Role: CEO, Kascade
What’s been your business high point of the last 12 months?
Watching Kascade genuinely become Kascade. The rebrand was early 2024, but this last year is where it’s felt real – managed services growth in double digits and real distance from our VAR roots. We’re not just calling ourselves an MSP anymore, we’re operating and behaving like one.
Name one thing your company is looking to achieve in 2026
Becoming the go-to Microsoft partner for professional services firms serious about AI — not just licensing Copilot, but genuinely changing how their people work. We also understand that security underpins the whole journey, and having data in the right place is just as critical as the AI layer itself.
What keeps you awake at night as a partner leader?
Self-funding our transition from VAR to MSP, where the cash benefit of recurring revenue comes far more slowly than the old hardware hit. I’m sleeping better now – past the steepest part of the climb, even if there’s road ahead. The MSP model is more financially resilient and builds far more shareholder value, so the destination is worth it.
Is AI being over-hyped?
The technology isn’t – it’s genuinely transformative. The timelines are. In our market, most clients know they need to act, they’re just not sure how – and helping them is the real opportunity.
What’s been your most successful internal AI project to date, and why?
Building our client-facing Kascade Journey tool using AI-assisted development, after PowerPoint and spreadsheets just didn’t cut it. It’s live, properly secured, and clients are already getting real value from it. Without AI it would have meant a long development cycle at significant cost.
Can you share a surprising prediction about how UK IT channel partners or the UK IT channel will evolve over the next 5 years?
The partners still thriving in 2030 won’t be the ones who managed the Microsoft stack best – they’ll be the ones who joined the dots, with security as a single coherent posture and data as the thing AI actually runs on. AI is only as good as the data that feeds it and the security that protects it. That’s not where most of the channel is focused today – it should be.
Which tech gizmo (hardware or software) could you not function without?
The honest answer is AI – but I’m aware that’s what everyone in this article is going to say. So I’ll say my ultrawide monitor, and leave it at that.
Which three famous people, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?
Honestly, I’ve always found this question a bit contrived – everyone picks someone obscure to look clever or someone funny for a laugh. I’d just invite three people I actually enjoy spending time with and call it a good dinner party.
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
“High bullshit detection. Will act on it.” If something doesn’t pass my sniff test – or the person presenting has previous for things that don’t stack up – I’ll go into the detail until I understand why. I’d rather ask the uncomfortable question than let something slide that shouldn’t.
Which tech figurehead has impressed you the most this year, and why?
Satya Nadella – and not just because we’re a Microsoft partner. He has the conviction and drive of a founder-entrepreneur despite running one of the world’s largest businesses. Repositioning Microsoft around AI without losing enterprise trust is something I have genuine respect for.
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