling like it is 1999, and how to enter the managed IT conversation without needing to become a technical specialist overnight. He covers the three-step entry into managed IT, why outsourced IT is always less expensive than in-house IT, and the one differentiator that separates Xtium from every other full-stack MSP in the space.

If you sell connectivity and have been wondering why your commissions have plateaued, this episode is for you.

In this episode:

• Why 91% of the tech budget is moving past voice

• The three places every managed IT engagement starts

• Why "the RFP is not dead" in the IT space

• How Xtium positions full-stack services without forced bundling

• Why 95% of Gen AI projects fall flat, and what time has to do with it

Guest: Gary Coben, SVP of Channels, Xtium Connect with Gary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gcoben/ Host: Kameron Olsen, President, The Channel Advisors Connect with Xtium: xtium.com Connect with The Channel Advisors: thechannel.ai

If your pitch to a client is that you know a lot of suppliers or that you can help compare two products, Stephen Hancock has a warning. That is already commoditized, or about to be. He found out the hard way when a longtime client took the RFP process he expected to run and did it themselves.

Stephen founded Socium IT after years in the agent and advisor world, then built Vigilis and Modero to solve his own workflow problems before turning them into products other advisors could use. He walks through how the platform reconciles invoices with zero tolerance for variance, why about half of them never need a human to touch them, and why he publishes his pricing when most of the industry will not.

Kameron and Stephen also get into where the big carriers are failing to keep pace, why continual client engagement is a hedge against churn rather than extra effort, and what Stephen would tell any advisor who feels behind on AI, pick one tool and start.

In this episode:

• Why supplier relationships and product comparisons are already a commoditized pitch

• The RFP moment that made Stephen rethink his business model

• How Vigilis reconciles invoices with zero tolerance for variance

• Why Socium publishes Vigilis and Modero pricing publicly

• Why the big carriers are not keeping pace, and what that means for building around them

• Where to start if AI still feels overwhelming

Guest: Stephen Hancock, Founder, Socium IT Host: Kameron Olsen, President, The Channel Advisors

Connect with Stephen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenhancockii/ Connect with The Channel

Advisors: thechanneladvisors.com

Recorded live at Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas. Kameron sits down with Hannah Pryfogle of Boost AI, a Norwegian conversational AI provider that has been building voice and digital AI for regulated industries for the last ten years. Hannah came up through the Pryfogle channel family and has spent the last year and a half standing up Boost AI's US channel program from the ground floor.

This episode is for any Technology Advisor who has been watching the AI conversation from the sidelines. Hannah lays out the three-step entry into selling conversational AI, why IT and HR use cases are the lowest-risk starting point, and how to think about deterministic AI versus generative AI when your customer is in a regulated industry. She also gets into the supplier-side reality: why a TSD signature is the starting line and not the finish line, how to leverage a partner on a direct deal in a way that builds long-term trust, and why bringing fifteen vendors to a customer is the same as your customer going direct.

The most quotable moment of the episode lands late. Hannah's read on the biggest opportunity Technology Advisors are missing right now is the same as the biggest threat: AI itself.

In this episode:

• Why a TSD signature does not open the floodgates

• How to leverage a partner on a deal they did not bring you

• The three least-risky places to start an AI conversation with a customer

• What deterministic AI plus generative AI looks like in a regulated industry

• Why "AI trainer" is the new contact center career path

• The biggest threat to the channel right now (hint: it is not AI)

Guest: Hannah Pryfogle, Boost AI Connect with Hannah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-pryfogle/ Host: Kameron Olsen, President, The Channel Advisors Connect with Boost AI: boost.ai Connect with The Channel Advisors: thechannel.ai

Rick Beckers has spent more than 30 years in the channel. He has owned an MSP, built a TSD, and now runs Channel Sales Pro, a consulting firm built on a single idea: the channel is ready to outsource.

In this conversation from Channel Partners 2026, Rick and Kameron get into why AI magnifies broken processes before it fixes them, why outsourcing is the next explosive growth area for partners, and why the human in the loop never fully disappears. They cover the race to zero, the rise of master MSPs and BPOs, and what the best channel companies are doing differently right now.

A practitioner's take on AI, outsourcing, and the relationships that still close the deal.

Ronnell Richards has built three companies, pioneered the Technology Advisor agency model, and coached dozens of operators through the same climb. His read on where the channel is headed is blunt: the generalists are going to lose.

In this episode, recorded live at Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas, Ronnell breaks down the shift he sees coming. The advisors and suppliers who specialize, who serve a specific community at a high level, who change their messaging and get out of the transactional game, are the ones who excel. Everyone else spends the week shaking hands and buying drinks while the specialists close deals, because they walked in already knowing their targets.

He and Kameron get into how AI becomes a real force multiplier only when it is fueled by wisdom and hard won experience, not shortcuts. They talk bespoke over boilerplate, outcomes over fluffy KPIs, and the trap of building a business so dependent on you that you end up in your own prison of success.

This one is a direct, honest conversation between two operators who have built the hard way and are choosing to serve the channel with what they learned.

In This Episode:

• Why the generalist era in the channel is ending, and what specialists do differently
• How AI becomes a force multiplier only when experience and philosophy fuel it
• Bespoke work versus boilerplate, and why the difference is the whole value
• The prison of success that traps great sellers who never built a real, sellable business
• What Ronnell learned scaling RD Direct to multiple offices and roughly 50 employees
• The one move suppliers and Technology Advisors have to start investing in right now

Ronnell Richards on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronnellrichards/

The channel has been pricing on time for thirty years. Andrew Down thinks that era is over.

Recorded live from Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas, this episode of Channel 2.0 sits down with Andrew Down: channel veteran, former MSP owner, and now leading channel strategy at DevTech. Andrew brings a rare perspective. He has owned an MSP, worked the marketplace side, and now leads custom development. He has seen the channel from every angle.

The conversation runs through the long-promised MSP and TSD convergence and why it has been slower than everyone predicted, the "vibe code apocalypse" and why human development teams still matter, and the rise of what Andrew calls AI powered but human escalated support. The line that lands hardest: AI will not replace people, but the people who learn to use AI will become the leaders. We are entering an era of humans managing agents.

The headline takeaway is a framework Kameron coins on the spot: outcomes as a service. The end of billing by the hour. A pricing model built on what the customer actually walks away with, not how you got there. If you sell into the channel, this is the conversation to have with your team this week.

In this episode:

• Why the MSP and TSD convergence has stalled, and what would actually unstick it

• The "vibe code anything" myth, and why custom development still wins

• How AI is changing the role of the trusted advisor (humans managing agents)

• AI powered, human escalated: the support model customers actually want

• Outcomes as a service: how to stop pricing on time and start pricing on value

• Why your network of partners matters more than your knowledge of the stack

• How to turn Channel Partners networking into actual business

Guest: Andrew Down, DevTech

Host: Kameron Olsen, President, The Channel Advisors

Madison Beedy has sat in every seat in the channel. End user, technology advisor, supplier, and now TSD. That full-circle view is exactly why this conversation hits.

Recorded live from Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas, Madison and Kameron get into why responsiveness is still the lowest bar and the most common miss, why a channel manager should feel like they are on the partner's team, and where the real AI opportunity sits for the channel (hint: not the LLM arms race). They cover the proprietary fiber lookup tool changing how partners quote, the case for doing business locally, and the attrition risk facing partners who cannot keep up.

A grounded, human take on advocacy, technology, and the relationships that hold the channel together.

Most companies are building AI wrong. Ryan Harrelson knows why.

Recorded live from Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas. Kameron sits down with Ryan Harrelson, founder of SimpliMeta and a 15-year AI veteran who waited until ChatGPT 3.5 to dive into generative AI because he had been disappointed by the hype too many times before. When he finally jumped in, the "aha" moment that changed everything was this: AI is not an application. It is an intelligence. You hire it. You train it. You measure it on KPIs. You give it one on ones. It is a human employee.

The conversation runs hot on every front. Why most AI implementations fail (governance, RBAC, and bolted-on widgets instead of redesigned workflows). Why the universities can't teach AI fast enough to keep up. Why "perfection vs excellence" is the framework every leader should adopt right now. Why the Mark Randolph approach to redistributing employees beats the Wall Street approach to cutting them.

And then the call to the channel directly. The channel has spent thirty years selling widgets. Now the suppliers, the TSDs, and the advisors all need to learn how to sell workflows. The relationships are still the moat. The conversation is what has to change. The channel is, as Ryan calls it, the king of "I know a guy." That role is more valuable than ever in an AI era, but only if the advisors stop trying to be the expert and start being the one who connects the right experts to the right outcome.

In this episode:

• Why a 15-year AI veteran waited until 2023 to start using GenAI

• The "aha" moment: AI as employee, not application

• The bot naming philosophy (and why Penny is on version 18)

• Why universities cannot keep up with AI curriculum

• Perfection vs excellence: the email Ryan has sent for two decades

• Why CEOs are cutting headcount when they should be redistributing it

• The Mark Randolph / Netflix philosophy on letting employees create their own roles

• The channel's widget addiction, and what to sell instead

• Why the channel is, and should remain, the king of "I know a guy"

Guest: Ryan Harrelson, SimpliMeta

Connect with Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanharrelson/ Host: Kameron Olsen, President, The Channel Advisors

Connect with SimpliMeta: https://simplimeta.io/

Connect with The Channel Advisors: https://www.thechanneladvisors.com/

Private equity is reshaping the channel, and most channel managers, TA owners, and consultancy founders are operating without a real playbook. Chuck Serapilio joins Kameron Olsen with 27 years of channel experience, a founded-and-exited MMS company, and time inside both PE-backed and publicly traded operators.In this episode:

• Smart money vs. just money. The two lanes of private equity and how to choose between them.
• What PE firms actually evaluate in a company, and how they catch you when you're winging the numbers.
• The exit conversation. What it feels like to sell your company, and why owners overvalue what they built.
• Multiples in our space. Why a consultancy clears 8x while a TEM operation sits closer to 3x.
• Day One after the deal. What changes, what shouldn't, and where alignment matters most.
• How channel managers should operate inside PE-backed organizations.
• Reading the signal when PE starts pulling investment back.
• Alternatives to PE funding most founders never consider.
• A direct, operator-grade conversation for anyone navigating private equity in the channel.Guest: Charles "Chuck" SerapilioHost: Kameron OlsenFind Chuck on LinkedIn here

Recorded live at Channel Partners 2026 in Las Vegas. Kameron sits down with Michael Agri, founder of North Atlantic Consultants and a 16.5-year Technology Advisor who built his business from scratch in the Boston area. Michael is candid about what it actually takes to survive in the channel, why the three-year ramp is non-negotiable, and which channel manager behaviors separate the ones earning trust from the ones earning silence.

The conversation cuts to the operational habit most channel managers still skip: consistent outreach. Michael walks through the every-two-weeks cadence, why "out of sight, out of mind" is a sales rule, and how the know-like-trust order actually plays out across a 17-year commission tail. He covers the maturation of the channel under private equity, why value-added TAs (the ones running professional services and managed services) are pulling away from contract-only TAs, and where cybersecurity and AI are heading in the next three to five years. He closes on the TSD, why squeezing for 90% misses the point, and why he is still being paid on contracts he sold 17 years ago.

If you run a channel program, manage TAs, or are weighing whether to invest the three years it takes to become one, this episode is for you.

In this episode:

• Why "every two weeks" is the channel manager habit that builds real commission

• The know, like, trust order, and why most sellers skip step one

• The three-year truth about becoming a Technology Advisor

• Why value-added TAs are pulling away from contract-only TAs

• Where cybersecurity and AI are heading next in the channel

• The TSD math most TAs miss when they squeeze for 90%

Guest: Michael Agri, Founder, North Atlantic Consultants Connect with Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljagri/

Host: Kameron Olsen, President, The Channel Advisors