AppDirect Blog

Strategy & Best Practices

The Next Era of Technology Advising: Turning Trust into Better Business Outcomes

Trusted relationships give technology advisors a starting point for helping customers navigate changing needs—from energy and customer experience to cybersecurity and AI. Leaders from Renodis, Savvy Technologies, and Bluewave share how to expand thoughtfully, build the expertise to deliver, and help customers make better-informed decisions.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / November 3, 2026

Technology Insights

The More Technology We Build, the More Human Guidance Matters

AI is making software easier to build and harder to manage. At Thrive 2026, AppDirect Chairman and CEO Nicolas Desmarais explored why the next era of business technology will depend on connected systems and trusted human guidance. His vision: combine AI’s capabilities with advisors who help businesses choose technology and put it to work.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / October 30, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

The Next MSP Evolution Is Managing Intelligence, Not Just Infrastructure

AI adoption is opening a new opportunity for MSPs: help customers move from experimentation to secure, useful workflows. Drawing on AppDirect’s Thrive 2026 session, this guide explores how providers can assess readiness, prepare data, set governance, train users, and support AI well beyond deployment.

By Cassandra Travaglini / AppDirect / October 28, 2026

Technology Insights

The Factory Kitchen for AI Agents

What can a Cheesecake Factory kitchen teach us about AI agents? AppDirect SVP of Engineering Mathew Spolin draws a delightful parallel between restaurant recipes, stations, and quality checks—and the system that helps agents carry knowledge from one session to the next. The secret isn’t agents that remember everything; it’s a kitchen that gets better every time.

By Mathew Spolin / AppDirect / October 22, 2026

Technology Insights

Four Weeks to a Single Customer View: How a Lakehouse Architecture Solved an Old Problem for Advisors

Advisors had no single place to see a customer across hardware, software, and connectivity. A small AppDirect engineering team fixed that in four weeks, with no manual coding. Here's how they built it on a Lakehouse architecture, and why a person still approves every customer merge.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / October 19, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

How an Advisor Locked In Energy Contracts with a Steel Manufacturer Across Four States

See how a trusted technology advisor and Broker Online Exchange (BOX) helped a steel tubing manufacturer secure tailored electricity and natural gas contracts across four states, including a deliberately extended timeline to align with a future solar project. The result: a complex, multi-market energy challenge turned into a coordinated strategy with long-term budget stability.

By Amanda Marquez / AppDirect / October 14, 2026

Customer & Partner Success

How Aravo Partnered with AppDirect to Bring Native Governed AI to Enterprise TPRM

Aravo partnered with AppDirect and its Devs.ai platform to accelerate the development of Aravo AI and AI Canvas within the Aravo Intelligence First platform. The result is AI embedded natively into enterprise TPRM workflows, built to respect user permissions, connect to trusted risk data, and deliver transparent, reviewable outputs. For enterprise risk teams managing complex third-party ecosystems, it’s governed AI that fits the way they already work and keeps human expertise in the loop.

By Romy Arsenault / AppDirect / September 25, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

Thrive 2026 Ecosystem Blueprint: How to Scale Growth Through Marketplaces and Ecosystems That Matter

If AI is making software creation faster and cheaper, distribution becomes the differentiator. This post previews four Thrive 2026 breakouts for ISVs and ecosystem leaders to unify partner channels, prove ecosystem ROI, and scale indirect revenue through marketplaces and ecosystems.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / September 4, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

Thrive 2026 Lifecycle Roadmap: Expand Customer Value Through One Platform

If your customers are drowning in vendors, invoices, tickets, and spreadsheets, lifecycle management is the fastest path from operational chaos to measurable control. This post previews four Thrive 2026 breakouts to reduce manual work, close visibility gaps, and eliminate operational debt across network, mobility, expense management, and hardware lifecycle.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / September 2, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

Thrive 2026 Advisor Growth Plays: How to Win New Business and Deliver More Value After the Sale

If your growth plan depends on sharper prospecting, stronger customer conversations, and more differentiated offers, this post previews six Thrive 2026 advisor-focused breakouts. Get takeaways on AI-led cloud selling, modern sales strategy, energy, 5G business continuity, and healthcare modernization.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / August 31, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

Thrive 2026 AI Playbook: Build Confidence With AI—From Basics to Hands-on Workshops

AI conversations have moved past "which tool should we try?" to bigger questions: how do we control it, build with it, and prove it's worth the investment? These eight Thrive 2026 AI breakout sessions tackle all three—including hands-on workshops where attendees build real apps and agents.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / August 28, 2026

Strategy & Best Practices

More Microsoft CSP Revenue, Less Operational Overhead: Get the Guide

There's more Microsoft opportunity than ever for CSP partners. But this isn't just about catching new SKUs and compliance rules. It's a chance to ask whether your Microsoft practice can scale on its own, or whether it's still held up by manual work and a few people who know the rules. The good news: that's a fixable problem.

By Denise Sarazin / AppDirect / August 27, 2026