Pax8 introduces 8os to enable IT partners to control AI agents and 8bot as a managed AI worker

Small business software marketplace Pax8 Inc. today launched 8os, an operating system that enables its information technology service provider partners to control the artificial intelligence agents running in their customers’ businesses.

A second product, 8bot, provides these customers’ employees with a managed AI workforce that partners deploy and monitor through 8os. Pax8 presented both at its Beyond EMEA conference in Copenhagen.

The launch targets a governance gap that continues to surface in Pax8’s quarterly SMB AI Pulse surveys. According to the company, nine out of 10 small businesses are using or experimenting with AI, and only 23% have a documented policy covering it. Of those using AI, 71% have developed at least one tool of their own, and only 31% of developers have a formal review or approval process. Nearly half of respondents said they had found unauthorized “shadow AI” in the past six months.

According to Pax8, 84% of business leaders surveyed would trust an external technology consultant to help them implement AI. The company wants its partners to act as advisors and has moved to calling partners who do AI work managed intelligence providers. A program launched in June at Pax8’s Beyond conference in Salt Lake City is guiding managed service providers through this transformation, starting with an assessment of their AI maturity.

The new operating system is based on the marketplace through which more than 47,000 IT providers already sell software to around 800,000 small businesses. Partner and customer identities are adopted. Agents and models from different providers are then managed together as one workforce, with the partner setting the ownership and operating rules for each client. Each customer’s memory and context are kept separate, allowing AI agents to become more useful to the customer over time.

Usage and spending are measured per user and per customer, and hard caps limit consumption before the bill gets out of control. The partner decides what to charge, with billing handled through the Pax8 account they already have.

Employees of customer companies receive 8bot. The assistant handles day-to-day tasks and returns work for staff to review and refine before using it elsewhere in the company. Resellers offer it as a package service under 8os governance, and Pax8 presents it as something they can deploy and start billing in minutes.

“AI is becoming a worker, and that is changing what small businesses need from their technology partners,” said Chief Executive Scott Chasin. This workforce will come from many providers and models, he added. In Chasin’s account, partners would use 8os to manage them for each customer, with 8bot as an AI employee that they can deploy, support and bill.

Libby McIlhany, Pax8’s chief product officer, said the partners asked for a way to deliver AI “without building a customized solution for each customer.”

Limited early access to both products opens this week, ahead of general availability planned for early next year.

Photo: Pax8