MSPs may think they’re not yet ready for agentic AI yet, but their SMB clients aren’t waiting for them to figure it out. They’re already adopting it.
Across the SMB market, businesses are downloading and deploying AI agents, automation tools and generative AI platforms. Often, they’re doing so without formal oversight, governance or strategy.
That trend presents a growing risk for customers. It’s also an opportunity that Pax8 is betting will be the next major growth engine for MSPs. That was an overarching theme at Pax8 Beyond 2026, held June 7-9 in Salt Lake City.
Oguo Atuanya
During the event, the company unveiled a series of Pax8 Marketplace enhancements, AI monetization tools, training programs and managed services offerings. With these, Pax8 aims to help partners evolve into managed intelligence providers.
“It’s critical for everybody to transform and transition,” Oguo Atuanya, corporate vice president for vendor experience at Pax8, told ChannelPro in an interview. “You’re going to have to become a true trusted advisor. You’re going to have to shift from what we’re doing today to become a trusted strategic business consultant. You have to understand your customer very well, what they need and what’s the deployment journey.”
Building the foundation
Pax8 executives argued that MSPs can’t effectively guide customers through AI adoption if they lack visibility into their own businesses.
To address that challenge, the company expanded the Pax8 Marketplace platform with the following capabilities:
- Subscription Insights to help partners track renewals
- Partner Analytics Hub to analyze revenue trends
- Reports to automate workflows
- Integration Guides to gain deeper visibility into customer activity
Libby McIlhany
During the Innovation Keynote on June 9, Chief Product Officer Libby McIlhany described the Marketplace’s evolution from a procurement platform into a business operations tool. It consolidates revenue, client health, financial data and forward-looking subscription intelligence into a single view.
“Partners who show up to every client conversation with clear data, no surprises and specific recommendations are not just more efficient; they’re more credible,” McIlhany said during the keynote. “Credibility over time is what turns into trust.”
Turning AI into recurring revenue
Beyond operational improvements, Pax8 is focused on helping partners turn AI into recurring revenue opportunities instead of one-time sales.
Among the company’s biggest announcements was the launch of the Agent Store. This offering allows partners to package, deliver and monetize AI solutions through existing Pax8 systems.
“There’s this amazing opportunity here and they will win because they own the last mile and the trust,” Pax8 Chief Operating Officer Craig Donovan told ChannelPro.
Donovan added that many partners are still learning how to operationalize AI, including how to manage AI solutions across multiple customers and develop profitable service offerings around them.
Helping partners make the leap
Technology alone won’t help MSPs capitalize on AI opportunities. Partners also need a repeatable way to identify opportunities, have business-focused conversations and monetize outcomes.
That’s one reason the company expanded its Managed Intelligence Provider (MIP) program, which builds on last year’s Guided Growth initiative.
“The MIP program is a deep dive on how to implement those plays and monetize AI technology today,” Chance Weaver, global vice president of AI adoption at Pax8, told ChannelPro.
Chance Weaver
The program is designed around three primary roles within an MSP:
- Strategy: Identifying business opportunities and transformation initiatives
- Sales: Learning how to position and sell AI-driven outcomes
- Technical: Building, deploying and supporting AI solutions
Many MSPs assume they need to become high-end business consultants before they can begin selling AI services. In reality, the first step is to discuss their customers’ challenges and desired outcomes, Weaver emphasized.
“They need to start having the conversation now, and they can make money off of those conversations. That’s what the MIP program teaches them how to do,” he told ChannelPro.
The MIP program complements other resources Pax8 introduced at Beyond, including Managed Intelligence Services.
Craig Donovan
According to Donovan, the goal is to help partners move from being “customer zero,” using AI internally, to becoming “customer one” by delivering AI outcomes to clients.
Why waiting is a huge risk
Throughout Beyond, Pax8 executives repeatedly emphasized that SMB customers are actively adopting AI, with or without their MSPs. Therefore, it’s essential for MSPs to enter the arena.
“That is the opportunity,” Donovan noted. “MSPs can step in and produce some governance and controls to actually help keep the end customer safe from themselves, in many cases.”
The question, then, is what’s the first step for service providers? Atuanya recommended starting small rather than waiting for the market to mature.
“Get off the fence. Become customer zero and get equipped from within. Target very specific opportunities. If it’s one or two solution paths for your MSP, focus on that. Then, get it up to scale and then make it profitable. Don’t try to boil the ocean, otherwise you get overwhelmed.”
For Weaver, the biggest challenge is convincing MSPs that they already possess their greatest competitive advantage.
“MSPs have the relationship. They’re sitting on a gold mine and they don’t even realize it.”
Anjali Fluker is managing editor of The ChannelPro Network, where she covers news, trends, and best practices for the MSP community. She specializes in telling the stories that matter to IT providers serving the SMB market. When she’s not reporting on the latest in managed services, she’s connecting with channel pros at industry events across the country.
Images: Anjali Fluker/ChannelPro, Pax8
