It’s easy to think of artificial intelligence (AI) as anti-human. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. For AI to deliver intentional outcomes, it needs human guidance and leadership. That’s the overarching theme of ChannelCon 2025: The future is human, and our dynamic keynote presentations embody that very idea.
Meet Noelle Russell: ChannelCon 2025 Keynote Speaker
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Noelle Russell has dedicated her career to helping organizations uncover the possibilities artificial intelligence presents to their businesses and guiding them through the intricacies of AI adoption. She is an award-winning technologist with an entrepreneurial spirit who has led innovative tech teams at Accenture, NPR, Microsoft, IBM, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is among the world’s leading voices on data and AI literacy.
Russell will be speaking at ChannelCon on Wednesday, July 30, offering a unique opportunity for attendees to gain deep insights into both the technological advancements and real-world implications of AI. We asked her a few questions about the role of AI in the IT channel. Here's what she had to say.
Is AI here to stay, whether we want it or not?
Yes. Without question. AI isn’t a passing trend; it’s the new baseline. Much like cloud computing or smartphones, it’s quietly reshaping the infrastructure of how we work. And most of us are already using it—whether through email summarizers, predictive chat tools or automated scheduling assistants.
The point is this: AI is not something you “opt in” to anymore. It’s here, it’s scaling and it’s becoming the differentiator between companies that grow and those that get left behind. The opportunity now is to lead its adoption thoughtfully—not to wait until it’s embedded in every corner of the business before asking the right questions.
What are the potential benefits of using AI versus the challenges and risks?
AI offers real value—but not without real risks. Let’s be clear: The technology is powerful, but it’s not neutral. The way we design, deploy and govern AI systems will determine whether they help or harm.
Among the benefits, we see dramatic productivity gains. Teams are automating repetitive tasks, personalizing customer interactions at scale and surfacing insights in seconds that used to take days. For example, customer support bots can now handle hundreds of inquiries an hour, freeing human teams to focus on more complex needs.
But there are very real challenges too. Bias in training data can lead to biased outcomes. Lack of transparency in how decisions are made erodes user trust. Over-reliance on AI can lead to de-skilling in key roles. And perhaps most dangerously, if AI systems are used without proper oversight, they can unintentionally reinforce inequalities. So, the tradeoff isn’t between good and bad, it’s between intentional and unintentional outcomes. That’s where responsible AI comes in.
How should MSPs and solution providers start to adopt AI? Where can it help their businesses and their customers?
Start with what you already know: Your own workflows and your customers’ pain points. I call it an “AI Impact Assessment.” You don’t need to become an AI expert overnight. What you need is the ability to recognize where AI can reduce friction, increase speed and improve outcomes. One of the best places to start is within your internal operations. For instance, AI can help triage incoming support tickets, write documentation or even generate monthly reports for clients.
From there, expand to client-facing improvements. Can you deploy an AI-powered, responsibly built, chatbot to handle the top 20% of customer service queries? Can you build AI into your monitoring tools to anticipate outages before they happen, using intelligent failure discovery?
What matters most is starting with a clear use case and delivering a measurable outcome. Pilot, learn and repeat. AI adoption is not a single project, it’s a mindset shift.
How do we measure success?
This is one of the most important questions leaders can ask. Because if you don’t define success upfront, you risk chasing novelty instead of impact.
Success with AI looks like:
- - Time saved for employees and customers
- - Better decisions made faster, using better data
- - Employees feeling more empowered, not more displaced
- - Systems that align with both business goals and ethical principles
I always tell clients to look beyond ROI and ask: What’s our return on values (ROV)? Are we delivering impact that aligns with how we want to show up in the world? AI should help us grow—but it should also help us grow responsibly.
What are some ethical implications to consider in the IT channel?
The IT channel holds a unique position. You’re not just a vendor. You’re a trusted advisor. And in a world filled with AI tools, that trust matters more than ever. Ethics must be part of the equation from the beginning.
This includes ensuring that:
- - Vendors you partner with are transparent about how their models work and what data they use
- - AI tools are tested for fairness and don’t disproportionately harm or exclude certain groups
- - Customers understand how AI makes decisions and when humans are still involved
This isn’t just about compliance. It’s about leadership. Ethics is not a box to check once a project is complete, it’s a conversation to revisit continuously. Businesses that treat ethics as a core design principle—not an afterthought—will build lasting trust in the marketplace.
AI Needs Human Leadership
AI is not going to replace us. But leaders who understand how to leverage it—safely, creatively and ethically—will replace those who don’t. This is your moment. To ask better questions. To lead bolder conversations. To design systems that work not just faster, but fairer. The AI era doesn’t just need more tools. It needs more leaders. And you get to be one of them.
