Programmes, Partners and AI features heavy at inaugural event
The Pax8 Beyond EMEA Partner Conference in Berlin this week marks the company's continued expansion into the region, welcoming 500 partners to the German capital with a heavy focus on innovation, AI, and collaboration. Ahead of the keynotes, a leadership panel from Pax8 outlined to the press its vision for the event, flagship marketplace features, and its new Voyager Alliance partner program, which launches this November.
Marketplace Usage Set to Grow
Ryan Walsh, Chief Strategy Officer at Pax8, kicked off the panel with a detailed overview of how marketplaces are reshaping the MSP industry, supported by data from a commissioned Channelnomics report titled "Digital Sales Evolution in the European Channel." The report highlighted significant trends, with 86% of European partners expecting their use of marketplaces as both a sourcing and sales medium to increase over the next three to five years. Walsh emphasized that the Pax8 marketplace is designed not only to meet this growing demand but also to enhance automation and efficiency across MSP operations.
“The shift to marketplaces is about more than just buying software. It’s about automating key tasks that free up MSPs to focus on delivering value to their customers,” Walsh explained.
The Channelnomics report also pointed to several key opportunities associated with marketplace adoption, with 45% of partners identifying higher demand for professional services as a critical outcome. Other anticipated benefits include increased profitability (42%), better customer data analytics (41%), and higher demand for managed services (37%), reflecting the wide-reaching impact marketplaces are expected to have.
Walsh also noted that the rise of marketplaces is creating new growth avenues for MSPs. According to the report, 55% of partners have invested in technology upgrades, while 49% have developed new partnerships as a result of marketplace participation. These developments highlight the increasing reliance on marketplaces for business expansion, particularly as MSPs look to broaden their geographic reach and enter new market segments.
Another critical finding from the report was that customer relationship and success management was identified as the most important operational adjustment MSPs need to make when adopting marketplaces. This shift reflects the increasing complexity of managing customer interactions in a more automated digital sales environment, where self-service and personalized offerings are becoming the norm.
With the Pax8 marketplace, Walsh underscored that MSPs can harness these trends to drive growth and efficiency. He stated, “We are not a distributor. Pax8 is a marketplace designed to simplify complex operations, giving partners the tools they need to grow faster and serve their clients more effectively.”
Automation Tools Highlighted
Libby McIlhany(Pictured), Chief Product Officer, elaborated on several features that make the Pax8 marketplace stand out. One key improvement is the overhaul of the user interface design and navigation, based on user behavior data, which makes it easier for partners to find what they need. “We wanted to put high-level data insights right on the homepage so that our partners didn’t have to hunt around for those,” McIlhany explained.
The marketplace also enables partners to build and sell solutions instead of focusing purely on individual products. “Our partners think in terms of solutions, not products. They are helping their small-to-medium business customers with a set of actions, support, enablement, and provisioning. We’ve enabled them to build custom packages by pulling together products from different vendors,” McIlhany said. She further emphasized that the marketplace supports custom products, allowing partners to integrate their own services and support into the packages they sell.
Pax8’s Opportunity Explorer, another key feature, leverages AI to provide partners with insights on upsell and cross-sell opportunities. McIlhany noted, “We built a data insights tool using AI to bring those insights to our partners in one easy-to-use tool. This helps them see specific data for customers, such as what seats are missing or where security solutions may be needed, mapped to the CIS framework.”
McIlhany also introduced a new quoting tool integrated directly into the marketplace, making it easier for MSPs to build quotes during customer interactions. “We took a lot of time to improve our quoting tool. It's connected directly into the marketplace, allowing partners to move from recommendations to a beautiful, intuitive quote that helps them grow their business,” she explained.
Additionally, the marketplace features a self-service storefront that allows MSPs’ customers to manage their own products and administrative tasks, such as payments. This self-service model reduces the workload on MSP support teams and enables MSPs to focus on high-value activities. “We built a storefront tool to help MSPs minimize administrative tasks and focus their energy on what matters the most,” McIlhany added.
Voyager Sets Sail
The new Voyager Alliance partner program was a key announcement. Craig Donovan, Chief Experience Officer, outlined the program's goal of offering a customized experience for MSPs at different stages of growth. "We can no longer have a one-size-fits-all approach to how we serve our partners. The Voyager Alliance is built to give partners a tailored experience based on where they are in their journey—whether they are just starting or managing more complex needs," Donovan explained.
Phylip Morgan, Chief Revenue Officer, expanded on this concept, emphasizing that the Voyager Alliance program is designed to adapt to the changing landscape of MSPs. “What we don’t need is another partner program. What we need is to focus on a partner experience,” Morgan said. He explained that the program acknowledges that MSPs are increasingly specializing in different industries and sectors, such as security or business applications, and that a flexible program is essential. “We can no longer have the same way of serving partners as we used to. They are specializing in their verticals, and we need to meet them where they are,” Morgan added.
Morgan also noted that the Voyager Alliance aims to provide support at every level of an MSP's development. “At the lower end, we focus on enablement through the Pax8 Academy and access to professional services. For larger partners, we help them tackle more complex challenges like growth management and culture change,” he said.
The program's structure allows MSPs to move through different tiers—starting with Alliance Ignite and advancing to Velocity, Titan, and Galactic—as their businesses grow and evolve. Each tier has revenue requirements, starting from €499, €2,250 in the mid-range, to €90,000 plus at the Galactic level.
Morgan underscored the importance of this flexibility, explaining that as MSPs specialize and scale, their needs change. “We want to match their experience in the marketplace to where they are in their business journey,” he said.
