We got together at the recent D&H Next+ event in Austin, it’s first multi-day show – smaller. Colin Blair has been in the technology biz for 30-years with 25-years (primarily Avent) in distribution. Went to the Thunderbird School of Global Management (a jewel in the desert) where he attained his Masters. The center of gravity today is where VARs need to look more at MSPs. Don’t miss that CapEx vs. OpEx conversation. Has everything become “…as a service?” Blair lives in nearby San Antonio (so he’s a next door neighbor for me in Austin. PS – He loves Mexican food at LaFogata if you want the inside track with him!
Listen to the podcast HERE.
Highlights:
- GDP chat – overall 2%/3%, but global IT growth of 13% so 4x.
- Overall IT spend is $6.3 trillion and Blair monitors that with his analyst hat on. And 2.6 trillion of that overall number is allocated to AI e.g capital expenditures at the enterprise-level. In other words, the “hype” you read is focused on enterprise and hyperscalers.
- The enterprise play is turning of the little guy in the SMB channel. Our six-pack Joe’s have a mild resentment that they are seeing double-digit transfers of wealth in the AI circus.
- Blair countered the SMB channel partners are actually in a great spot and YOU ARE NOT LATE. I concur.
- MOST IMPORTANT: The evolving CapEx vs. OpEx IT spend. Today the spend in our MSP space is 75% Opex and 25% CapEx. “If you go back four or five years, that would have been nearly the opposite. That would have been 40% OpEx and 60% CapEx.” Blair shared. That’s called an INVERSION my fine feathered friends.
- VAR/Reseller/MSP sentiment. My October economic survey was OPTIMISTIC. I contend that today our SMB channel partners, at mid-2026, are economically emotional and there is uncertainty.
- Link up with Blair HERE. https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinblair/