Role: CEO, Air IT
What’s been your business high point of the last 12 months?
The total change in the culture and positive business outlook at Air. One of our stated goals was to create a place that people love to work. The change has been incredible and business results are now starting to follow. Culture is everything.
Name one thing your company is looking to achieve in 2026
We want to re-imagine what a next-generation MSP looks like and be a market leader in the pursuit of this new standard. I want our business to think differently, use the technology we already have in place and confidently look ahead 3-5 years and know how we will maintain market leadership and service our customers in a way that we never thought was possible.
What keeps you awake at night as a partner leader?
Standing still, falling behind, to stop making the effort to learn, to run out of energy, to not keep up with the sheer pace of change. To not have the imagination or drive to future-proof our business and prepare it for the next 5 years of AI-powered change. Every time I think we have taken a step forward, I am driven by the fact we might still be going too slowly.
Is AI being over-hyped?
I think leaders that are debating hype are asking the wrong question. AI will have profound impact in some areas and businesses, that it won’t in others. The right question is what does AI make possible that wasn’t possible before and how I can maximise its impact for my business and my customers? The answers are significant, but the path to get there requires a totally different way of thinking. New operating models, faster innovation, deeper customer understanding, better speed and efficiency, a future-state business that is way ahead of its competition. AI and automation won’t necessarily do all the work for you, but it will dramatically raise the ceiling of what your organisation can achieve.
What’s been your most successful internal AI project to date, and why?
We framed our entire AI and automation strategy around our customers and our people, rather than as a cost reduction project. We have now introduced AI that understands intent across self-service and human channels. This includes a contact centre with full visibility of every interaction, which means exceptional customer service where AI is informing our engineers with context and information they need before the pick-up the call. That means we can have faster, more informed conversations and offer intelligent solutions that make our peoples day to day work easier and more efficient. Customer service is one thing, but we are now wrapping customer experience around this service.
Can you share a surprising prediction about how UK IT channel partners or the UK IT channel will evolve over the next 5 years?
Not much of a surprise, but AI will reshape the channel faster than most people expect. Technical capability alone won’t be enough, the winners will be the partners that can help customers adopt AI safely, simplify complexity and become trusted advisors at board level. Whether through their own expertise or strategic partnerships, channel businesses will need to lead customers through this next wave of transformation. Traditional IT support will become expected; strategic value will be what customers will pay for. The MSP model and the way we interact with our customers is changing faster than anything I have ever seen before. I hope this will bring forward-thinking businesses and channel partners closer together to collaborate and share ideas. We are all in it together.
Which tech gizmo (hardware or software) could you not function without?
I’m pretty straightforward with my personal use of technology. What I can’t do without are my headphones and my smart watch. I listen to music, podcasts constantly and continually like to track movements, steps, general health. There is not much that is more important than to keep moving.
Which three famous people, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?
Warren Buffett, Barack Obama and Seve Ballesteros.
Business, leadership, and sporting greatness.
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
When he wants something done, he wants something done. Please execute carefully and with urgency.
Which tech figurehead has impressed you the most this year, and why?
None that I would highlight so far, but ask me again at Christmas. I am more likely to be impressed with a high-growth figurehead that is carving a new trail in a really different way, than pick one of the obvious top technology CEOs of the world.
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