Pax8 is officially in “marketplace mode” with the delivery on its vision for a cloud marketplace that modernizes commerce for MSPs and spurs growth and collaboration, and heading this next phase of growth is a newly minted leadership team that pointed to artificial intelligence, security, and partnerships as key opportunities. They outlined their vision this week at Pax8 Beyond 2024 in Denver, which brought together over 1,600 MSP business owners, experts, and executives from 17 countries.

“Marketplace Mode” Puts MSPs At The Center Of Their Businesses

Nick Heddy (pictured above), promoted to Pax8 president and CCO on the eve of the conference, said his vision for Pax8 is focused on collaboration with their partners and innovations to better meet their needs.

“Together we are now serving over 15 million unique users and those users are consuming 60 million licenses,” Heddy said. “That’s more than a powerful number. It’s a testament to the strength of our partnership and how we activate the small businesses in our communities together.”

He continued, “Ten years ago, we were in disruption mode—the channel needed a marketplace to simplify the procurement of SaaS. So, we did that, but we did it the Pax8 way, as your wingman. The next five years, we were in community mode, building the amazing coalition of partners that I see before me today. At Beyond last year, Scott Chasin, our then CTO, talked about marketplace mode, a vision of the future that puts you at the center of business with your input and insights. We listened to your challenges, felt your frustrations, and we responded with a game changer.

“That’s the new Pax8 Marketplace, created specifically for you, our MSPs, to dominate your industry. This is your new tool that weaponizes your data and your new arsenal in the IT battleground. And when you pair the new marketplace tools with the service offerings in academy, you can take your business galactic.”

See Pax8’s Next-Gen Marketplace Aims To Modernize How MSPs Do Business for details about the new features and reactions from MSPs.

AI’s Bright Future

Several of Pax8’s leaders and experts spoke as well, zeroing in on how AI can revolutionize not just MSPs’ business models, but business and industry as a whole.

“The potential of AI is fundamentally transforming how we do business. Consider this: 80% of businesses acknowledge that if they neglect AI adoption, their competitive standing could be a serious risk. That’s not just a statistic, that is a wakeup call,” Heddy said.

Scott Chasin, who was named CEO and former CTO of Pax8 in May, spoke on the rapidly evolving field of AI development. Moore’s Law, which has historically been used as a measure of computational progress, he said, is being outpaced by AI.

AI will likely experience exponential growth in the near future. “GPT-2 to GPT-4 took us from a preschooler level of intelligence to that of a smart high schooler in four years,” Chasin said. “And if you follow the trend lines of compute algorithmic progress and potential near-term gains, it’s easy to assume that we’re going to see another qualitative jump in the next three to four years. This next jump has the possibility, if some of the other constraints are solved, to produce PhD level intelligence that can provide long-term reasoning and automate AI itself.”

He pointed out two key milestones to keep an eye on: AGI (artificial general intelligence), when the AI is as smart as a human, and ASI (artificial super intelligence), when AI is smarter than humans. ASI will likely be developed by many AGIs working together. While this may be alarming to Sci Fi fans, Chasin reassured attendees that humans won’t end up like those in the Matrix or be rendered obsolete. Instead, he anticipates a bright future for many industries, with hyperintelligent robotic assistants in offices, labs, and work zones.

Regardless how much Sci Fi really does end up bleeding into reality, one thing is for sure: AI is quickly becoming an integral part of businesses of all kinds, and MSPs need to be on the front lines to ensure their customers have the support they need.

Cybersecurity Opportunities Will Continue Apace

Jay McBain, Canalys’ chief analyst, also took to the stage, pointing out the opportunities in security. “Ransomware breaches are up 96% in the first four months of this year,” he said.

With the world’s eyes on cybersecurity and AI, now is the time for MSPs to capitalize on those trends, he noted. “Managed services within cybersecurity is growing at 15%—that’s five times the growth of the world GDP.  If you combine security and that 15% growth, you include managed services at 12% growth. Then, you include AI at 59% growth in partner services. This is an 18-month window where you can grow your business at 30, 40, 50% and continue to outgrow every vendor that you represent,” he emphasized.

To help partners establish security practices, Pax8 introduced a new security program this week too. The two key components of the Pax8 Security Program focus on helping partners strengthen their business acumen and become more knowledgeable on vendor solutions. The business track delivers business and category-level education and enablement through virtual instructor-led training sessions. The vendor track provides vendor-specific education and enablement and includes on-demand vendor training, Professional Services offerings, and Pax8-assisted sales calls.

Pax8 worked with Microsoft, CrowdStrike, usecure, Acronis, SentinelOne, Blackpoint Cyber, Avanon, and Proofpoint to create the program

In the future, Pax8 plans to continue to expand this program. Quick to follow the security offerings are AI education courses, as well as more tracks and thought leadership, Critchley explained. 

The security program is currently available for Pax8 partners in North America and will be available in APAC and EMEA later this year. 

Driving Success With Partnership

Heddy looked ahead, saying, “We want to emphasize [Jay McBain’s] insights about the strategic importance of strong alliances at Pax8. We understand these partnerships are essential for driving success in delivering value to your customers. Now it’s time to embrace cutting-edge technologies and foster robust partnerships because together, we’ll capture significant share of this lucrative market.”

Pax8 Beyond 2025 will be held June 8-10 in Denver.

Image courtesy of Pax8