Pax8 Set to Launch Cybersecurity Partner Program, New Security Products

PAX8 BEYOND — Pax8’s new cybersecurity partner program, which the company expects to roll out by the end of summer, will include new training modules to help MSPs upsell more advanced cyber solutions to existing and new customers, as well as a new roster of security vendors.

Pax8’s Dave Powell

“Most MSPs don’t have a great idea on how to sell cybersecurity,” Dave Powell, Pax8’s vice president of sales strategy, said at the distributor’s Beyond partner conference in Denver. “We want to show them how to have that conversation and what it sounds like. We want to take out the risk and make it a lot easier.”

Another challenge MSPs have been facing, he said, is finding the right people within a customer’s business to discuss technology and risk factors, which are often two separate conversations.

“If we can give them a programmatic way to execute that as opposed to them trying to figure that out themselves, it will be a big win for the partners,” said Powell, a former ConnectWise executive who joined Pax8 about two months ago.

Cybersecurity Partner Program Key to Marketplace Experience

As part of Pax8’s efforts to fine-tune its marketplace experience, Powell and his team will be working to improve the categorization of various products that make up entire solutions. Other marketplace improvements will provide MSPs with a clearer view into their customer accounts to identify product gaps and fill them.

“We’re going to help our MSPs sell more ‘like’ product categories. They’ll be able to see what the client needs to be more mature,” Powell said. “The data will point out where the gaps are, as opposed to just … walking around with a sort of buffet of products or services. MSPs will be able to see opportunities in their clients’ accounts.”

Pax8 is onboarding products by a handful of security-related vendors that will be available in the coming months. Those include Apptega, Auvik, Blackpoint, CyberFOX, Cyrisma, MailGuard, HacWare, Perception Point, Valimail, Perimeter 81 and PC Matic. Powell’s strategy is to balance the marketplace with products from bigger vendors, such as the newly signed CrowdStrike, with smaller niche vendors playing in important areas.

“Think about a cocktail,” he said. “You need certain ingredients in the cocktail to serve the client.”

Vendors Also Get a Boost

Over the past year, Pax8 has also streamlined the vendor onboarding process, increasing the speed of product availability. The distributor has launched 11 new products in the last six months, for example, compared to 11 in 2022. Pax8 will use those efficiencies to fast-track the launch of important products missing from the marketplace, he said.

The company also is addressing MSP complaints that too many products, especially around security, sound too alike. Many vendors use the same buzzwords and clichéd descriptions as each other, which does little to differentiate products in the marketplace. Furthermore, Pax8 is working to identify products with features geared toward specific industries, such as legal or construction.

“What we want to be is that strong intermediary and partner advocate,” Powell said. “The reason people come to our marketplace is that, ultimately, they want us to manage all the different partners downstream. We say [to the vendor], ‘Give us all of your technical nerd talk and then Pax8 will turn that into end-user messaging that makes sense so that our partners can talk to their clients in ways they understand.’”

See our slideshow above for some of the security-focused companies participating in Pax8 Beyond.