The Cloud Marketplace
of the Future

Legacy Is A Liability: How Marketplaces Help You Win

April 30, 2025

Author: Sydney Neely

Pax8's Ryan Walsh urges MSPs to embrace cloud marketplaces for future success and highlights their unmatched scale and efficiency. As today's IT customers expect more and faster, the digital marketplace is critical for MSPs to meet the moment.

At XChange March, Ryan Walsh, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Pax8, delivers a bold message to MSPs: The channel is at a crossroads, and legacy distribution is no longer enough. In his keynote, Walsh calls cloud marketplaces the key to future success—offering scale, automation and efficiency that traditional models can’t match. With global cloud services spending projected to reach $595 billion in 2025 and growing rapidly, Walsh says the opportunity for MSPs is massive—but only for those ready to adapt.

Walsh emphasizes that modern buyers expect more: business advice, personalized service and digital-first experiences. “The rise of self-service automation and marketplaces are changing how MSPs operate—or they should,” he says. Smaller MSPs are already punching above their weight by embracing innovation quickly, and those who lag risk losing relevance. With Pax8’s marketplace platform, Walsh notes that partners are seeing increased order value and improved customer satisfaction. His message is clear: Marketplaces aren’t optional—they’re inevitable.