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Vince Menzione - Technology Industry Sales and Partner Executive
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313 – Missing the Copilot Boom? How Top MSPs Are Monetizing AI Now
Don’t miss the AI partnership revolution! Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this episode, Vince Menzione sits down with Jason Ulacio from Enforcer and Oguo Atuanya from PAX8 to discuss the critical ecosystem shift happening as MSPs transform into Managed Intelligence Providers (MIPs). They explore the hidden dangers of shadow AI running rampant in organizations, the absolute necessity of establishing solid data governance before deploying tools like Copilot, and how curated agent stores are enabling partners to drive repeatable, monetizable business outcomes for SMBs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajn6FFFWMp4 Key Takeaways The traditional MSP model must evolve into a Managed Intelligence Provider (MIP) that focuses on business consulting and driving repeatable growth for SMBs. Almost 100% of organizations have a “shadow AI” problem, creating massive security vulnerabilities that MSPs must immediately address. Before successfully deploying Copilot, organizations must lay down a foundation of data governance and security to prevent dangerous oversharing of sensitive information. PAX8 is bridging the SMB gap with a curated agent store that ensures agents are native to SMB needs, secure, and deliver outcome-driven experiences. MSPs must become “Customer Zero” by actively using and understanding AI tools internally before attempting to commercialize them for clients. Providing simple, baseline services like monthly shadow AI reporting is an effective first step for MSPs to build recurring revenue streams based on AI. If you’re ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Managed Intelligence Provider, PAX8, Enforcer platform, Microsoft environments, shadow AI detection, Copilot assessment, data governance, work IQ, sensitivity labels, SMB native agents, curated agent store, vendor built agent, MIP playbook, purview adoption, MFA, HIPAA compliance, F1 engine analogy, trust AI, is AI trustworthy, AI governance, AI regulation, AI compliance Transcript Oguo Atuanya and Jason Ulacio Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Jason Ulacio: We are getting to the point where we ask AI questions, we ask copilot. We ask these stat questions, and we trust the answers that come back. [00:00:10] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:22] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi. Own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because being [00:00:46] Jason Ulacio: in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:52] Vince Menzione: This is like a Microsoft, uh, alumni meeting. [00:00:56] Oguo Atuanya: Yes. [00:00:56] Vince Menzione: It’s an alumni network meeting. I’m gonna have you both come on, introduce yourselves, and then we’re gonna jump into the conversations. Good to see you, my friends. [00:01:05] Oguo Atuanya: Same here. [00:01:06] Vince Menzione: This is so fun. [00:01:07] Vince Menzione: Fun. Please, [00:01:08] Jason Ulacio: please, [00:01:11] Vince Menzione: Jason, I’ll let you go first. Yes. Welcome to the stage, ultimate Partner Stage. [00:01:17] Jason Ulacio: Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Vince. Thank you for having us. Um, hi everyone. Jason CIO here. Um, as we view of business development at Enforcer, um, I joined Enforcer about eight months ago. Prior to that, uh, spent about nine and a half years at Microsoft, um, working with this gentleman and, and many of of the other folks, some of [00:01:38] Vince Menzione: the other folks in the room. [00:01:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Yeah, that’s awesome. And you live here locally? [00:01:42] Jason Ulacio: Yes, yes. I’m based here, Seattle. And your [00:01:43] Vince Menzione: company is based in the UK [00:01:45] Jason Ulacio: And we’re headquarter in the uk, but we have a couple offices here in the US as well. [00:01:49] Vince Menzione: Very, [00:01:49] Jason Ulacio: very cool. [00:01:49] Vince Menzione: And you have a bunch of people here today, so Yes. It’s so great to be here first time in the room with us and this gentleman I’ve known for a little while. [00:01:57] Oguo Atuanya: Yes, sir. [00:01:57] Vince Menzione: Good to. Well, you can, I’ll let you introduce yourself, but you don’t need any introductions you’ve been around for with us for a while. A gula a little [00:02:04] Oguo Atuanya: too old. [00:02:05] Vince Menzione: You’re not old at all. He was in the gym this morning, by the way, like four o’clock in the morning pumping iron. I’m like, I come in to do my Peloton cycle. [00:02:13] Vince Menzione: And you’re like cranking out. Yeah. [00:02:15] Oguo Atuanya: You are making me blush. [00:02:16] Vince Menzione: Alright. Yeah, a little bit. [00:02:18] Oguo Atuanya: Oh, Goya. And, um, I look after the, uh, vendor experience, uh, organization within PAX eight. So that entails, um, our engagement strategy with vendors. Um. How we go to market, how we execute in the regions, and um, how we kind of look around the corner for what’s new. [00:02:40] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:02:41] Oguo Atuanya: So, um, I’ve been with PXI now for about a year and a half. Prior to that I spent 22 years at, um, Microsoft. One of my last roles was actually, um. Fighting the SMB fight with Jose, which is how I lost all my hair. [00:02:58] Vince Menzione: Ah, stop. [00:03:00] Oguo Atuanya: But it’s great to be here. Great to be with all of you. Thanks for coming. [00:03:04] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And one of those companies that Jose was referencing earlier, one of the top partners to work with for the MSP community as well. [00:03:11] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:11] Vince Menzione: Let’s talk about that for a a moment. ’cause it was about a year ago you guys hit you guys. I’m saying PAX eight hit the press. Pretty hard on, you know, this, this changing the, trying to change the terminology. [00:03:24] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:24] Vince Menzione: First there was like, we’re not the disty, we’re not, you know, re re redefining who you were and then also redefining the MSP community. [00:03:32] Vince Menzione: Right. And you came up with a new term at that time, at, at your event last year. [00:03:36] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:36] Vince Menzione: Let’s talk about it. You call, you came up with the term managed intelligence provider, so let’s talk about that. [00:03:41] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Really it just is the transformation of, um, the MSB in this. Agentic era where, you know, the MFPs have to go from just, you know, being the IT tools provider and doing a lot of break effects to actually, you know, now driving intelligence, um, driving, driving repeatable outcomes. [00:04:11] Oguo Atuanya: And, you know. Govern deployment and, um, orchestrated, um, you know, workforce development across or, uh, uh, you know, deployment across businesses. So you are really looking at an era where the MSB now has to really understand the SMB very well. Um, they have to understand what their SMBs. Um, business model is what their growth aspirations are, where you’re now sitting and saying, okay, Mr. [00:04:46] Oguo Atuanya: SMB, who is my customer? You want to grow x, y, Z percent in three to five years? Um, I’m coming to deploy, um, you know, the, um, you know, business infrastructure that is gonna propel that growth for you. Um, you need, um. A hundred employees, but you don’t have the wherewithal to hire a hundred employees. Right. [00:05:12] Oguo Atuanya: So you helping them build a, a hybrid organization [00:05:16] Vince Menzione: Yeah. With agents and other [00:05:17] Oguo Atuanya: With agents, yeah. Um, you know, articulating exactly how you’re going to make them more productive, reduce cost, and, um, for yourself, do it in a repeat, repeatable, monetizable, you know, fashion. So that’s really what it’s all about. [00:05:32] Vince Menzione: And really a shift from the way tech, I mean, tech, these smaller organizations were not as technology savvy years ago, but this is, it’s changed. The environment has changed considerably. [00:05:41] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. I mean the, the MSPs really have always known the technology, but they, you now gotta understand the business side of it. [00:05:50] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:05:51] Oguo Atuanya: You gotta become that business consultant. [00:05:53] Vince Menzione: So what’s getting in the way and what do you do at PAX eight to close that gap? I know we, uh, you were on the podcast. I had you in the studio back in Boca in [00:06:01] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:06:02] Vince Menzione: February. We talked a little bit about this, but for this community, like there’s, there’s a big gap that you’re helping to close. [00:06:08] Vince Menzione: You’re, yeah. You’re helping enable this or I’ll call it the academy, right? Is the approach. [00:06:13] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. The academy is, is one of the pillars, but again, it’s what I talked about. They, they understand the technology very well. That’s all they, that’s mostly what they’ve done in the past, right. Um, but now it’s about understanding the business side. [00:06:26] Oguo Atuanya: So, um, a lot of MSPs know what to do, they
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