XChange Best Of Breed 2023

The XChange Best of Breed (BoB) Conference meets the evolving needs of the IT channel’s largest, fastest-growing, and most progressive solution provider organizations and the top technology vendors and distributors. An invitation-only event, the BoB Conference brings together 100+ attendees from CRN’s elite solution provider lists ─ Solution Provider 500, Tech Elite 250 and Fast Growth 150 ─ to connect and engage over the course of 2 days.

The in-person event in Atlanta features empowering CEO interviews, Solution Provider 500 spotlights, economic and market trend sessions, executive panel discussions and briefings, and peer-to-peer networking.

Get all of CRN's coverage of the event here and follow along on Twitter at #bob23.

CRN In Depth: 2 Days, 4 CEOs
CRN editors share the key takeaways from the four mainstage CEO interviews they conducted at the XChange Best of Breed Conference with the leaders of Nutanix, SentinelOne, IBM and ControlUp.

Why Nutanix’s Cisco HCI, Hybrid Cloud Partnership Is Huge: CEO
‘We have 25,000 customers. Cisco has hundreds of thousands of customers. So there are just so many customers that we don’t have that we could go get and accelerate our reach just thanks to Cisco’s presence,’ says Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami.

SentinelOne CEO: Microsoft Security Should Be More Like Apple
In a wide-ranging interview, SentinelOne’s Tomer Weingarten also discusses Palo Alto Networks, Wiz and the startup M&A environment—and shares the ‘best decision’ of his career.

Nutanix CEO On ‘Areas Of Concern’ In VMware-Broadcom Deal For Customers And Partners
Nutanix CEO and former VMware top executive Rajiv Ramaswami explains why VMware partners and customers should be concerned about the future of VMware after Broadcom completes its planned acquisition of the virtualization tech developer, likely later this month.

Insight CEO Mullen: The Channel Needs To Be On Its ‘Front Foot’ To Put AI To Good Use
‘The question is, how do you monetize [AI] as you go along? But the most important thing for me is how do you deliver on ROI so a customer can invest in the next step?’ Insight Enterprises President and CEO Joyce Mullen tells an audience of solution providers at the XChange Best of Breed Conference.

ScienceLogic CEO Link: AI, LLMs Can Help With Proactive Quality Monitoring
‘The future is looking at the degraded state rather than the failed state and getting it to a healthy state in real time,’ ScienceLogic CEO Dave Link says.

SentinelOne To Challenge ‘Antiquated’ SIEM Technology From Splunk: CEO
With Splunk under agreement to be acquired by Cisco, SentinelOne sees a ‘huge opportunity with disrupting the SIEM space,’ says the cybersecurity vendor’s CEO, Tomer Weingarten.

SentinelOne CEO: Disruption To Israel Operations Should Be Minimal
Israelis are sadly ‘accustomed’ to working in situations not totally unlike this one, says SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten.

SentinelOne Has ‘Zero Reasons’ To Consider A Sale, CEO Says
Co-Founder and CEO Tomer Weingarten responds to reports that had suggested the cybersecurity vendor might be up for sale, saying the company is ‘fully committed’ to staying independent.

Lenovo Investing $1.2 Billion In AI As It Eyes Edge Growth Via Partners
Lenovo is investing $1.2 billion in R&D to help tap into those opportunities and bring those AI initiatives to fruition,” said Lenovo’s Stacey Goodman at XChange Best of Breed Conference today.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna: 80 Percent Of AI Opportunity Lies In Deployment, A Potential Partner Boon
‘A lot of the attention right now is on the inventors. … The vast majority of that hundreds of billions [in revenue from AI] is going to be in the deployment, not in the invention. And that is where it’s important for everybody to understand—bringing it to life, to bring value to somebody’s business, is what most of you do. Eighty percent of that opportunity is going to lie kind of here, not with those who invent AI,’ IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told an audience of solution providers at the Best of Breed Conference.

WWT CEO: Why Partnering With IT Startups Drives ‘A Lot Of Value’ For Customers
World Wide Technology’s Jim Kavanaugh also shares how the solution provider giant is helping customers with adopting generative AI, which he says is not a ‘fad’ as some might claim: ‘I think there’s real substance.’

ControlUp CEO: 5 Reasons Why Partners Need To Jump On Board
With ControlUp transforming into a channel-led business, CEO Jed Ayres explains five reasons—from margins to market opportunities—on why partners need to work with the company today.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Aims To Grow Revenue Coming From Partners To 50 Percent, Touts ‘Huge Amount’ Of Money To Be Made In AI
“We want to work with the channel. I’ve stood here the previous few years and said, ‘Look, we are about 30 percent of our total revenue from clients coming from the channel.’ … I’d like to make that 50 percent of the revenue, not 30 percent of the revenue. And that is a hard commitment,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said on stage at the XChange Best of Breed Conference.

Jed Aryes On ‘Big’ Desktop As-A-Service Opportunity For ControlUp Partners
Speaking at the Best of Breed 2023 conference, ControlUp’s CEO explains DaaS growth within his company and the market opportunity for MSPs and the channel.

GenAI Opportunities, Risks Are Both Surging: Economist
The economy is also facing new ‘X factor’ uncertainties, including the impact of the attacks on Israel, says futurist and former U.S. official Andrew Busch.