Pax8 CEO: MSPs Will Become Managed Intelligence Providers In Agentic AI Era

‘This is the revolution,’ says Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin. ‘Clients don’t just want things to work. They want things to work for them. They want intelligence that moves at the speed of their ambition.’

As agentic AI comes to market and bleeds into businesses, MSPs are once again evolving and will transform into what Pax8 calls “managed intelligence providers.” These providers will offer more than just infrastructure and focus on delivering agentic transformation and business outcomes.

“This is the revolution,” said Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin (pictured above). “Clients don’t just want things to work. They want things to work for them. They want intelligence that moves at the speed of their ambition.”

Chasin spoke at Pax8’s Beyond conference in Denver this week about how managed intelligence will converge AI agents, marketplaces and strategic insight.

“Support used to mean yelling, ‘Turn it off and back on again’ from across the room,” he said. “But even strong models need to evolve.”

[Related: Pax8’s Rob Rae On Partner Programs, MSP Documentary And Expansion]

In the new model, managed intelligence providers will deploy and manage fleets of AI agents that can adapt and act in real time.

They can assess customers for opportunities where AI agents can handle repetitive, slow or expensive tasks. They can also provide an app store or marketplace where businesses hire intelligence rather than download software. And they can build vertical-specific agents to automate workflows and govern networks of autonomous agents instead of endpoints.

“This is not about tossing out everything you’ve built,” Chasin said. “It’s about evolving your playbook to meet the moment.”

And there’s a different pricing model as well. Instead of pricing per seat, managed intelligence providers can price per agent, action, workflow and outcome.

To support the shift, Denver-based Pax8 launched a managed intelligence toolkit that helps MSPs manage, scale and deploy agentic AI solutions for clients.

John Douglas, president of Wichita, Kan.-based MSP Pileus Technologies, said MSPs should embrace the agentic AI era and evolve into managed intelligence providers, as he sees AI tools more as an ally than a threat.

"As we evolve, it will allow us to use that technology more for our benefit to protect our customers," he told CRN.

As Chasin sees businesses undergo a “seismic shift” amid the era of AI agents, his message to MSPs is clear: The future of the MSP industry is not in infrastructure, but in intelligence.

“The groundwork is being laid for a world where intelligence is as essential as electricity,” he said. “Those who evolve now will lead the economy tomorrow.”

This story was originally published on our sister site, CRN.