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AI levels the playing field for European MSPs
US MSPs aren’t ahead for once. When it comes to AI for MSPs, Europe is holding its own, says Pax8’s Rob Rae
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming the great equaliser for managed service providers (MSPs) across Europe, levelling the playing field with their US counterparts.
That’s according to Rob Rae, corporate vice-president of community and ecosystems at Pax8, who says AI is removing many of the barriers that previously slowed European adoption of emerging technologies.
“Traditionally, the US market has a tendency to be the leader,” he told Microscope at Pax8 Beyond EMEA in Amsterdam on Monday. “Then you see other markets like Canada, Australia and the UK eventually follow behind. I think AI changes things. Because of the speed to market and the open-mindedness around AI, I don’t think we’re going to see that lag we’ve seen in the past. Everybody has the opportunity to lean into this relatively equally. It levels the playing field.”
That shift is reflected in the growth of Pax8’s EMEA operations, which have more than doubled since the company’s Berlin event last year. “We had 1,062 MSPs checked in this year,” said Rae. “Our original goal was 800, and we had to close registration because we couldn’t accommodate more. It’s a reflection of the market and the growth we’ve seen in the region.”
Pax8 is also guiding partners towards becoming what it calls managed intelligence providers (MIPs), helping them build AI-led services and business models.
“The conversation we were having 12 months ago was, ‘How are we going to make money at this?’” said Rae. “Now, we’re starting to see MSPs selling it, having conversations with their end users, and finding ways to monetise it. We’ve got more confidence that we’re heading down the right path.”
That path includes a new managed intelligence playbook, launched at the event, which provides MSPs with a practical blueprint for transformation. “The Agentic inflection point report we released in June was the ‘why’ – why you should be thinking about this,” he said. “The Playbook is the ‘how’. It’s built on feedback from MSPs that have already started the journey. They’re getting smarter and better at this in such a short period of time.”
Innovation in the marketplace
Pax8 is investing heavily in AI-driven innovation in its own marketplace, introducing tools designed to help partners identify and act on revenue opportunities.
“When we look at our marketplace, we’re bringing in things like the Opportunity Explorer, which leverages AI to help MSPs find upsell opportunities,” said Rae. “We’ve built the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server – the translator between AI and all the data MSPs hold on their end users – so they can query their own information without having to dig through it.”
While European MSPs have historically been constrained by compliance, privacy and language complexities, he said AI’s flexibility is changing that dynamic. “Europe has always had those additional layers to think about – compliance, privacy, multiple languages and currencies,” he said. “But with AI, the conversation is happening now, whether it’s in Europe, the US or Australia. It’s a game changer.”
The human factor
Still, the shift isn’t without challenges. Rae admits some MSPs are struggling with internal change. “Humans are naturally resistant to change,” he said. “We had an MSP in the Netherlands tell us that when he announced the company was moving towards AI, 25% of his staff quit.”
For those willing to adapt, though, the opportunities are immense. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” said Rae. “If we can help MSPs on that journey – through education, community and best practices – it’s a phenomenal opportunity for all of us.”
