This was the first Empower that I have attended in person since 2018. I’d been looking forward to it ever since it was announced, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I always find Empowers to be hugely insightful, and I invariably end up returning to the (home) office reinvigorated and full of fresh new ideas. If I were to write about everything I took from Empower, it might just be my first novel, so instead I’m going to touch on a few key points from different sessions across the whole event.
Co-managed, a huge opportunity
Prior to the launch party on Tuesday, I had the pleasure in assisting Stefanie Hammond host the Co-managed IT Services boot camp, this for me is a very interesting subject, I believe it to potentially be a huge opportunity for those MSP’s that can establish themselves in this market. If I ever was to leave N‑able and setup my own business, this would be the area I would target to build my business around. Hopefully some of our attendees at the boot camp will be inspired to do this, too.
Harnessing change
Our first full day of content kicked off on Wednesday and after the initial welcomes and community updates from Hannes Kamleitner and David Weeks, N‑able CEO John Pagliuca took to the stage. I always find John fascinating to listen to and he touch on three key points that I thought were particularly interesting:
- “What got you here, won’t get you there”
John himself will admit he took this quote from Robert Wilburn’s presentation, but it’s one that really struck a chord with me. Throughout my years at N‑able, I’ve spoken to many partners and prospects. Many of these businesses have achieved a level of success by taking an approach and sticking with it, but those businesses that adapt and change their approach over time will take their business to the next level. This quote sums that up perfectly and would make a great tag line for our next Empower. - “Innovation isn’t slowing down”
The tools available to our partners today are ever-changing, for us as a company it’s important that we continue to be a market leader in supplying our partners with new, advanced solutions to best position our partners to support their clients. Equally it’s key that our partners embrace these new solutions so that they don’t get stuck in the mindset of “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. - Change is opportunity
Through Mergers and Aquations, MSPs are becoming bigger organisations, allowing them to expand their market beyond the typical SME sector. With a shortage of talent in the IT industry, MSPs are now best positioned to offer co-managed services into mid-market and Enterprise level clients.
Managing cloud complexities
Following John, our N‑able CTO Mike Adler took to the stage to discuss AI’s view into the future of N‑able’s products. Mike took the quirky approached of using the most talked about AI tool at the moment ChatGPT to engage the audience with cloud management, and why it’s going to be a key component of every MSPs service offering moving forward. The other element of Mike’s presentation that certainly had the entire audience sit up in their seats, was when he showed the upcoming integration of ChatGPT into N‑central and how it could be used to generate PowerShell scripts on demand. A brilliant example of how these emerging technologies are going to enhance the solutions we use today.
The changing face of bad actors
My highlight from the last Empower I attended back in 2018, was the brilliant keynote speech from Skype co-creator Jonas Kjellberg, so I was really looking forward to listening to Keren Elazari. I think a good keynote should be interesting, engaging, thought provoking and funny and Keren’s was all these and much more.
Keren opened my eyes to how the bad actors work and how they too are embracing new technologies to enhance their malicious activities, like using automation to improve their infection vectors. But the one phrase Keren used which I know I will from this day forward always associate with this keynote was ‘Exploit Wednesday’. Despite the odd hiccup with a patch or two over the years, I’ve always seen Microsoft Patch Tuesday to be a positive thing. It’s the day we find out what patches are being released to address the vulnerabilities detected in the software we use on a daily basis, but it’s also the day that these vulnerabilities are announced to the world setting up the bad actors to exploit these vulnerabilities. As I continue to deliver boot camps and write blogs on patch management, I know forever more I’ll use the term ‘Exploit Wednesday’ to hammer home why patch management is such a critical component in your layer security approach to protecting your end users.
N‑able: more than just a vendor
A key element of Empower is not only hearing what our organisation has to say but hearing what our partners have to say too. During our Chief Customer Officer Kevin Bury’s presentation, we heard from N‑able partner James Hawker CEO of Bluecube Technology Solutions, the quote that really stood out for me was: “We made the mistake of viewing N‑able as just a vendor”. They felt they knew how they wanted to implement the solutions but weren’t getting what they wanted and were ready to look elsewhere. That was the point they started to work with N‑able and this partnership has strengthened ever since. Throughout my time as a Sales Engineer here at N‑able, I’ve always told prospects that working with N‑able is a partnership, we want to help you be successful because your success feeds into our success.
If you just take one thing away from this blog, ask yourself: “What kind of relationship do you have with N‑able?” If you find yourself answering “vendor/customer relationship”, then you need to reach out to us so we can build up that partnership and enjoy greater success together.
Wednesday afternoon was full of breakout sessions with something for everyone in attendance with peer-led sessions, roadmaps, business transformation sessions, and plenty of discussions around Mergers and Acquisitions.
The feedback from attendees was hugely positive. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
- “Not at all what I expected, in a good way.”
- “Rang my MD to say he needs to be at the next one.”
- “I wanted to be mad at you, but the content is just too good.”
Empower Prague Day 2
Thursday kicked off with a brief review of Day 1 with David Weeks. This is where everyone tries to see if they made it into the recap video. Next up, our CSO Dave Mackinnon took to the stage to discuss being secure when moving to the cloud and also to address concerns around the security of AI.
AI: a new frontier
I always find Dave (aka DMac) to be a very engaging presenter, the way he talks about security forces you to look at yourself first. Often our partners will focus on their customers, but if you don’t have your own house in order, how can you be confident that you can secure your customers.
After some insightful sessions from our sponsors, DMac returned to the main stage to moderate a panel discussion on the most popular topic in tech at the moment: AI and whether it’s a benefit or a risk. For me this was a hugely insightful discussion, and as I heard answers to many questions I had, I found those answers unearthing more questions. AI technology is not a new thing, what has changed is how accessible it is. Many in attendance voiced their concerns around the lack of regulation and who is setting the guardrails for AI, others commented on what happens when different AI’s start to communicate with each out, or worse still disagree with each other. We certainly didn’t have all the answers in the room, but it was great to hear that while many if not all in attendance want to fully embrace AI, they want to do so in a secure and regulated manner.
Thursday afternoon like Wednesday was full of breakout sessions again covering a wide variety of subjects and while I could have stayed and listened to our speakers and engaged with our partners, all good things me come to an end. We are lucky here at N‑able to have a diverse workforce that spans the globe, but we also have partners from all corners of the earth, having the opportunity to hear some many voices and opinions has left me excited as where N‑able and our partners can go together. If missed this Empower or if you’ve never been, make sure you go to the next one, I can assure you once you start going, you’ll never stop.
If after reading this you feel the need to meet the team at N‑able, check out upcoming N‑able events to see where we will be and follow us on our social platforms.
Each Head Nerd that attended Empower Prague will be writing their own blog to provide their favorite highlights from the week. Check them out here:
Paul Kelly is the Head Nerd at N‑able. You can follow him on Twitter at @HeadNerdPaul, LinkedIn and Reddit at u/Paul _Kelly. Alternatively you can email me direct.
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