TECHtonic: Trends in Technology and Services

Recorded live at the May 2026 TSIA Board Summit, this executive panel brings together technology and services leaders to explore how AI is transforming the future of customer engagement, professional services, support, sales, and education services.
Moderated by Thomas Lah and George Humphrey, the discussion dives into emerging business model trends shaping the technology industry, including forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), AI-native operating models, value realization frameworks, agentic workflows, outcome-based selling, and the evolving role of services organizations in driving revenue growth.
Panelists Kusal DeSilva of AptEdge, Prasad Sular of Certinia, Shari Cravens of HPE Digital Experience, Usman Nasir of Salesforce, Fotini Costopoulos of ServiceNow, and Kurt Kuelz of Siemens Digital Industries Software share real-world examples of how leading organizations are restructuring around customer outcomes, why services teams are playing an increasingly strategic role in the sales cycle, and the evolving skills technology professionals will need to thrive in an AI-first economy.
This candid, unscripted live discussion captures how leading companies are navigating one of the fastest technology shifts the services industry has ever experienced.

Recorded live at the 2026 TSIA Board Summit, held in May, Thomas Lah delivers a provocative and insightful keynote on why the AI era is forcing companies to fundamentally rethink their operating models, pricing strategies, and service organizations.
Drawing from nearly 30 years of experience advising global product companies, Thomas explains why today’s AI transformation is moving faster — and carrying higher stakes — than any previous business shift, including the rise of the internet and the move to “as-a-service” business models.
In this session, he introduces the “Services 2.0” framework: a practical model for navigating AI-driven business transformation while overcoming the two biggest obstacles companies face — organizational inertia and flawed business assumptions. He explores why outcome-based pricing is rapidly becoming unavoidable, how customer value delivery is evolving, and why service organizations are increasingly becoming central to enterprise growth strategies.
Thomas also shares research-backed insights into why most transformations fail, the leadership mindset required to succeed, and the specific operational capabilities companies must build now to remain competitive in the AI economy.

In this episode of TECHtonic, Thomas Lah of TSIA sits down with Michael Harnum, CEO of ESG Success, to unpack a bold idea reshaping the tech industry: Customer Success as a Service. As companies face mounting pressure to cut costs while still driving retention and growth, traditional customer success models are being pushed to their limits.
Michael shares how his experience scaling renewal operations and training services led to a broader, more holistic approach—helping organizations not just execute customer success, but design, optimize, and even outsource it. From building maturity assessments to leveraging AI for scalable success plans, the conversation dives into how companies can transform fragmented, underperforming CS functions into strategic growth engines.
If you’re grappling with churn, struggling to prove ROI, or wondering how to scale without adding headcount, this episode delivers practical insights and a fresh perspective on making customer success a true driver of business value.

In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah sits down with Angelica Riemann, SVP and President of the CrossLab Group at Agilent Technologies, to unpack how a legacy hardware company is transforming into a modern, recurring-revenue powerhouse.
From its origins as a spinout of HP to becoming a global leader in lab innovation, Agilent is redefining what it means to deliver value—not just through instruments, but through an integrated ecosystem of services, consumables, software, and digital experiences.
Angelica reveals how Agilent is:
Building a “flywheel” of recurring revenue across the entire lab lifecycle
Navigating increasingly complex buying personas and pricing models
Leveraging AI and digital tools to transform both customer support and internal operations
Shifting from selling products to delivering outcomes and workflow solutions
The conversation also explores the future of enterprise buying—where frictionless digital experiences, self-service support, and even AI-to-AI transactions are reshaping how customers engage.
If you're in tech, services, or any industry facing disruption, this episode offers a powerful look at how to evolve your business model for a world that demands more value, speed, and flexibility.

In this episode of TECHtonic, Thomas Lah sits down with Cormac Whelan, CEO of Nitro Software, to unpack what it really takes to compete, and win, when you’re up against industry heavy weights.
As AI reshapes the software landscape, Cormac shares how smaller, more agile companies are using it as a force multiplier, enabling lean teams to innovate faster, deliver smarter products, and “punch above their weight.” But technology alone isn’t the advantage.
The real differentiator? Customer intimacy and value realization.
Cormac dives into how Nitro leverages deep customer insights to uncover massive efficiency gains, like reducing document redaction from hours to seconds, and turning those insights into scalable, AI-powered solutions. The conversation explores why traditional software models are breaking down, how pricing is shifting toward outcomes, and why proving value is now the ultimate competitive edge.
You’ll also hear:
Why incumbents still hold power, and where they’re vulnerable
How AI is changing product development, pricing, and go-to-market strategies
The growing importance of trust, security, and transparency
Why the future belongs to companies that deliver outcomes, not just software
If you're navigating today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, this episode offers a clear message: the winners won’t be the biggest—they’ll be the most agile, customer-focused, and value-driven.