Did Beyond Berlin Deliver?

Since Pax8 launched, they have done things differently. When they came to the UK, they disrupted. When Pax8 expanded into Europe, they disrupted.

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It is fair to say that when Pax8 put on an event, it was like no other. I had the privilege of attending Pax8 Beyond 2023 (Denver), which was amazing. However, it was a long way to go, and many European partners didn't travel. This year, Pax8 brought it to Berlin. Did it deliver??

Berlin felt more personal than the inaugural event last year. I'm not sure how. Pax8 does have the MSPs' hearts in mind, which was even more evident in Berlin. It felt like a community. ?

?Day One:

• Over 500+ partners attending
• From 40 countries
• 600,000 end customers
• and many more stats

Pax8 is certainly using (and showing us how to use) AI within its portal to take advantage of its new marketplace, which will help identify gaps in MSPs' service stack.

Opening with keynote presentations from Nick Heddy and Scott Chasin certainly grabbed the partners' attention and helped create a vibe. Oliver Gürtler from Microsoft talked about the new developments of AI in our ever-evolving world and where new opportunities are opening up. Satay Nadella has quoted that AI will generate over 4 trillion Dollars of opportunity. Let's go grab a slice!

Refreshed and ready for breakout sessions - (Plenty to choose from):

I went for:

SuperOps: Mechanics of the modern Managed Service Provider

Juan Fernandez from SuperOps gave a frank presentation and painted a perfect picture of where MSP will go shortly and how we should start to prepare for that time now!?In our sector, technology changes quickly, and MSPs must also change to meet the new demands our clients ask of us. We're no longer IT Support businesses; we need to shift to being more business support, helping our clients with business operations and decision-making strategies.

Modernise Your Offerings - New Technologies for MSPs

Presented by Josh Foye (impressive beard) and Jacob McGuire - Some great questions around "What is the next Modern Workplace", "What to do with Infrastructure?" and the inevitable questions "Prepare for Artificial Intelligence?" - These questions alone really made me think about the next steps.??

Execution Mastery: Turning Strategy into Action

Delivered by David Schafran and Michael ?. . Many of us envision where we want to go, but putting it down in an actionable order is the right thing with a 3-year plan divided into monthly and quarterly roadmaps (single operation tracks).

Elevate Your Client IQ: How to Rank Your Clients Effectively

Rex Frank keeps us on our toes with different ways of looking at our clients and categorising them for the best interaction and results. Starting with "Why rate" and progressing through "Good Client Management," do our clients align with our core values? How much resource does each client take up? And there are many more questions along these lines. I found this session thought-provoking, making me wonder if there's an easy way to display our clients graphically.

Gross Margin Demystified: Boost Your Bottom Line

In the same room, Rex Frank explained how to calculate the margin and the business required to cover the technicians' costs. This is a fascinating matrix MSP CFO Client Segment Report and the four levers of gross margin.?

We're back to the main stage to close off day one with Nancy Rademaker . Nancy has over twenty years of experience watching where the technology sector has been and is currently and predicting the future. We are on a fast and furious journey highlighting how quickly the adoption of new platforms has progressed compared to a few years ago. It no longer takes years for a platform to grow; it's weeks/days. Chat GPT grew to 100 million users in just two months, compared to Facebook, which took 3-4 years to reach 100 million users. Nancy also showed a brilliant way to describe AI.

Off for a few beers!

Day Two:

?Becks Meehan and her team on the tunes to bring the vibe in again.

Jonathan Griffiths introduced Juan Fernandez (SuperOps) and Chris Boehm (SentinelOne) to the stage. They each had twenty minutes to help educate the audience about who they were and to pitch for visitors to call by the booths in the market hall. ?

Heading out to some breakout sessions, I found today's list difficult due to cross-over.

Rewst: Maximising MSP Efficiency: Strategies for Implementing Automation

Another presentation I need to spend more time on is having a deeper dive into Rewst. If you do something repetitive for five minutes a week, you could spend twenty hours building your automation. Over five years, one automation would save you nine months from doing that single repetitive task.

NIS2: A Security Guide for Service Managers

Knowing that many businesses are regulated, I headed to NIS2. A Security Guide for Service Managers was exciting because it showed how it would affect businesses in different sectors and incident management policies (ISO 27035). Profound assessments will be carried out to hit the regulation's acceptance level.?

Nerdio Boardroom Session

Nerdio is a modern technology that takes the Modern Workplace to another level, utilising many of the 365 aspects, including Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. It brings a degree of flexibility to modern business. This is one to watch! Too many MSPs don't have the internal skill set to deliver projects such as this, and as Nedio has done this for years, they know what to do and can give great advice to help MSPs learn the new ways of the future. A good, well-delivered presentation from Davinder V.

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Cracking the Code: The Secrets to Effective Marketing and Prospecting for MSPs

Limara Thorne and Mark Copeman took us through some marketing journeys and taught us how to tackle them differently. Don't think about Lead Generation; think about Starting Conversations.?To many of us, it is a 'hit and hope' when doing marketing and getting frustrated when the results are low (or even zero). We need to think, plan, and document a marketing strategy before we start. One of the key elements of marketing is to understand your business identity and bring it to life. ?

How to Protect Your MSP: Wrong Answers Only

The last breakout of the day was "Wrong Answers Only," with Jordon Tipper , Patrick Ghys and Josh Foye . It was a bit of fun, but I was amused that a business threatened with bombs in shops called their MSP before the Police.

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After completing all the keynotes and breakouts, we returned to the main stage for?the final speaker. So, sit back, relax, and be entertained by Carl Lewis, the man who can fly (8.84mtrs / 29ft)! I've heard many sportsperson speeches, but Carl was on another level. We knew it would be good when he had to enter the stage twice. He owned the stage and had the audience gripped with his journey. For Carl to get his name known in the sports world, he realised early that if he tagged his name along with other successful sports people, it would accelerate his acceptance into the Hall of Fame.

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Congrats to Apex Computing Services Ltd , Start Tech , and Procano , whom I know, and to all the other businesses who won awards. Congratulations to all. One last quick tour of the marketplace, chat with some vendors and maybe pick up some last bits of swag.

OK, so after two days of full-on learning, you'd think we'd be out of energy and take things easy.

Not a chance... Norman Cook (Fat Boy Slim) played a set, bringing the house down. Amazing!

To answer the question at the beginning of this article, it’s obviously

YES! Pax8 DELIVERED!

I love this Pax8 Community and am?already counting down to Amsterdam 2025.

Over the two and a half days, I caught up with many friends from the industry, and it was almost overwhelming! (PS: I always knew I was in the correct breakout if Edward also attended!??)

I'll have a go at tagging people:

Harald Nuij , Rob Rae , Aaron Watts , Kevin MacDonald , Montserrat Peidro , Kipp Johnson , Michael Breeze ?? , Phylip Morgan , Richard Tubb , Mostyn Thomas NCSC CCP , Matt Lee, CISSP, CCSP, CFR, PNPT , Lizzie Robinson-Hallwood , Ben Bryant , Edward Goessens , Morten Halvorsen , Thomas Midthjell , Davinder V. , Dave Brereton , Jack Lyons , Kevin Hammond , Dave Taylor , Scott Riley ?? , Mark Hope , Daniel Shone , Chris Gorman , David Murphy , Ian Groves , Amjad Shakeel , Simon Belt , Claire Jenks , Steven Pretlove , Heather MacDonald A. , Pete Matheson , Steve Cole , Michael Freeman , David Tulip , Austen Clark , Troy Midwood , ??Adam Vause , James Steel , Victor Raessen , Greg Jones , Jack Cooke , Melvyn White , Brian Byrne , please don't feel offended if I miss you, I think my brain has hit capacity! ??

5th - 8th October 2025 - seats will go fast, register now!

Pax8 Beyond Amsterdam - register here