XChange Asia 2026: Three key takeaways from boardrooms

XChange Asia 2026 was sponsored by Acronis, Concentric AI, Huntress, NinjaOne, OpenText, Pax8 and Tenable.

The inaugural XChange Asia summit in Singapore brought together about 70 partners from around Southeast Asia to network and share peer insights on the opportunities and challenges they are facing the markets they operate in.

The event featured a research presentation from Aaron Raj, CRN Asia editor as well as a panel discussion and fireside chat by the editors of CRN Australia and CRN India. There were also several keynote sessions by sponsors, including a special keynote sharing session by Paralympian Dr.William Tan.

The highlight of XChange Asia is the discussions that took place in the six different boardrooms. Partners who attended the event were placed in groups of 8 to 10 in each boardroom, based on their focus areas and the nature of their business. These boardrooms are led by the advisory board of XChange Asia. Participating vendors would then have the opportunity to speak to the partners in each room on their products and opportunities to go to market together.

These discussions also provided the opportunity for partners to network with each other and also share feedback on the vendors participating as well as other areas they would like to see more support in.

The editors of CRN Asia, Australia and India also took part in some of the boardroom discussions and here are three key takeaways that partners shared with us.

First, partners need more support in deploying AI. All the partners acknowledged that AI is a game changer and a revenue driver for them. However, most partners, especially those that are from outside Singapore feel that there is still a lot of enablement and guidance needed from the vendors on how they can provide customers what they actually want in their AI journey.

The second takeaway is the skills shortage. Just as customers are running low on talent, partners are also facing similar situations, with trained talents moving to competitors or even joining customers or vendors. While partners are seeing an increased demand for managed services, they feel of the lack of talent may just slow them down.

The last and most important takeaway from the partners was the need for greater communication from the vendors, especially when it comes to enablement and partner programs. With vendors changing partner programs, incentives and certifications needed to achieve greater tier statuses, some partners feel it's too hard for them to catch up. At the same time, these partners also feel that the certifications would not be of much help if they were not able to put it to practice.

Given these three challenges from partners in the region, vendors would need to relook into their enablement programs with them. While some vendors are making changes and taking feedback seriously, the partners would like to see more action from the vendors and not just words of support.

Interestingly, despite these challenges, the boardrooms still had some interesting discussions with the vendors presenting. The partners were amazed and thankful for the opportunity to listen, share and network with their peers in the event, which many felt is definitely what the industry really needs.

The XChange Asia 2026 summit was sponsored by Acronis, Concentric AI, Huntress, NinjaOne, OpenText, Pax8 and Tenable. Advisory board members for XChange Asia included Bernard Collin, Helen Selvanathan, Howie Lau, Philip Lee, Sam Chng, Simon Bernie and Tsz Chun Chan.

Xchange Australia will be held on September 16 at Intercontinental Sydney.

XChange Asia will return in 2027