Each year, GTIA recognizes an IT service provider (ITSP) member organization that exemplifies leadership, innovation and a forward-looking approach to delivering real business value through technology. In 2026, that distinction was awarded to Sentry Technology Solutions, a company redefining what it means to be a modern IT partner in a rapidly evolving channel.
To better understand the thinking behind Sentry’s recognition, CEO John Ohlwiler shares the work and philosophy that continue to shape the company’s trajectory. While the award was accepted on Sentry’s behalf by John McLeod, IT & Security Specialist (pictured), Ohlwiler offers a candid look at how Sentry has intentionally moved beyond traditional break‑fix conversations and toward helping clients achieve measurable business outcomes through secure foundations, integrated systems and practical, ROI‑driven AI.
What accomplishment or initiative are you most proud of that led to your selection for this award?
Honestly? I'm not entirely sure what caught GTIA's eye, and I mean that sincerely, not humbly. What I am proud of is the shift we've made as a company from talking about technology break-fix to actually delivering business outcomes. Anyone can sell a firewall. What's harder—and more meaningful—is sitting across from a business owner and helping them see how their technology decisions are either accelerating their growth or quietly choking it.
We built our proprietary Technology Maturity Model to do exactly that: Meet businesses where they are and walk with them through four stages—operate, secure, integrate, innovate—so that technology stops being a cost center and starts being a competitive advantage. I think I’m proud that our team has pushed into the frontier of delivering AI that gets real ROI, not fighting to stay business as usual. If that's what earned us this recognition, I'll take it.
How are you seeing the IT channel evolve right now, and what trends do you think will define the next few years?
AI and automation have gone from buzzword to business imperative, and MSPs who haven't noticed are probably still arguing about whether to move workloads to the cloud. (Spoiler: Yes. Yes, you should.) But the next frontier is even more interesting. Robotics is emerging as the physical expression of everything AI has been doing digitally. Larger enterprises are already investing heavily and that technology will trickle into our world sooner than most MSPs are prepared for. The channel is going to need to evolve from managing endpoints to guiding intelligent, interconnected systems that are both digital and physical.
The uncomfortable truth? A meaningful portion of MSPs are going to struggle with this. Many are still box-huggers, clinging to on-premises active directory like it owes them something. The businesses and providers that don't build a foundation (secure infrastructure, clean data, integrated systems) before attempting AI will find themselves with expensive experiments and disappointing results. Foundation first. Innovation after. That's not a slogan; it's a survival strategy.
What motivates you or your company to continue driving innovation and leadership within GTIA?
I genuinely love this. Not the awards, not the optics but the actual problem-solving. I find myself thinking through how automation can reshape a business process the way other people think about crossword puzzles. It's just how my brain works. At home, I'm tinkering with home automation. At work, we're deploying AI implementations for real clients with real problems. We practice what we preach and that's not marketing language, it's operational philosophy. Before we ever recommend a tool to a client, we've run it ourselves.
GTIA matters to me because it's genuinely independent. When you attend a vendor-sponsored conference, you already know which direction the advice is going to point. GTIA doesn't have that agenda. They're technology-agnostic, and in an industry that's constantly being pulled toward the next shiny thing, that kind of grounded, vendor-neutral perspective is rare and valuable. It’s also what clients value about us. We aren’t pushing a single product, we pushing for the client to make the best decision for them, not for us, and we’re finding more and more businesses resonate with that.
Can you share a meaningful lesson or unexpected insight you gained through your work or engagement with GTIA?
We came into GTIA as members initially for the access, the channel connections, events like Channel Con. But the insight that's stuck with me is the value of vendor-agnostic research in a vendor-saturated world. We've used GTIA's cybersecurity research and industry reports to inform our own client conversations and marketing content. There's something clarifying about reaching for a source that isn't trying to sell you something. It's helped us ask better questions not "which product solves this?" but "what does this business actually need at this stage of its maturity?" That reframe has shaped how we approach every client engagement. The lesson, if I had to name it: The best technology guidance starts with curiosity, not a catalog.
What impact do you hope your work will have on the broader industry or on the next generation of channel leaders?
I hope people keep thinking critically and creatively because the businesses and channel leaders who survive the next decade will be the ones who never stopped questioning whether there's a better way. There will be people left behind. I don't say that with any satisfaction. But the gap between MSPs who are evolving and those who aren't is widening fast. Robotics, agentic AI, intelligent automation aren't things you can bootstrap at the last minute. My hope is that organizations like GTIA can help steward smaller channel partners through these transitions, and that Sentry's own evolution from a traditional managed IT provider to what we're increasingly calling a managed intelligence partner gives others a roadmap worth following. If someone looks at what we've built at Sentry and thinks, "We can do that too," that's a win for all of us. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Even the ones still hugging servers.
See the full list of 2026 North America Spotlight Award Winners.
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