The Oxygen Awards went live last month.
Here we catch up with Chris Shaw, UK Channel Director at Oxygen Awards Gold sponsor AvePoint, to find out why they are backing the event.
Why is AvePoint backing the Oxygen Awards?
AvePoint is committed to the community we’re a part of. We want to be involved in awards ceremonies as a reflection of the partners’ commitment back to us and our commitment to them. Oxygen is a community we’re invested into, and that we want to help grow and build.
Why are you sponsoring the AI Project of the Year award, specifically?
AI is one of the most interesting areas of business in terms of the problems it is encountering and fixing in terms of getting those licenses and usage sorted out. We’re really excited to be involved in the AI space, and that’s why this category jumped out to us.
What is AvePoint’s USP?
AvePoint’s USP is built around helping partners fix multiple problems in the data space by having a very simple answer to a lot of questions. The fact we are enabling so many partners to create so much more opportunity in their bases is testament to that mentality.
What’s one thing AvePoint has in store for the rest of 2026?
Linking back to the AI category, there’s going to be some really big advancements in how [AvePoint] is managing and tracking agentic AI and how [we’re] building out really robust governance around generative and agentic AI. There are some really cool announcements coming up in that space, and we’re looking forward to sharing those with the market.
What’s the recipe success for success for channel partners in 2026?
The successful partners in the channel right now are the ones who are listening to their partners’ challenges and concerns around data and AI specifically. They’re the ones who are listening to the vendor’s solutions and being objective about which vendors fit best into that problem – so not just necessarily throwing technology at the problem, but understanding the solutions behind it is absolutely critical.
This article was produced in association with AvePoint is classified as partner content. What is partner content? See more here.
