Pax8 Report Examines Impact of Agentic AI

Pax8, a Denver-based cloud commerce marketplace, has released its inaugural market research report, exploring the potential impacts of Agentic AI and the democratization of enterprise-level technology on small-to-medium businesses. The company also introduced “Managed Intelligence;” its new framework intended to help various stakeholders navigate the transition into the agentic era.

“The proliferation of these AI agents will allow SMBs to compete against large enterprises and scale faster than ever,” said Scott Chasin, CEO of Pax8. “The rate at which this technology is advancing makes the next 24 to 36 months critical.”

Pax8’s research has identified four distinct levels of AI agent functionality, each representing a significant leap in autonomy and business impact. These levels include chatbots which respond to direct human prompts; assistants which decompose complex goals into actionable steps; digital labor which operate across multiple systems and tools with minimal human oversight; and the digital workforce combining coordinated systems of multiple agents working together to accomplish complex objectives at scale.

The “Agentic Inflection Point” report reveals that 54% of midsize enterprises have already deployed AI, and 83% of high-growth SMBs are actively experimenting with it. As AI capabilities mature, Pax8 predicts the rise of the “AI-Built SMB”—businesses that are AI-native from day one, embedding generative and agentic technologies into every facet of their operations. These companies automate everything from customer service to product development, favor modular, vertical solutions over legacy software suites and often scale with lean teams.

The report also predicts the rise of new pricing models based on consumption, impacts on workflow, or business outcomes such as alignment with the human equivalent they augment or replace.

Channel Impact^®
MSPs and other channel partners are advised to develop the skills necessary to guide clients through automation-powered reinvention, leveraging agent marketplaces, governance frameworks, and curated solution stacks.