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Episode 5: Talking AI, the Marketplace and MSP Trends by the Numbers with Eric Torres from Pax8
11 Plays3 months ago
In The Chat Room is a dynamic interview series where industry leaders, innovators, and experts gather to share their insights on the ever-evolving landscape of technology and business.
In Episode 5, Matt Bauer, Co-founder and Director at BetterWorld Technology, hosts Eric Torres, who has had an integral role in building out the Managed Service Provider space over the past 15-20 years with companies like Datto, Scalepad and now as VP of Channel & Community Engagement at Pax8, a critical partner to BetterWorld and thousands of MSPs globally.
Matt and Eric discuss Eric’s start in technology and his incredible experience over the past 20 years. They talk about advancements to the marketplace such as Storefronts, Opportunities, and Recommendations —then shifting to the big story behind all of this, the buying journey we’re all on and how COVID-19 has changed how we consume products: how we do our research, order online, and how we read and consume reviews.
They also dive into AI and how it has become fundamental in all aspects of our business —Eric provides his perspective on the processes & procedures as well as predictive analytics for helping MSPs automating much of their service delivery.
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
00:00 Welcome
00:04 The evolution of the MSP space and the journey to Pax8
02:55 How distributors are falling behind and why Pax8 is reshaping the model 04:28 Data-driven insights on cloud adoption and emerging industry trends
06:46 The shift in buyer behavior and why storefronts are the future of IT procurement 08:37 The rise of marketplaces and why $10 trillion will flow through them by 2030
10:07 AI, machine learning, and the changing landscape of automation in business 12:25 How AI is transforming operations, from sales processes to event planning
14:10 The role of AI in augmenting—not replacing—human expertise in managed services
15:42 The critical importance of security as cyber threats evolve alongside AI advancements
17:55 Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond: key opportunities for MSPs and end users
18:20 Closing thoughts and how to stay connected with Better World Technology
𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀’ 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀
- Website: https://www.pax8.com/en-us/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/torreseric
𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:
- Visit our website: www.betterworldtechnology.com
- Stay connected by subscribing to our YouTube channel for exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and more. And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow us on Spotify and tell a colleague.
🌐 Keep innovating, keep connecting!
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Transcript
Series Introduction
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to Better World Technologies in the chat room. In the chat room is a dynamic interview series where industry leaders, innovators, and experts gather to share their insights on the ever evolving landscape of technology and business.
Meet Eric Torres
00:00:23
Speaker
I'm your host, Matt Bauer. co-founder and director of Better World Technology. And we're excited to have in the chat room with us today, Eric Torres, who has had an integral role in building out the MSP space over the last 15, 20 years with companies like Datto, ScalePad, and who now is VP of channel and community engagement at PaxAid, critical partner to Better World and thousands of MSPs globally.
Eric's Early Career in MSP
00:00:49
Speaker
Welcome, Eric. Thank you. Thank you for having me And thank you for the ah the warm introduction. So Eric, let's start with your background. Bring us up to date with your start in technology and and what's led you to PAX 8 in your current role with them.
00:01:05
Speaker
Sure, sure. my ah My journey started a long time ago in the MSP space in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. i I applied for a job at an MSP as an entry-level sales rep, so ah cold caller, business development.
00:01:22
Speaker
I cold called for eight long, brutal hours a day for the first part of my my journey here and and helped build that MSP to a to one of the largest in in that area. um And then from from that, I started taking on different roles, sales marketing, um eventually getting into leadership position, a leadership position, and ah really digging into our processes and procedures and and the vendor world and who we were partnering with to to take care of our clients.
Transition to Vendor Side
00:01:57
Speaker
From there, I made the leap to the vendor side and joined Datto back in 2015 and spent almost seven years at Datto helping MSPs grow their their business continuity practices.
00:02:13
Speaker
um I left Datto and joined ScalePad. I was there for two and a half years and in helping um and MSPs improve their their client success and the relationships that they had with their clients.
Role at PAX 8
00:02:30
Speaker
And then from there, I joined back with my old boss from my dad-o-days, Mr. Rob Ray. He came calling and and the the move over to PAX 8 was about four months ago, and I haven't looked back since.
00:02:47
Speaker
Awesome. Well, will tell us a little bit about your your current role with PAX 8. what are you What are you looking at? Yeah. So I oversee the channel and community team. ah Basically we are the the faces of the company. We're the evangelists. We're out there ah traveling all over the globe, ah talking with MSPs, meeting with them, finding out what's working, what's not working, and then helping share all the all the the knowledge and learnings that we've we've taken on over the past, well, my entire career. Yeah.
00:03:18
Speaker
So it it is spreading the the word about how Pax8 truly helps our partners and ah and how we can further improve our our services for them. Awesome. Well, we can we can validate that for sure because Pax8's been ah big help to better world on our journey and I don't think we could do it without you all. So um that is that is the truth. um So let's shift to the bigger picture. ah Let's talk about you know, kind of advancements in the marketplace, storefronts, opportunities, recommendations, things like that, that are really ah at the top of the the trend list, I guess.
PAX 8 Innovations
00:03:58
Speaker
Sure. Well, it started back when Pax8 was founded. How do we disrupt the market? How do we add more than just your typical distributor model that's out there? Because ah truly the distributor model is in my mind, is kind of broken. I mean, is there it's just an order taker.
00:04:15
Speaker
it's It's where you go and get goods. So Pax8 has always been out there looking at what kind of value add can we bring? And that is coming has come to full fruition through some of the advancements we made middle of last year with such such things in their storefront and and opportunities um and our recommendations.
Marketplace Functionality
00:04:36
Speaker
So just getting right into it, ah we're able to look at all of our partners as a whole, so 39,000 partners that are out there across the globe, what are they how are they consuming cloud applications? How are they selling them? but
00:04:52
Speaker
What kind of trends are we seeing, you know drilling down into specific verticals? what For example, what are you know what are what's the financial industry using when it comes to cloud applications and how can MSPs help them with that. So we're able to make some recommendations. We're able to put those together for our partners to say, hey, that that client of yours fits this particular mold that we're seeing out there.
00:05:19
Speaker
Here's the types of software. Here's the types of applications that that typical looking customer may be using. And then in turn, going to our partner saying, hey, you may want to talk to them about enhancing their security, or maybe it's it's something else on that network that but they could be
Evolving Buying Patterns
00:05:37
Speaker
taking advantage of. So that's one aspect of the the opportunity explorer that we have.
00:05:42
Speaker
um We've also built out a complete storefront. So In our eyes, and and I think this is a tribute to, shouldn't even say tribute, a result of COVID, the buying patterns have absolutely changed amongst people.
00:05:58
Speaker
ah Across everything, every product that we consume, um things are different today than they were in the beginning of 2020. You know, we when's the last time we went to a a mall?
00:06:09
Speaker
When's the last time we went to ah you know a clothing store to go go find what we wanted? know, I'm doing all of my shopping online. and I do it almost all through Amazon. And it's because of of the reviews. It's because you can see how others are consuming the product, what it looks like, what what they have on, how they're using it.
00:06:29
Speaker
Same exact thing is happening right now in in the IT world. There are users out there that want to do their homework. They want to go out there and figure out what's the best application for them. What's the best licensing for them.
00:06:42
Speaker
And then they're going to the MSP and saying, hey, I did my research. Here's what I want. So storefronts is a a place where HacksAid partners can go in and and and control that environment. So think of it almost like like an Amazon-like experience, but they only see what you want them to see. So maybe it's just your preferred stack of solutions because you're the experts with those solutions.
00:07:06
Speaker
You can then offer that that to your your clients and say, hey, you want to do some shopping on your own? You want to go do your research? You have this whole storefront. It's customized just for you. Go take a look and let us know what you think.
00:07:17
Speaker
So that overall is is what the marketplace is. It's truly connecting with those users that that want to do their research. And we are MSP focused. We want all of that business going directly through an MSP. So that's that's where we come into a play. And that's the changes that we've seen happening over the past few years.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think the main reason we go to the mall is when it's so cold here in Denver, we take our dog there and it's an acre for a walk. So I'm glad they're still open. I don't know how much longer it'll be. can you give us any stats behind the shift that's occurred there? And then I think we're going to jump to then another COVID-related, something that advanced very quickly in AI. We'll talk about that next. But any...
00:08:08
Speaker
ah yeah background or stats you have on this shift. Yeah. I mean, we we are constantly looking at at data and analyzing it.
Future of IT Spend
00:08:16
Speaker
And one of the numbers that continues to just live rent-free in my head is that within the next five years, and it's scary to say this, 2030, within the next five years,
00:08:28
Speaker
seven teen trillion dollars will run through, and that's trillion dollars of IT spent, will run through a marketplace, will run through some sort of avenue where people can do that research and they can look on their own and they can figure out what they want to buy.
00:08:45
Speaker
And it's almost, you know, if you put this in comparison, um think of of the App Store for Apple or Google Play Store. You know, people go to that store to get the applications for their phones.
00:08:58
Speaker
This is kind of the same thing. how How many of us are going to the direct vendor to get that app to put on our phone? We're not doing that. We're going to the Play Store because we can see the reviews. We can see that it's vetted, that it is a a formidable solution for the the challenge that we're having.
00:09:16
Speaker
This is the exact same. People are going to want to go to a place where they can shop for all of their cloud applications and Know that that solution is vetted. Know that there's MSPs out there that can like manage that solution for them that's recommended by them.
00:09:29
Speaker
And that's what they're going to go and purchase.
00:09:33
Speaker
but it's ah That's a huge shift. So, you know, add that up and you've got, you know, more more GDP than probably a bucket of countries. So yeah it's actually you see the the stats. ah It was more than Germany. And oh, I forget the other country. It was like Germany and Sweden combined. that That's in the next five years.
00:09:54
Speaker
That's significant. Yeah, makesta exactly. So, so then, uh, turning the tail, something that's on, you know, everybody's the tip of everybody's tongue or on their mind.
AI's Role in PAX 8
00:10:07
Speaker
another big shift that occurred, uh, that I think really advanced, know, through COVID was, uh, machine learning, AI, um, you know, which, whichever these, these technologies it truly is, but, uh, we call it AI for, it's a lot easier to say, right?
00:10:24
Speaker
Uh, so it became fundamental in, in, in business and, uh, you know Give us your perspective on the the processes, the procedures, the analytics for helping MSPs you know to automate things and to be better at what they do and what do you see coming down the road there?
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, ah the first point, and whether it's machine learning or or AI, it's such a broad topic that ah I think a lot of people are are a little afraid when they're talking about it because they don't quite understand the the full use cases of it. But when you look at it, it's it can it can be used in every aspect of our daily lives and it's here and it's happening. And, and whether, whether you like it or not, we're going to have to adjust for this. People want automation and there's ways that we can automate just about everything, freeing up resources, freeing up time to, to focus on what really matters. And that's taking care of clients and that that human interaction that AI can't do.
00:11:23
Speaker
So everything from internal processes procedures, think of your day-to-day, uh, use at work and your activities at work. What are the mundane tasks that you do every single day that you can then automate, that we can have this be second nature? We don't even think about it. It just happens for us.
00:11:42
Speaker
That's on the the processes side of the house. That's just on ah service delivery and and what you're thinking of. Then it comes to, okay, how can we use this to get new clients? whether Whether you are in the tech field or the financial industry or whatever industry it may be,
00:11:58
Speaker
How can we use this to help with our sales marketing? How can we use this to help us close our business? And more and more, people are going to start using this to, again, automate what they can and free up time in their day and and lower their expenses. so The future is is definitely here. And we at PAX 8 are 100% all bought in on on what this looks like for us internally and what it looks like for our partners.
00:12:25
Speaker
But we are we're actively building this out right now. um Everything from the day-to-day tasks, my own team. I went into an exercise two weeks ago for our leadership kickoff meetings and And they're asking about AI and I'm i'm sitting there going, on I'm the events guy. I'm out there traveling on the road. what What can AI do for me?
00:12:45
Speaker
And then as I started thinking about it, it was just regular tasks that I'm going, boy, if I didn't have to book my own flights anymore, if I didn't have to book my hotel rooms, if I could just have that be taken care of and I can just say, I'm going to this event at this time.
00:13:00
Speaker
Boom, take care of it. Now I can focus on who's going to be at that event. What kind of relationships do I need? Do i need to do some outreach before that event? See, it frees up time. So we are looking at it from and internal process of what can we do to make our jobs better, faster, stronger?
00:13:16
Speaker
And then how do we use this technology into our own cloud marketplace? How do we make better recommendations? How do we help our clients sell more? How do we how do we get them to to see more of the the value, their clients see more of the value that they provide? So there's an unlimited use cases for AI and that future is here and people need to get on it because those that aren't embracing it now will either be forced to in the very near future or they're going to get left behind.
00:13:43
Speaker
It's simple as that. Yeah, i and i I think, you know, in our our business is a relationship business and that is, you know, so many people jumped ahead with AI and like, oh it's replacing humans. And I think it's more about, you know, what we're looking at it and seeing it from the MSP realm is how does it augment what we're doing and help us do what we're doing better, you know, and and that is taking care of the customer.
00:14:10
Speaker
And ah so we're seeing the best advances be in that ah place where we're still watching. You know, we're still involved. We have the people involved, but the people's ability to serve is being increased because they're spending less time on some of the mundane stuff and more, you know, on on being prescriptive and reading the the tea leaves, you know, and and AI does help help us do that.
00:14:34
Speaker
a lot So the products seem to be matching that ethos you know that that are coming out with AI features. If you look at ah the the trends of of what managed service providers, what you guys have gone through over years, over over the past couple of decades, you know it was it was the thought of of the digital transformation. Oh, everything's going to go digital. We've got so much work to do, and it's going to replace jobs, replace people, and No, people still need the experts out there. They still want that human interaction. They want their IT person coming in and and taking care of them.
00:15:10
Speaker
ah Same thing with the cloud and the shift to getting everything in the cloud. And, oh, there's no more on-prem hardware and in all of this. It's just the next evolution in how managed service providers are that lifeline to the SMBs that are out there, to the small businesses that are out there.
00:15:28
Speaker
They need that trusted advisor, that that expert to guide them through everything with AI, everything with the security risks that are out there. And then just making sure that they're their networks are the backbone of their business and and help them run and make them run well.
00:15:43
Speaker
Totally agree. Well, let's ahs as we as we look to wrap up, we could go on for for hours and look forward to talking to you more at a lot of events. about all these things, but ah you know looking ahead and into your crystal ball, we have all the changes from COVID we talked about.
00:16:02
Speaker
A lot of data, what we're seeing recently, 83% of data is still on premise. There's a lot of still moving to the cloud that still needs to occur.
00:16:14
Speaker
ah AI is the future generating these opportunities and trillions of dollars. you know What are you seeing as the, or or your recommendations, you know what are you seeing as the big opportunities and the focal points?
00:16:27
Speaker
For end users and for for MSPs in in this ecosystem. Sure.
Importance of Data Security
00:16:34
Speaker
Take whatever part you want of it. Yeah. I think ultimately what it comes down to is is the security aspect of all of this.
00:16:42
Speaker
ah You mentioned it, there's there's big data that's out there. We have a ton of data internally with across all of our our users, all of our partners. it's It comes down to making sure that we are as secure as possible because for every advancement that this industry is making, the bad guys are taking two steps ahead of that and they're thinking of ways in how to capitalize.
00:17:03
Speaker
and how to make money in doing this as well. So what what I see the future of is is it become becoming even more security focused, security centric experts that MSPs have to be because of the the shift of where data is, how it's exposed,
00:17:21
Speaker
who has access to the data. And then you've got everything with AI that's just as good at at compromising that data. so So what it all boils down to is just making sure that that these networks are secure, that they're protected, that that data, those users, those applications are under the watchful eye of of somebody such as yourself, somebody who is the expert at at taking care of them.
Conclusion and Future Plans
00:17:45
Speaker
Fantastic. Well, thank you, Eric. What a great conversation. And we look forward to collaborating more together in 2025 and beyond. Absolutely. It was an absolute pleasure. And I look forward to continue this conversation every time I see you.
00:18:01
Speaker
Awesome. And thank you for watching in the chat room with Better World Technology. To dive deeper into our episodes and learn more about our work, visit betterworldtechnology.com. Stay connected by subscribing to our YouTube channel for exclusive content, behind the scenes insights,
00:18:19
Speaker
and much more. And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow us on Spotify and tell a colleague, keep innovating, keep connecting, and we'll see you next time.