Birmingham MSP Roadshow sparks insight, debate, and collaboration

Last week, the MSP Channel Insights Roadshow at Hotel Du Vin in Birmingham brought MSP leaders together for an intimate day of learning, networking, and strategic discussion. Designed to combine insight with practical takeaways, the event offered delegates a chance to share experiences, debate emerging trends, and connect with peers across the channel.

The day opened with a fireside chat featuring a high-growth MSP discussing lessons in scaling, resilience, and innovation. Nicola Saner of Chorus Cyber characterised AI in the channel as a ‘bubble,’ noting that while it is driving significant excitement, industry observers are questioning whether the current surge in interest and investment will deliver lasting operational transformation or is at risk of overinflated expectations. Saner also focused on culture, retaining staff, and equality in the workplace, highlighting how a curiosity-first mindset can motivate and retain the people crucial to their workforce. She also emphasised hiring for diversity, noting that the different perspectives it brings are what drive innovation.

The event featured four panel sessions addressing the key pillars of MSP success. These discussions explored cybersecurity and resilience in an AI-enhanced landscape, smarter sales and marketing strategies, people, culture, recruitment and DEI, and M&A, investment, and growth strategy. These sessions offered practical advice for attracting and retaining talent in a competitive market, with delegates emphasising the value of recruiting talent from outside traditional IT roles to bring fresh perspectives into MSP teams.

Delegates participated in roundtable sessions hosted by Opentext, TopSec, and Growth Habits, rotating through focused discussions on pressing MSP challenges in a supportive and open environment. These breakout rooms encouraged candid conversations about onboarding and API-first integration strategies to managing complex multi-vendor environments, while also exploring emerging threats, AI-driven security, and email protection. In the sales-focused session, participants discussed transitioning from founder-led selling to scalable, high-performance teams, covering pre-sales foundations, structured onboarding, aligned commission schemes, and the SEARCH recruitment framework. Attendees shared strategies for keeping teams motivated, building repeatable processes, and driving sustainable, long-term growth.

The roadshow wrapped up with a drink reception, giving delegates the chance to follow up on ideas from the panels and breakout sessions and discuss challenges in their own businesses. Attendees left with clear takeaways on improving sales processes, strengthening cybersecurity, implementing inclusive recruitment strategies, and managing multi-vendor operations. By combining practical advice with open peer discussion, the Birmingham Roadshow reinforced the value of collaboration and knowledge-sharing in helping MSPs tackle real-world challenges and scale successfully.

We look forward to continuing these conversations at our upcoming MSP Roadshows in London (2 June), Dublin (23 June), Munich (6 October), Utrecht (12 November), and Copenhagen (24 November).