International Women’s Day: Solution Provider Executives Share Their Most Exciting IT Projects In The Works

In honor of International Women's Day, CRN reporters speak with solution provider leaders and executives about the exciting IT projects they are working on right now.

Worldwide IT spending is expected to grow 9.8 percent in 2025, totaling $5.61 trillion. That's a big potential piece of the pie for solution providers.

Channel partners are helping their clients transform their businesses with new and exciting use cases, while solving the pain points that may have plagued these clients as IT budgets began to loosen in recent months. In that spirit, and in celebration of International Women's Day this Saturday, CRN reporters at The Channel Company’s XChange March event in Orlando this week met with solution providers to learn about the current IT projects their firms had in the works that had them excited.

There's no denying that artificial intelligence has played a big role as CIOs turn to their trusted advisors to help them harness AI to make their own businesses more efficient and to create better end user experiences. One solution provider executive spoke about how she and her team are helping a client increase ROI using AI and using AI ethically. Another leader touched on automation being a priority for many clients. Still another shared that her firm had added a software developer and the resulting app that is currently in creation.

With so many IT projects gaining approval this year so far, here are the answers to the question:

"What is the most exciting IT project you are working on with a customer right now?"

Amie Seisay

Founder, CEO, Seisay IT Solutions

Arlington, Va.

A lot of clients have a priority of automation. A really good client of ours is very curious about automating everything. So, we actually built out this vehicle-tracking system for them. And then we're using Microsoft Syntex, which is an AI intelligent document processing product that will extract data out of documents and automatically tag it. We met with them recently and they said: “We’re interested using Copilot, so is there a way that we could have our documents stored in SharePoint — but then also it could help with extracting information from the documents in SharePoint?” So, they want to do different queries in order to see if they can pull data back that is relevant to those queries. When we look at the document processing, we train the AI models to figure out where to look for the data in the documents. And then once you train the models, all they have to do is just put their documents in there, and it just does what it needs to do.

Abby Hanson

Vice President of Microsoft and AI, ABM Technology Group

Fargo, ND

I lead the AI practice. I think it's really about the advancement of ethical AI across the board, and how do we help our customers so they don't internally hack themselves? So that's really exciting for me, because we're working with different businesses, from finance to healthcare to nonprofit. It’s really exciting for me, from that perspective, to show customers how they can increase ROI using AI, and ethically do it the right way.

As to which particular client I’m most excited about, there's one local nonprofit that we're working with right now that will actually be a game changer, I feel, for our community. They are looking to help curb homelessness and hunger, and when we're all said and done, we're going to be able to see how all the different agencies work through AI. I can’t say the agency name at this time.

Sandra Antoun

Chief Marketing Officer, Vintage IT Services

Austin, Texas

Around 2009 we started hosting our own cloud services for a few clients in the closet of our offices. It was temperature controlled, mostly redundant, and we bought portable generators in case the electricity went out. A few years later, we moved the data center to (Texas-based colocation provider) Data Foundry’s world class facility and created a multi-tenant cloud. It was the days before Microsoft Azure and Office 365 were accepted as norms for businesses.

As Microsoft Azure and Office 365 became more mature and de facto standards for business, we began putting more and more of our new clients in those environments. We also converted a few existing clients. The economics got to the point where it was more cost effective … profitable for us to move everyone to Office 365 and Azure to maintain our own data center.

We are most excited that the final few clients will be moved this month from our data center to Microsoft Azure and we'll be shutting down our data center by April 17.

Cynthia Stiles

System Engineer, Cenetric Network Services

Olathe, Kansas

One of our clients is a nonprofit in Kansas City that does a lot of good work with hospitals and folks that really need medical help by supporting them and their families. We actually took on this client from another MSP. On day one, they came to us with Wi-Fi issues in different areas. We went on site for a meet-and-greet, and as we walked from one room to the other, the Wi-Fi didn't work. And they're like: "Yeah, this has been an ongoing problem for two years now." After we started digging into their network, we found it was very misconfigured. And it was surprising to us that, after working with another MSP, they would have all these security loopholes.

The exciting part to us is that we've been given the ability to completely rework their network, and we've done little things like putting in new APs (access points) and configuring a new Wi-Fi channel. It was nice to get feedback that someone in the hospital doesn’t have to walk down the hall or go outside to be able to talk on the phone or call whatever they needed. We’re knowing that this is one thing they don't have to think or worry about. My team is very proud to be able to give the client the confidence that is just not going to be a problem.

Tanaz Choudhury

CEO, TanChes Global Management

Houston

Workforce development and creating a pipeline for (our local) tech industry is genuinely going to be our signature (project) for this year.

We are just coming off of an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the Department of Labor, the Gulf Coast (Region) Apprenticeship Hub and Houston Community College. (This is) a dream I've had for the last 30 years, which I've worked on for the last nine years, and that would be a self-sustaining, fiscally stable ecosystem for my community–which is, you work here, you play here, you earn here, you spend here.

Creating that pipeline will be a win-win-win situation. It's a win for companies that are looking for skilled labor that is also certified or educated in the field of service. It's also going to be good because now the employees have a place where they cannot just call home but actually feel home.

Chelsea Skinner

President, CEO, Oversee My IT

Lewisville, Texas

We're currently working on a project where we have a memory care facility that is constructing all new buildings, and we've gone in and we did the low-voltage data cabling, the CCTV cameras — the interior and exterior camera system — all their access controls. And then we're also doing all the network equipment, all the endpoints. It's three different buildings, so we have to integrate all the technology from all three buildings to make it work. So, all the access control, all the networking — each house has their own rack with their switches and other equipment. But it all aggregates into one central location. So that has definitely been an interesting challenge, making sure that everything works together properly. Then because there's fiber involved, we have to get all the fiber working properly.

So, we're kind of doing everything from start to finish. It’s a testament to what our team is capable of. It’s a big job.

Valerie Chapman

CEO, BIT Computers LLC

Daytona Beach, Fla.

In terms of current projects, we've recently added a software developer to our team. He's working on developing a new app for one of our clients. It was actually the client's son who started the business, and they're eager to get the app up and running. We've been working on that for about a week now. We also have another project focused on creating a new, secure database for a legal office. They're facing security issues because they tend to use whatever software they find online without consulting us, which often leads to vulnerabilities. Our goal is to build a secure database that operates with proper cybersecurity measures, instead of relying on cloud-based solutions over which we have no control.

One of the things I'm most proud of is that, over the past six to eight months, we've developed our own penetration testing software. We've started offering physical penetration testing services for our clients, focusing on network and server security. We don’t yet handle cloud-based penetration testing, but that’s something we’re hoping to expand into in the future. It's not something you see very often, so I’m really proud of the work we’ve done here. It’s been a great accomplishment for our small team.

Mariana Arrieta

Team Manager, MyPCFriends Cybersecurity

Kissimmee, Fla.

One of our very first clients is experiencing significant growth, and they've recently started hiring overseas employees. We’re helping them set up the entire new ecosystem, ensuring that everything is compliant, secure and that their data is protected. It's exciting to see their growth, as it also drives our own learning and growth. We've been able to explore new alternatives and provide the best solutions for them while meeting their needs.