‘No one’s got a plan and I don’t think that’s acceptable moving forward’ - XChange UK reactions
CRN canvassed Computacenter’s Dr Colin Williams and Performanta CEO Guy Golan on their biggest takeaways and highlights of 2025’s XChange UK event
Last week, the CRN team wrapped on its third XChange UK, the largest, independent gathering of leading solution providers and IT channel decision-makers.
Taking place at Sopwell House, St Albans, delegates witnessed panels tackling the biggest factors currently impacting the IT industry such as the skills shortage, cybersecurity and AI.
After a packed two days full of insights through onstage sessions and boardrooms, CRN caught up with Dr Colin Williams, business CTO networking & security at Computacenter, and Guy Golan, co-founder, CEO and executive chairman of Performanta, to hear their thoughts on the conference.
What have you made of the event?
Colin: “I thought it was a very well organised event that was well attended. The boardrooms were very good and they have, in my opinion, been far more effective than in previous years because the presenters were well briefed, and the audience seemed engaged in all the boardrooms as well.”
Guy: “I think the objective of CRN XChange is not only to connect vendors with MSPs, but also connect MSPs as a community.
“In my view, this has been the best one so far. There's more new people, a great vibe, and the boardrooms and the vendors have improved. They improved their pitch, their approach, which is bringing people together closer in the channel.”
What has been your highlight?
Colin: “I liked Stuart Sumner’s opening research presentation on AI. I thought that was very useful.”
Guy: “I loved the panel on the skills shortage. I think it provided some interesting perspectives.
“But I also enjoyed how the questions made the panelists consider things they hadn’t thought about before, like the AI element and how to take that and and being dichotomic about saying yes, AI, no, AI.
“I think it's a premature response. The fact that they started thinking about it as they were on the panel, it enhanced everybody's thinking about how AI would fit into the recruitment and replacement of people, and enrichment of people too.”
What has been your biggest takeaway?
Guy: “I’m taking two things.
“One from Stuart’s presentation about AI.
“Those that are rigorously and aggressively investing in AI, and we are one of those, to see the decline, it made me think about why.
“We need to ask ourselves, are we pushing too much without monetising it? Or are we pushing too much and will we monetise on that?
“Again, the skills shortage, it's everybody's problem, and to me, it's part of our pitch to the market, because we pride ourselves on our excellent resources. It’s how to differentiate ourselves from the market.”
Colin: “It’s more of a reflection that the broader partner community hasn't really got their heads around how impactful AI is.
“I think there are too many people who are passing observers of AI, and even listening to the discussion through the day and a half, I'm surprised how few really have a strategic plan around how they're actually going to leverage AI as a force for good in their organisation, and monetize AI externally in their organisation.
“No one’s got a plan and I don’t think that’s acceptable moving forward.
“So it gave me more reflection than action. My company is probably sitting in between the two. We’re also being a bit of an observer.
“My action really is to come out here and raise awareness of the benefits of being viewed as a leader now during the formative years of this industry.
“I just think if we wait too long, hoping somebody else has the answer, we'll miss the chance to be the organisation that other people go to.
“And also we'll miss the chance to learn now at a time when it's okay to experiment. In a few years from now, I wouldn't expect you to have this sorted. I'd rather make some mistakes now. So many people here are in AI, who want to talk about it, but haven’t got an action plan.”