Pax8 Beyond EMEA: MSPs Welcome European Spotlight

PAX8 BEYOND EMEA — Pax8’s focus on growing its market share in Europe has been welcomed by partners.

The company this week hosted more than 500 MSPs at its inaugural European partner event, Pax8 Beyond EMEA, in Berlin, Germany.

The efforts were cheered by those in attendance.

“Beyond Berlin has been a great event for sure,” said Janna Penales, account manager at Irish MSP Lantech. “There are not many events like it, and to experience it at this scale has been outstanding. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to meet colleagues in the industry and exchanging experiences and knowledge. I’m excited to come back to Dublin and share them all with the team.”

Lantech's Klara Coleman (left) and Janna Penales at Pax8 Beyond EMEA 2024, Berlin.

“From a sales and vendor management side, it gave me the chance to see what's new to help not only our customers but our colleges also,” added Klara Coleman, sales support specialist & partner management at Lantech. “After seeing a live demo of Pax8 Marketplace, I'm excited to go back and have a platform where we can bring all our products to the one place.”

Founder and director at UK-based 18iT, Paul Croker, participated in a session at the event that focused on MSP mental health. He told Channel Futures that Pax8 Beyond EMEA “provided a deep and thoughtful view on what’s possible today and looking forward to tomorrow and beyond. Pax8 has a strong desire to be in the corner of the MSP no matter what size they are. Truly inclusive.”

Related:Pax8 Vendor Experience VP: MSPs Not Prepared for SMBs

Meanwhile, Ian Dunstan, managing director of Cobalt Business IT and Comms, described Pax8 Beyond as “a breath of fresh air.”

Cobalt's Ian Dunstan

He also welcomed updates to Pax8 Marketplace, unveiled in June.

“The new marketplace enables us to build a diverse tech stack quickly and simply,” he said. “It’s saved me hours of trawling websites. I wisely used the spare hours for networking over a beer!”

MSP industry veteran and director of Jera IT, Austen Clark, said for a first-time event in Europe, Pax8 Beyond “has great energy.”

“Energy is in the air and the corridors for what next Pax8 are delivering," he told Channel Futures. “They have been speaking about innovation, and they are delivering. [There’s] only positive conversation being had; the whole event feels upbeat and forward looking. Community is back and we like it.”

Clark added that “marketplace is disrupting how we trade, enabling engagement with our clients, removing obstacles that current distribution has to be dealt with.”

Gap Closing Between U.S. MSPs and Rest of the World

Rob Rae, who heads up head up community and partner ecosystems at Pax8, described Europe as “a significant growth opportunity” for the company.

Related:Pax8 Adds Cyber Resilience-Focused Commvault to Marketplace

“We always talk about how the Europeans, the Canadians [and] the Australians are behind the Americans. But I think that gap is closing significantly. We’re seeing that specifically, and we can see here at this event,” he said. Events like this … we have the opportunity to bring over some of the technology that we’re seeing, so they can get up to speed much faster; plus, [it's] an international conference that allows them to engage with other people from all over the world in regards to what they’re doing.”

Pax8 doesn’t share its financials, but has outlined ambitious expansion plans for Europe. EMEA CEO Harald Nuij revealed a continued focus on Benelux, the U.K. and Ireland, while ramping up its efforts across Germany, the Nordics and Baltics.

“If you look at what is the long-term play, it will be from Finland to South Africa,” he said.

The company already has gained strong traction in the region through organic growth and acquisition. But while there are still “many possible acquisitions on the horizon,” Nuij ruled out anything in the short term. It's important, he said, to avoid “the magpie syndrome — if it flashes it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to jump on it straight away.”

Pax8’s current strategic focus is on integrating and automating cloud services, and preparing partners for the impact of AI.

“The technology needs to always be two or three steps ahead of what the MSP is even thinking about or is expecting,” said Nuij. “Many of them are on this journey, and just expect from us to actually bring them in the right direction.”

‘You Can’t Run a Marketplace as a Side Hustle’

Elsewhere, Nuij said Pax8’s own success boils down to three things. One is connecting vendors, partners and customers from top to bottom. Second is providing choice — here Pax8 has vendors knocking on its door. Nuij said in addition to its 140 vendor solutions, there are 1,000 more waiting to get in.

Pax8's Harald Nuij

“For us, it’s tough because it’s a very lengthy process today, so we need to be able to maintain that level to bring the experience. What we can’t jeopardize is the experience that partners are having in terms of impeccable provisioning, flows [and] invoicing. It means that we put very high standards on those who want to get into the marketplace, so that that brings the pace down. But it is really critical.”

Third, Nuij is adamant that “you can’t run a marketplace as a side hustle.” With the explosive growth in cloud marketplaces, traditional distributors are building their own offerings for partners. Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin is critical of their efforts, describing them as “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to innovation.

“We are 100% dedicated,” said Nuij. “Everybody is just focusing on marketplace activity, nothing else. We wake up with it. We go to bed with it.”