Role: CEO, Kocho
What’s been your business high point of the last 12 months?
Taking the helm at Kocho and resetting our strategic direction. We’ve built a new executive team, pivoted the business firmly towards identity and cyber, and continued to grow client trust along the way.
Name one thing your company is looking to achieve in 2026
To maintain Kocho’s position as the UK’s leading Microsoft identity and cyber security specialist, known for its deep technical depth and exceptional client outcomes.
What keeps you awake at night as a partner leader?
Making sure we evolve quickly enough. AI, identity and cyber are moving fast, and the biggest risk is standing still.
Is AI being over-hyped?
No, but the hype is ahead of the reality. The real value comes when AI is embedded into core business processes rather than treated as a side experiment.
What’s been your most successful internal AI project to date, and why?
The development of our Kocho Alira platform, which enables the management of identity for both human and non-human identities. Alongside that, we’ve been embedding AI across our service delivery to improve automation and client outcomes. It’s moved AI from theory into something we use every day.
Can you share a surprising prediction about how the UK IT channel will evolve over the next 5 years?
We’ll see a sharp divide. Partners that specialise, build true IP and embrace AI to meet changing client expectations will pull ahead. Generalists will increasingly struggle to differentiate.
Which tech gizmo (hardware or software) could you not function without?
Microsoft Copilot. It’s fundamentally changed how I work, from structuring thinking to making faster decisions.
Which three famous people, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Dame Stephanie Shirley and Freddie Mercury.
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
“Will challenge constructively. Will not settle for average.”
Which tech figurehead has impressed you the most this year, and why?
Satya Nadella, for translating the AI opportunity into something real and actionable for businesses, while keeping a strong focus on trust and security. A great announcement recently to track on the future of Windows…
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