Atakama at RoarCon 2026: The Vendor Conversation Has Finally Shifted

MSP vendor panels tend to produce the same answers. Atakama's Dimitri Nemirovsky challenged that convention, arguing that MSPs need a fundamental shift in how they evaluate and adopt emerging technologies and innovative tools.

At RoarCon in Houston, Liongard's invite-only partner event, GTIA's Scott Campbell asked three vendors what actually makes an MSP-vendor relationship work when the technology underpinning the relationship keeps changing. Alongside Bobby Jacobs of Thread and Brian Kane of ThreatDown, Dimitri covered what Atakama looks for in a partner, the stack anxiety new technology produces, and why switching off AI is the fastest way to lose a client.

Use your vendors

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Dimitri opens the interview with advice that sounds obvious until you consider how rarely it happens in practice.

"For any MSP out there that's interested in understanding what the landscape looks like, the evolving technologies, you absolutely must know what the vendors are offering you. And I dare say that we are your partners. So use us, understand us because we are there to support you."

Most MSPs know what their vendors sell. Fewer know what their vendors are building next, or what they have already solved for another partner facing the same problem. That gap is where a lot of duplicated effort quietly lives.

Partnership is a long-term commitment

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Asked what Atakama looks for in an MSP partner, Dimitri didn't lead with deal size or seat count.

"We do look for partners that do see the vision, that do want to be with us for the long term, and that means that they're investing in us and we with them. And really, the most important part of that question was the fact that we are partners. And when you partner with someone, you're getting married. And when you get married, that's for the long term."

It is a deliberately high bar, and it cuts both ways. A vendor asking for a long-term commitment is also committing to be worth staying with, which is a different posture from selling a license and moving on.

Stack anxiety is the real obstacle

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Campbell asked what stops MSPs from becoming more strategic with their vendors. Dimitri's answer describes a cycle every MSP will recognize from conference season.

"The year ends and they've deployed their tool stack. You feel accomplished, you feel complete, and then all of a sudden you turn around, you're at a conference like this and you're meeting phenomenal vendors like us who have these amazing tools and you start second-guessing your existing tech stack."

His recommendation is measured rather than urgent: understand the existing tool set, identify where the genuine gaps are, and accept that not every gap needs closing this quarter. That advice runs against a vendor's short-term interest, which is what makes it worth hearing at a vendor conference.

Alongside it sits a commercial question MSPs often skip. The more successful ones package tools into stacks at a known margin, which raises a practical problem when something new gets added: "do I have to increase those margins? Can I do that intra-contract? Do I have to wait until the contract renewal?" Knowing the answer before you deploy is the difference between a profitable addition and one you absorb for a year.

What makes a good vendor partner: the people

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Campbell turned the question around. RoarCon is Liongard's event and the panel were all Liongard partners, so what makes a vendor worth partnering with?

"To me, Scott, the answer is the people. If you have vendors that are like-minded, that see the industry for what it is, that know how to work together and really complement one another, that's a perfect relationship. We have that."

He named the Liongard team directly, singling out CMO Stephanie Weagle as a "phenomenal person to partner with, supportive," and said that is exactly why Atakama was glad to be at the event. It is easy to read that as conference politeness, but it sits underneath everything else the panel discussed. Integrations and joint go-to-market work only continue when the people on both sides keep showing up for them.

On AI: visibility before restriction

Watch from 12:19

With AI running through every session at every channel event this year, Campbell asked how vendors can help MSPs move from experimenting with it to building a business around it. Dimitri started with the scale of the problem.

"With AI, it is an unprecedented explosion of technology. And that is not an overstatement by any means. The pace at which these new tools are coming out, good luck trying to understand what's out there."

His advice splits in two. First, get visibility, because you cannot govern a risk profile you cannot see: "you do need tools that are able to give you the visibility first and foremost to understand what the potential risk profile looks like." Then, resist the instinct to switch everything off.

"Do not shut off all AI because that's a quick way to lose a client because as we all know, AI is a tremendous productivity tool. So use it, but use it wisely with a semblance of control."

That is the thinking behind how Atakama approaches AI governance. Govern rather than ban, because a blanket block gets routed around within a week and the MSP loses the visibility along with the client's goodwill. The goal, as he put it, is to deliver value to the business owner while keeping a control element around the security and risk.

Transcript: Dimitri's segments