‘Evolve or die’: Partners reflect on Pax8 BEYOND EMEA

Cynomi and GTS Dynamics share their thoughts on the first European edition of the conference hosted in Berlin, Germany

Pax8 is spearheading innovation in the marketplace and evolving the partner experience alongside it, helping MSPs reshape their offering. But some want to know more about the impact of the NIS2 directive.

Last week, more than 500 partners, MSPS and vendors gathered at Pax8’s first European BEYOND conference in Berlin where the company shared groundbreaking thoughts and announcements.

Many of the keynote speeches focused on partners: expect the first MSP to hit €1bn revenues in the next 24 months, managed services are the channel’s biggest opportunity for growth, and distribution is broken.

Far from the heat of the moment, CRN spoke with two channel firms who attended the three-day conference, to see what they made of Pax8's announcements and predictions.

Logan Ridenour, senior distribution manager at Cynomi

What are some of your biggest takeaways from the event?

“Having previously been a Pax8 employee for over five years, I've been to all the BEYOND events in Denver.

“This edition was a unique experience, and it was interesting to see the differences between the markets.

“What we’ve learnt at BEYOND Berlin was top tier and super applicable to what is going on in the market.

“The intimacy of BEYOND Berlin was a huge winning point compared to Denver.

“There's three times the amount of people at the US event, which makes it a little hectic.”

What have you made of the event’s announcements from a partner perspective?

“Pax8’s innovation in the marketplace, and their goal to have this marketplace lead the future of MSPs is super exciting for us, as we get to live in their marketplace and be a part of this evolution.

“What they are doing with AI resonates with us, because we're an AI-focused company.

“It’s cool to see that being done in practice and lead the charge from a marketplace perspective.”

Was there anything left out that you were expecting to hear about? / Were there any announcements that surprised you?

“It would have been nice to have more than just one session covering the NIS (network and information systems regulations) directive.

“The one session that was specifically covering the NIS directive was super informative, but there wasn’t a lot of time for Q&A and partner feedback.

“That would be my only suggestion: having more of an open-ended session for partners to get engaged and ask questions.

“There were no real surprises, I think they did a good job of covering all gamuts of what an MSP does in this day and age.”

What do you feel Pax8's top message to partners is?

“Evolve or die.

“That's the big thing that was said by Pax8’s leadership when I worked there, and to see them still focused on that evolution of the partner experience, the changing of the MSP landscape, and how they can change what they're doing to better fit the needs of the partners is great to see.

“We're excited to be a part of the future of MSPs and the future of the marketplace in general.”

How does Pax8 affect your current business?

“We're exclusive with them for the time being.

“Hopefully we won't need to reevaluate that, I'm hoping that we can get all the traction that we need from them as a marketplace distribution partner.

“I work with a team of engineers in EMEA who do the demos and the onboarding to help sell Cynomi .

“Being based in Colorado, I'm nine hours behind Central European time, which makes it's hard for me to take some of those calls, so I work with that team very intimately.

“In North America, we are not a strategic partner, so the conversations are driven by the Pax8 sales reps.”

Dean Cowell, director and founder of GTS Dynamics

What are some of your biggest takeaways from the event?

“The AI discussion, the whole red pill / blue pill analogy really hit me.

“None of us really know how fast this is going to develop.

“What the Pax8 team managed to do, - although it's very scary in terms of where things can go - was to provide us with a very nice insight into how MSPs can reshape their market offering and delivery, and what this would mean for us in the future.

“It doesn't mean that we're no longer required, it's just that we're shifting in terms of what is the tech stack that we're looking after.

“There were two quotes that I absolutely loved during this event, the first one being ‘The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.’

“The second one was ‘Run your business as if you're going to sell it.’

“I think that it speaks volumes in terms of what we should be doing as business owners.

“It gave us a nice insight into things we're doing right and things that we can improve on.”

What have you made of the event's announcements from a partner perspective?

“We understand that the next big step will be to leverage into the new marketplace.

“There's a lot of space around what the sales team needs to start journeying into.

“We're also transitioning into offering traditional MSP services, beyond just being a business software solution.

“The cybersecurity stack is underway in terms of linking partnerships through Pax8 to start delivering on cyber security.”

Was there anything left out that you were expecting to hear about? / Were there any announcements that surprised you?

“What came out for me was a much clearer understanding of what Pax8 is, and how they're positioning in the market.

“It gave me a clearer understanding about the community that they're building.

“The new marketplace announcement and how they can help us develop and grow within this space really stayed with me.”

What do you feel Pax8’s top message to partners is?

“Work together.

“Don’t try and do everything the way that technology stacks are advancing and moving.

“Pick a proficiency and connect with the marketplace that Pax8 brings us together in.”

What do you make of Pax8’s strategy and how it affects your business?

“It helps us deliver solutions that we wouldn't be able to deliver on our own.

“It gives us the ability to come out of client meetings with the confidence of knowing that even though we don't do it in-house, we can walk out of those meetings saying, ‘We'll come back to you with a solution we know we can get our hands on to.’

“That’s the benefit of having the Pax8 team behind us.”