“We’ve spent a lot of time on improving that within the organisation, because garbage in, garbage out. AI can start to just go completely on a different tangent to what you’re after.”
With AI evolving so quickly, it requires continued education, especially when it comes to the security elements.
“We run an ISO 27001 operation; we are all security compliant,” Lowe said. “We’re going down the path of being certified for ISO/IEC 42001 which is the international standard for AIMS [artificial intelligence management systems] over the next six to 12 months.”
Any organisation’s biggest concern should be the risk of something exposing information across the business, he pointed out.
Navigating change
As ASI navigates the changes needed for AI, Lowe said since the last time he spoke with ARN in April, the upcoming Windows 11 changes hadn’t yet created urgency around a hardware refresh.
“[Financially, ASI] ended up 20 per cent up on last year, and a lot of that had to do with large [hardware device refresh] towards the end of the financial year,” he said. A lot of the organisations that have done it probably planned accordingly, and I’ve got no doubt there’ll be an element of customers that go, ‘What do we do? Can you help us?’ “
“It becomes a compliance risk more than a security risk and no CIO wants end up with a breach as a result of not swapping out older devices into the Windows 11 fleet.”
“I think there’ll be a little bit of rush from organisations. They’re probably still trying to work out budgeting post-financial year.”
As for ASI, it’s navigating the continued changes from vendor partners for IT service providers.
“We did get a termination letter from for VMware … we’re not a large partner of theirs,” said Lowe. “I think that probably makes sense [with] what they’re doing, and I think, if anything, it’s probably helped us convert some customers to other technologies.”
For example, its New Zealand cloud offering has “gone gangbusters”, which is on Nutanix’s platform.
“The biggest change we’re seeing is that customers are leaving other platforms because they don’t want to pay the maintenance and renewal fees on those systems.”
“As for Microsoft moving away from EA to CSP, we’re not EA partners so I think it’s going to be a positive for us.
“What that means, I guess we’ll wait and see. I don’t know what sort of impact that will have, if any, until that obviously starts to funnel and filter out across the across the market.”
Excitement over the future
Despite these shifts in the technology industry, Lowe is excited about where ASI is headed, as the rate of change continues to require IT service providers to make internal changes.
“The competitors seem to get smaller and consolidating further and further,” he said. “Every week, I think I read that someone acquires someone … we’ll just keep doing our thing. I think we’re excited, and I’m far too young to retire.”
However, Lowe said while the pace of technology is changing at a exponential rate, he sees the move towards shifting perceptions of gender in the IT channel following at a slower pace.
“I definitely think having been brought up by a mother [Maree Lowe] who ran a technology business starting in the 80s [has] given me a fairly good lens on things,” he said. “Everyone knows probably what it was like in the 80s and 90s while raising four kids. In saying that, I’m a middle-aged white man.
“[We have] a champion of change for women — women in IT in particular — so it’s given us a good lens on that.
“Could we be doing more? We definitely could be doing more as an organisation and as an industry. The challenges in technology — it’s always a challenge.
“You look at the process, and it’s probably very similar to the split of where we’re at the moment.”
Lowe also questioned how the channel can get more people interested in the industry to get a better balance.
“The resumes you get through the application process is probably very similar to the split of where we’re at [as an industry],” he said.
While that will take a whole industry to change, ASI plans to celebrate its 40-year anniversary, this includes a recent internal company kick-off where it flew in everyone from across Australia, New Zealand, and some staff from the Philippines.
The three-day event was held in August at the Hyatt Regency in Darling Harbour and was a really great opportunity for the IT service provider, said Lowe.
“It was called Connect, and it was all around connecting, collaborating, and communicating effectively across the wider teams,” he explained. “Like most organisations, the bigger you get, the more important it is to have those open lines of communication happening.
“It resonated really well with the team, and now we’re planning a roadshow for customers across Australia to double down on who we are and what we do as an organisation … 40 years is a long time.”