Amidst cloud, artificial intelligence, and operational continuity, Innovaway bets on a "predict & prevent" model and aims to grow and become a reference point in the Italian market. Interview with Antonio Burinato, General Manager of the company
In a technological landscape evolving at an unprecedented speed, businesses and Public Administrations find themselves managing an unparalleled level of digital complexity. Cloud, advanced automation, and generative artificial intelligence are redesigning operational models, imposing new priorities and new responsibilities. In this scenario, service continuity becomes the real differentiator between resilience and vulnerability. Antonio Burinato, General Manager of Innovaway, analyzes the dynamics of a change that is not only technological but profoundly cultural and indicates why the transition from the traditional “break & fix” to an approach “predict & prevent” represents a strategic necessity today for anyone who wants to compete.
"In recent years, we have been experiencing an unprecedented technological scenario. It's not just a matter of evolution: the speed with which everything changes is radically different compared to the past – explains Burinato –. This acceleration derives from the convergence of some very powerful factors. The first is the momentum of the cloud: hyperscalers have reached a level of maturity such that the cloud has become a de facto standard, forcing companies to rethink their operating models. Added to this is the evolution of increasingly sophisticated software tools, which push toward automation and advanced digitalization, giving rise to dynamic processes and very rapid decision cycles.
The second factor is the impact of generative artificial intelligence, which in just three years has radically changed the paradigm of ICT and business. GenAI has paved the way for the digital transformation of activities that until recently no one would have imagined, consider the stores.
Finally, we have the growing regulatory pressure: from the financial world to critical companies subject to NIS2, operational continuity has become an essential value. When digital technology becomes an integral part of the operating model, the resilience of ICT systems is no longer an option but a structural requirement.
The result of all this is that complexity has exploded: it is no longer enough to adopt new technologies, but it is necessary to govern them, integrate them, and maintain them constantly effective and efficient."
In this context, why is it crucial to move from a reactive to a proactive approach?
"First of all, the operational space is expanding: digital technology occupies an increasingly large part of business processes, both IT and business. There is more to manage, more to monitor, more to integrate. Secondly, we find the criticality of digital technology: the more the business depends on technology, the more essential it becomes to intervene quickly to avoid impacts on operational continuity.
The combination of the broadening operational space and the growth in digital criticality mandates a paradigm shift: we can no longer limit ourselves to the "break & fix" model—that is, intervening only when something breaks—but we must move to "predict & prevent," which means preventing, anticipating, reducing the volume of incidents and anomalies, and acting with greater speed."
It's a profound cultural shift...
"Absolutely, yes. Today it is fundamental to reason from a risk-based perspective, abandoning arbitrary logics or historical habits (like those who apply patches once a month 'because it has always been done that way'). In a context where digital technology is pervasive, prevention does not just mean being efficient: it means avoiding service disruptions, protecting the business, and maintaining customer trust."
The two enabling technological pillars of this new approach are unified platforms and Agentic AI. Let's start with unified platforms...
"Unified platforms and Agentic AI are two perfectly complementary building blocks. Unified platforms solve one of the main problems we encounter with clients, which is fragmentation. We often find separate tools for monitoring, ticketing, contact management, quality control, automation, and so on: everything is disconnected. While the goal of unified platforms is to create native integration, not 'project-based' integration, which allows attention to be focused on the data, not on the integration between tools. This is why Innovaway works with an evolved technological framework, in collaboration with international partners like HCLSoftware, which awarded us the recognition of best European Managed Service Provider."
What about Agentic AI?
"Agentic AI represents the next big step. This is not about simple automation: what is at stake is the transition from a deterministic model to a hybrid, statistically guided one, capable of operating even on unstructured content, also opening the doors to an orchestrated collaboration between different vertical agents to generate even more sophisticated decisions and interventions.
The real power emerges when these two pillars join together: without data integration, AI cannot operate effectively; and without AI, the enormous volume of information generated by unified platforms cannot be governed by the human factor alone. The final goal is to guarantee maximum operational continuity.
Business continuity ensures that companies and institutions can withstand the increasingly frequent shocks, keep essential services active, and recover operations quickly, thereby protecting reputation, revenue, and regulatory compliance. In a market where customers and citizens now expect 24/7 availability and where every hour of downtime can cost millions, having robust plans in this direction is essential."
One of the most interesting potentials of Agentic AI is the possibility of creating "self-healing" ecosystems, capable of repairing themselves. What concrete benefits can a company obtain?
"First of all, it must be clarified that this is not an immediate prospect: within 24–36 months we will see the first use cases in production; today we are still in the indispensable phase of proofs of concept and tests.
"The benefits are multiple, starting with the reduction of resolution times because a portion of the incidents can be managed automatically, drastically shortening the fixing times. The quality of interventions is also destined to improve because multiple AI agents can analyze the same problem with different logics, compare notes, and propose the optimal solution, standardizing behavior and improving the consistency of operations. The automation concerns the 'lower' part of the processes, thus one of the advantages is that the human focus can be directed toward higher-value activities: human operators will deal with complex cases that require expertise, experience, and supervision capabilities."
The outcome of all this is to guarantee greater operational continuity thanks to fewer incidents, shorter times, and more accurate solutions, which translates into greater stability for customers.
Obviously, challenges also exist: today, the proofs of concept also serve to help us understand how many agents are needed, what type, how to make them interact with each other, and how to collaborate with human personnel. Furthermore, professionals with more sophisticated skills are needed, capable of governing complex scenarios and supervising the AI agents with responsibility and ethics. Not everything can be automated, and, I emphasize, not everything should be".
How does Innovaway interpret this vision of ICT evolution?
"We like to define ourselves not as spectators but as an active part of the transformation because our role is built by listening daily to large customers, engaging with the main global vendors, and working to ensure that our services grow in the same direction as the market.
Our strategic path is based on three fundamental elements. Firstly, the transition from break & fix to predict & prevent, which requires a technological and cultural evolution both for us and for our clients. Secondly, the dual capability of the company, which integrates both design and digital transformation expertise and continuous managed services delivery expertise, which has always been in our DNA. Finally, a strong investment in R&D, which allows us to anticipate trends, experiment with new solutions – including those based on AI and Agentic AI – and transfer concrete innovation to the market.
Finally, a key value for Innovaway is responsible innovation: advanced technology, yes, but with governance, ethics, and human supervision."
Let's talk about growth: what are Innovaway's objectives?
"Innovaway closes the year around 60 million euros in revenue, an increase compared to previous periods, confirming its constant growth trend. The 3-5 year goal in an MSP market that is still fragmented but destined for inevitable consolidation is to reach 100 million euros, maintaining a balance between organic and inorganic growth, but through targeted acquisitions that are consistent with our offering and our objectives.
The Public Administration represents a fundamental axis of development: today it accounts for about 40–50% of our business, thanks also to three Consip conventions that allow us to bring expertise, solutions, and innovation into key areas such as healthcare, system management, and application development.
The private sector is also growing, where we have worked for years with large companies with whom we have built lasting and trusting relationships.
I reiterate that in an ICT market that requires and will require ever larger dimensions to sustain investments, continuous innovation, and credibility, growth is not just an objective: it is a necessary condition for us to be recognized as a key player."
In conclusion: what is Innovaway's distinctive feature in this transformation path?
"Undoubtedly, the culture of service. We have been working with many clients for 7–9 years: a strong sign of trust and continuity. We are a company that combines technology, innovation, relationship, and responsibility. We know that innovation is effective only if it is sustainable, manageable over time, and centered on the real needs of the client, and thus capable of bringing strategic and operational benefits, which means also being usable by the organization. And it is within this vision—technological, human, and ethical—that our development path for the coming years is placed."
