Pax8 is pioneering a new model for managed service providers with the launch of agentic marketplaces, aiming to transform AI integration in managed services despite industry scepticism and divergent views within the ecosystem.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of managed services, Pax8 is staking its claim on the transformative potential of agentic AI through the creation of agentic marketplaces, a vision not universally shared across the industry. This strategic divergence is well illustrated by contrasting perspectives within the channel ecosystem. Ingram Micro, a major player alongside Pax8, expresses skepticism about the future viability of distributing ready-made AI agents, arguing that agents, by their nature, are highly custom-built for specific data, software, and use environments. Consequently, Ingram sees little scope for a marketplace filled with pre-packaged agents.
In stark contrast, Pax8’s leadership, including VP of AI adoption Chance Weaver, envisions a robust marketplace where managed service providers (MSPs), or as Pax8 terms them, managed intelligence providers (MIPs), can both build and sell customizable AI agents tailored for verticals such as healthcare and horizontal functions like HR, finance, and operations. Weaver acknowledges that adoption is nascent, with only a small fraction of MSPs currently selling agentic solutions, but he is confident that education and resource investment will expand this market. He foresees a model where pioneering MSPs develop agents and license them to others, facilitating a broad ecosystem of agent exchanges across client bases. This agentic marketplace concept aims to open new revenue streams for builders while meeting growing demand from buyers, who outnumber creators due to the complexity of agent development.
Pax8’s commitment to this vision is underscored by its recent launch announcements. The Pax8 Agent Store is positioned as a central platform for MSPs to access ready-to-use agentic products addressing core MSP workflows and SMB client needs. This marketplace is slated for early access in December 2025, with full availability aimed for the first half of 2026, signalling Pax8’s intent to get ahead of the agentic curve.
Further reinforcing this ambition, Pax8 released its inaugural research report, “The Agentic Inflection Point,” which maps out the future role of MIPs, specialists who curate and govern AI agents to deliver measurable business outcomes for small and medium-sized businesses. The report categorises AI agent functionality into four levels and explores innovative monetization models such as per agent, per action, per workflow, and per outcome billing approaches. This framework supports MSPs in transitioning successfully into MIPs with a strong focus on outcome-driven service delivery.
Complementing these insights, Pax8 has made available “The Managed Intelligence Provider Playbook,” a strategic guide that delineates five crucial strategies, Discover, Buy, Build, Sell, and Manage, for MSPs aiming to capitalise on AI agents. The playbook encourages vertical specialisation and scalable agentic workflows, offering MSPs a pathway to monetise AI while delivering tangible improvements to SMB clients.
To facilitate the operational side of this transformation, Pax8 is also developing the Managed Intelligence Toolkit. This unified environment is designed to enable MSPs to orchestrate, scale, and manage agentic automation across their client bases. By integrating new protocols like the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and enabling Microsoft Copilots and agents to interface directly with their Marketplace infrastructure, Pax8 aims to accelerate the shift toward the Managed Intelligence era, delivering scalable and transformative AI solutions to SMBs.
Echoing this strategic thrust, Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin has publicly asserted that MSPs will inherently evolve into managed intelligence providers in the advancing agentic AI era. He emphasises the need for MSPs to keep pace with client ambitions by driving agentic transformation and business outcome delivery, thereby taking a leadership role in the new digital economy. Chasin highlights the confluence of AI agents, marketplaces, and strategic insights as critical components of this future.
Pax8’s bold moves have not gone unnoticed in the broader industry. The company has been recognised by Forrester in its “Marketplace Development Platforms Landscape” report for Q4 2023, validating Pax8’s role as a key enabler in the emergent IT channel environment where AI and agentic platforms are increasingly central.
However, the divergent views between Pax8 and other ecosystem players like Ingram Micro spotlight the inherent uncertainties of this market transformation. Ingram’s stance suggests that agentic solutions might remain bespoke and closely tied to individual client environments, potentially limiting widespread marketplace commoditisation. Pax8’s contrasting confidence in building a scalable marketplace for agentic AI raises the stakes, they aim to pioneer a new economic model for MSPs, but the speed and scale of adoption will be crucial determinants of success.
In sum, Pax8 is doubling down on the concept of agentic marketplaces to empower MSPs in the burgeoning AI-driven managed intelligence sector, bringing innovation not just in technology but also in business models and service delivery. Whether this vision will eclipse the more conservative outlook held by industry peers remains to be seen, but the unfolding competition underscores a pivotal juncture in AI’s integration into managed services. The winner in this emerging market stands to gain substantial economic rewards, while the other risks falling behind in the agentic AI revolution.
Source: Noah Wire Services
Subscribe to Industry Updates
