During the emerging technologies panel at BlueStar’s VARTECH 2026 show at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, the conversation kept returning to a practical question. How do technology providers turn new capabilities into a sustainable business?
The panel was aimed largely at resellers, but I heard plenty that independent software vendors (ISVs) should take to heart. Robotics, connectivity and edge computing are changing how warehouses and distribution centers operate, and every one of those deployments runs on software. Whether you build these capabilities into your product or position your software alongside them through partners, the business lessons are the same. Choosing technology is one step. Building the partnerships, sales motion and financial discipline to support it takes a longer commitment.
Build intellectual property that lifts your margin
Ben Simon, BlueStar’s emerging technologies business development manager, moderated and set the stakes early. Margins are shrinking as costs rise, he said, and customers won’t pay proportionally more. Stacking solutions, especially ones that generate recurring revenue, is how providers win that margin back.
Intel’s Rob Risany, director of ecosystem scale for high-growth technologies, described a channel partner that made the shift. The company had sold laptops, then blended edge artificial intelligence (AI) software into its offerings, built intellectual property for the verticals it served and now sells only AI-enabled technology. In other words, it started acting like an ISV, and it earns higher margins because of it.
For you, the lesson runs the other direction. You already own the intellectual property. The question is whether your product captures the data and workflows these new systems create, such as robot task orchestration, device telemetry and shipment visibility, or whether that value flows to someone else’s platform.
Start with the customer’s operational problem
Risany challenged attendees to reconsider how they define their expertise, and his example could have been written for ISVs. A company that calls itself a warehouse software provider can struggle to see where robotics or shipment tracking fits. A company focused on improving warehouse operations has far more room to bring those capabilities into the conversation.
“Your job is to be an expert in your customer,” he said.
Buck Ward, CEO of Nexus AMR, pointed to dull, dangerous and dirty jobs as prime candidates for automation. He described initial deployments averaging five or six robots, expanding as customers see results, under an operating-expense model tied to increasing revenue or cutting costs. That’s a familiar pattern for subscription software. Start small, prove the outcome and grow with the account. If your warehouse management system (WMS) or labor management module can show exactly what those first robots accomplished, you become part of the expansion case.
Build the offering through partnerships
One concern raised during the panel was the lack of internal expertise. How do you support robotics or Internet of Things (IoT) data when your team is still learning the technology?
The panelists described programs that include joint customer calls, solution design, training and technical support. Ward said Nexus AMR helps with site surveys and proposals, and Carel Wessels, head of IoT solutions at iONLINE, described joint selling in which the channel partner stays the primary customer contact while vendor architects support the engagement. Simon’s invitation to the room was simple: “Bring me your problems.”
For ISVs, these relationships show you which integrations matter before you invest in them. Working alongside hardware vendors and value-added resellers (VARs) gives you field feedback, a route to customers and an early seat at the table, which is where project scope gets defined. Simon made that point about requests for proposal (RFPs). Rather than answering one you’ve never seen, help the customer shape the full scope of the problem. The TECNexus Innovation Center in Ashland, Virginia, founded by Nexus AMR, BlueStar and Intel, offers another way in, with robots running where partners and customers can see them.
Plan for the security that comes with automation
Ward described connectivity problems his robots hit in the field, particularly in hospitals, a reminder that automation behaves differently outside a demo. Brian Courtois, vice president of sales for the Americas at Celerway Communication, noted growing demand for on-premises edge computing to support AI, along with a warning that AI is making attackers more sophisticated. Overhaul’s Marc Schrader added that as operations become more automated, new security gaps appear, including handoff points where humans still need to intervene.
Every connected robot, sensor and edge node your software talks to widens your attack surface. If you hold or pursue System and Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) attestation, device integrations and the operational data they generate belong inside that scope. Build device authentication, encrypted data flows and clear audit trails into your roadmap from the start, because enterprise buyers will ask about them.
An audience member raised a related point. Your existing IT contacts may not own the operational problem. Find the people responsible for shipping, warehouse performance and labor, and bring them into the conversation.
Give the practice a business model that fits
The panel’s most actionable advice concerned what happens inside your own business. Ward stressed patience, since emerging technology brings longer sales cycles. “Salespeople are coin-operated,” Courtois said, and a team paid on license deals will struggle with offerings sold as ongoing services. If your reps don’t understand how they get paid on a new module, they won’t spend time selling it.
Risany was equally direct about financial management, urging providers to give new technology its own profit and loss (P&L) statement. “The worst thing you can do is attach an emerging technology to a legacy P&L,” he said. Forecasting and operating rhythms differ from your established business, so define how you’ll measure the new line before expecting it to scale. Integration work, partner programs and longer sales cycles all consume resources, and those investments need visibility alongside the revenue they produce.
I left with a clear starting point for ISV leaders. Choose a customer problem you understand deeply, bring the right hardware and channel partners into the conversation and build a repeatable offering around the outcome. Then give it the time, incentives and financial attention it needs to grow.
