Inside The Pax8 Marketplace Strategy For A New Era Of Managed Intelligence

The Pax8 Marketplace is playing a central role in helping partners navigate the shift to Managed Intelligence. In this follow-up to an interview with Pax8 President Nick Heddy, Chief Product Officer Libby McIlhany details how Pax8 is enabling MSPs to modernize operations and deliver smarter services through new capabilities built directly into the Marketplace.

Sydney: Libby, to start, can you share specifically how the Pax8 Marketplace is expected to play a role in this transformation?

Libby: So much of our focus in the Marketplace is making sure we are giving partners the tools and enablement to transition into that Managed Intelligence Provider. We know some of them are ahead of the curve, and we are happy to provide more sophisticated and advanced materials to help them understand their next steps.

We actually have an AI assessment tool in the Marketplace that helps partners know where they are on their journey. We also offer wraparound support, including materials, training, and tools they can use to start conversations with their clients about their own transformation, how they will use AI, and what AI can help their clients do to control operating expenses or expand capabilities. We really see the Marketplace as the hub where all that information, support, and enablement come together.

Sydney: One of the cool new features of the Marketplace is the Integrations Hub. Can you tell us the benefits for partners and what may be different about your Integrations Hub compared to similar offerings?

Libby: We went live with our Integrations Hub over the summer in June, and it has been so cool to see people begin adopting the technology. Our focus in building the Integrations Hub is really centered around MSPs. The core of our entire business is focused on partners, and we see the Hub as a way to help them drive operational efficiency.

We know MSPs have tight margins and are mindful of operating expenses. We want to make it easy, quick, and inexpensive for them to run their businesses more efficiently. Our tools are not built for enterprises. They are tailored specifically for MSPs, startups, and ISVs. We have focused on making them easy to use and suited for the work those MSPs are doing.

We have webhooks and continue to build out that capability. They are already highly capable today and support a broader vision of providing the foundation for intelligent automation in mission-critical workflows for MSPs and their downstream clients. We are offering no-code and low-code approaches to event ingestion and configuration to make those capabilities more accessible for our partners.

Sydney: What kind of impact are the latest Marketplace enhancements, especially Public Storefronts, having on your partners and their business?

Libby: Last year in June, we rolled out our new Marketplace experience with tools like Opportunity Explorer. We overhauled our quoting tool, made it easier to use our catalog and cart, and of course, we went live with storefronts. We have seen really healthy adoption of these tools with increased usage over time, which is exactly what you want to see and very exciting for me and my team.

It has been very cool to see that partners who have built storefronts and used them with their clients have seen a 30 percent increase in self-service revenue. That is meaningful for those partners, and we are excited to help enable that growth and provide the tools they need to deliver a great self-service experience to their clients.

Sydney: As partners get more hands-on with these tools, what is ahead for the Pax8 Marketplace?

Libby: We are focused on two major areas. The first is core tooling, making sure our enhancements really help partners in their day-to-day use of the Marketplace. We are overhauling our subscription management page to make it easier to sort and find information, and to make everyday tasks simpler. We are also rolling out major improvements to search and discoverability, and we will be releasing better analytics so partners can more easily understand their business through Pax8.

I am also really excited about the work we are doing to create foundational tools for our MSP partners to help them transition into Managed Intelligence Providers. We are building out more capabilities in the Integrations Hub, including our MCP server, which has been great to see partners begin using. It is highly capable, and we are continuing to add more features to that integration.

We are also growing our catalog of guided growth programming to help partners keep up with AI as it rapidly evolves.

For more information about how the Pax8 Marketplace can support your business, visit Pax8.com/en-us/marketplace/.