Day one of Beyond 2024 is in the books \u2014 and it was everything we knew it would be! Here are some of the highlights:<\/p>\n
Newly announced Pax8 President Nick Heddy kicked off Day 1 of Beyond as he introduced the event by speaking about the unique power of a community that achieves success together. He highlighted explosive growth potential and emphasized the Pax8 commitment to MSPs through cutting-edge technology, like the new data-driven Pax8 Marketplace, and robust support around major initiatives, such as security and AI.<\/p>\n
One key stat that Heddy shared was that the three-year financial benefit of being a Pax8 partner means a 29% jump in overall sales revenue. This real-world benefit was underscored by Jay McBain\u2019s presentation situated in the middle of Heddy\u2019s keynote where he shared the enormous potential for growth when it comes to both security and AI and how partners can take the lead in these sectors.<\/p>\n
In the end, Heddy summarized the Pax8 approach with a single sentiment: \u201cYour success is our success.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Pax CEO, Scott Chasin, gave an electric keynote with a visionary look into the future. After taking attendees through his history and how he arrived at this role, he explained his approach to leadership: he seeks out future scenarios so he can ready the larger Pax8 partner community to take the lead and ultimately, win market share.<\/p>\n
Chasin peered into his crystal ball and provided three sets of predictions for the near-term, the mid-term, and the long-term. A couple near-term examples were that AI will be an indelible component to every product MSPs sell and that we\u2019re going to see the first billion-dollar revenue MSP within the next 24 months.<\/p>\n
In the mid-term, MSPs will evolve from transactional resellers to true business advisors. Another prediction was that MSPs will form global collaboration networks, sharing resources, services, technology, and even clients. These networks will eventually give rise to true Partner-to-Partner marketplaces.<\/p>\n
Finally, the long-term. As Chasin said, this is where Sci-Fi meets reality. He centered the idea of robotics in a humanoid, physical form as a massive market opportunity. For MSPs, from management to supporting the day-to-day as colleagues or \u201ccobots,\u201d robots as the future are more than a theory, but a near certainty. And building upon Heddy\u2019s statement, Chasin concluded that \u201cour future is your future.\u201d<\/p>\n
One Pax8 partner from Little Rock, Arkansas, Michael Sullivan from Sullivan Wright Technologies, shared that Chasin\u2019s keynote was \u201cA very exciting presentation. I\u2019m excited for the future of AI and how it will progress and help us do our jobs better. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever going to be a point in time where someone like me in the MSP space is going to be less needed even if the robots can fix themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon Schoenborn, CVP of the Americas SMC at Microsoft, took the stage after both Heddy\u2019s and Chasin\u2019s keynotes and made the convincing case for Copilot as the AI tool of choice. In addition, she shared an exciting announcement: Pax8 and Microsoft have partnered to develop the \u201cSecurity Center for Excellence.\u201d This new program offers a core set of solution architects to help partners build their security practice. This program was built specifically with MSPs in mind to help you secure success.<\/p>\n
Directly following Microsoft’s keynote, SentinelOne took the stage. In their hyper-relevant keynote, Michael Cremen, President and Chief Revenue Officer, and Dave Gold, Americas Field CTO, both shared their perspectives. They also revealed an exciting new product they\u2019re bringing to market: Purple AI. They call this \u201cthe world\u2019s most advanced AI-powered cybersecurity platform\u201d and describe it as an advanced security analyst that partners can use to detect earlier, respond faster, and stay ahead of attacks.<\/p>\n
After all, as Cremen quipped, \u201cThe way to fight machines is with machines.\u201d<\/p>\n
AI sessions abounded, including a panel discussion moderated by Pax8 Academy\u2019s own Andy Readman and featuring Nathan Taylor of Sourcepass and Robin Harris, Senior Manager of Compliance and Audit at Pax8. The panel discussed the immediate and urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of AI governance and why cybersecurity learning around AI is so critical today. But they also discussed the enormous role AI will play in terms of growth because MSPs will be their end customers\u2019 educators and consultants, and then will be able to offer the right tools through the Pax8 Marketplace. As Robin Harris said about this age of AI, \u201cWe\u2019re all going to have to play being human very differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, Pax8 CSO, Ryan Walsh, spoke to a standing-room only crowd about how to adopt and implement AI practically. He shared two studies that Pax8 undertook, one in partnership with Microsoft and Channelnomics regarding SMB buying behavior around AI and a second that surveyed partners and their sentiments regarding AI.<\/p>\n
The potential for growth is plain: AI will contribute an astounding $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 and 80% of businesses acknowledge that neglecting AI adoption could jeopardize their competitive standing.<\/p>\n
So why aren\u2019t some partners getting in the game? Walsh shared a compelling reason: use cases. In fact, 42% of partners surveyed shared that their customers are looking for relevant use cases that will convince them. To meet that need, Walsh provided some vital use case ideas for partners in the audience as well as valuable takeaways and next steps, like engaging with Pax8 Academy courses.<\/p>\n
Erwin Visser, General Manager, Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Partner Channel, GPS America, Microsoft, provided another perspective on how to use AI in his session. He divulged insights into effective prompt engineering in Copilot, revealing that the best prompts contain four parts:<\/p>\n
The more you can optimize each of those four inputs, the more precise your outcome will be.<\/p>\n
David Powell, VP of Sales, was in rare form for his session, \u201cProfitable Protection: How to Sell Security.\u201d In it, he covered the minimum amount of safety we need to expect and execute on to ensure safety across our end customers. He focused on the need for cyber insurance and carefully explained what the minimum safety limit included, which was:<\/p>\n
These five components, Powell explained, are the \u201csafety belts and airbags\u201d of any good business today.<\/p>\n
Hosted by Andrew Morgan, Founder, Right of Boom, John Strand, Owner, Black Hills Information Security, and Ryan O\u2019Grady, Enterprise Solutions Architect, SentinelOne, the Cybersecurity Throwdown truly lived up to its name. Across the three sessions, attendees actively used real cybersecurity products to sniff out breaches within a fictional environment. In the end, one attendee claimed victory. Daniel Dunkijacobsnolten with Afineol IT Consulting scored the most points, winning a competition he didn\u2019t even know was going to take place. \u201cI came to learn about cybersecurity and actually didn\u2019t know what the format was going to be,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cIt was great getting a vendor hands-on with SentinelOne because I\u2019d never used their products before.\u201d Congrats, Daniel!<\/p>\n
Our 25 Gold sponsors each took turns giving their best 30-second elevator pitches on why attendees should visit their booths at the vendor expo. Some rapped. Some danced. Some struggled with the time limit. And most were gently roasted by host Rob Rae. But all enjoyed their moment in the spotlight. So support each of them by visiting their booths before your time runs out!<\/p>\n
Six-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken put an emotional exclamation point on the end of day one with the inspirational story of her life. Diagnosed with severe asthma and an allergy to chlorine at a young age, Amy fought through her physical limitations to eventually become the first American woman to win four gold medals in any Olympics. After experiencing a tragic ATV accident in 2014 that left her paraplegic, Amy once again tapped into her championship spirit to continue to choose to overcome her physical limitations every day. She encouraged the enrapt attendees to approach any life obstacle by her motto: \u201cWho are you to tell me what I can and can\u2019t do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of people that are here is actually what stood out to me. And it shows that the women in this space are going not going anywhere, that we’re stronger, that more of us are here. That was the coolest thing, just to look around and say, there are a bunch of me’s around. And that’s something I didn’t really know really existed until I came to a space like this.\u201d said Naaila Hossain, CEO of Techcierge.<\/p>\n
All our incredible vendors brought the exhibit hall to life with their engaging and vibrant displays. Attendees enjoyed an array of refreshments as they made connections that are sure to drive the channel forward.<\/p>\n
Why tell you about day one when we can show you? Enjoy!<\/p>\n