Pax8 launches marketplace mobile app

‘It's how can you service and manage that client when they're away from their office or away from their computer,’ says Ryan Walsh, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Pax8. ‘You really have to think progressively about how you're servicing your clients.’

Cloud distributor Pax8 this week launched its global marketplace app that will make searching and viewing products for their clients easier when they're on the go.

"Partners are increasingly expected to be able to do things and do things on the go," Elizabeth (Libby) McIlhany, Pax8 chief product officer, told CRN US.

"Everyone's lives are complicated or on the road or with family, but we still want to be able to accomplish things. What we really wanted to do and focus in on is our partners, what they need from us and what they need to be able to accommodate the way modern work is done, and that is through a mobile experience."

The app soft-launched in September in the US to help partners do business easily anywhere, anytime. This week, the Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company's app is available around the world.

"We wanted to make sure that the wheels were on the bus, that it was pixel perfect, that we were ready to go and then it had the killer features that were really going to make a difference for our partners," McIlhany said.

Today, MSPs can search and manage products on the app including pricing that is passed on to their customer.

"Let's just say they're on the road, they're at a lunch. They could use the mobile app and take advantage of the moment of researching to provide an answer with regards to the products that are in the marketplace," Ryan Walsh (pictured), Pax8 co-founder and chief strategy officer, told CRN.

MSPs can also view invoices and support tickets in process, modify and view subscriptions and share feedback through the app. The app can also be converted to French and German for global customers.

Submitting tickets, making payments and ordering products are currently not available on the app. Push notifications for notes like upcoming renewal dates and statuses of support tickets, and an "add to cart" function, will soon be rolled out as additional features, McIlany said.

"It's how can you service and manage that client when they're away from their office or away from their computer," Walsh said.

"You really have to think progressively about how you're servicing your clients. In terms of the value of the mobile app, it's so important to associate it with a phenomenal experience. Sometimes it's more important than the service and the product that they're providing. It's service when I want, how I want, anytime I want."

The revamped cloud marketplace, unveiled at Pax8's Beyond conference in June 2023, where MSPs can match with end clients who were looking to buy direct is not currently a feature on the app.

"But anything that we have in the baseline platform could be on the app," Walsh said. "The way we're going to process that is take first iteration and decide what makes sense to do it on the app."

Michael Cervino, co-founder and CEO of Radnor, Pa.-based MSP Circle Square Consulting, is happy that he can now take the marketplace with him everywhere.

"There are oftentimes when talking to a customer I think, ‘Does Pax8 carry that product?' and I have to wait to get back to my office," he said.

"If I have the mobile app I can pull it up and search as Pax8 has so many skews that it's hard to keep track with what they have at any given time."

And the Pax8 team will continue to deliver on the app to improve partner experience.

"Our focus is really helping our partners grow," McIlany said.

"They need the tools, they need the insight, we can make their lives easier and we think the mobile app is one way that we're doing that."

The revamped cloud marketplace had an early access preview in December to a small number of partners across the globe. Focus groups are currently being conducted with a beta launch in April and a full global launch in time for the distributor's Beyond conference in June.

"We want to make sure we get a lot of feedback from our partners, make sure we're really getting them what they need and what they want before we crack it open for everybody," McIlany said.