Pax8 backs UK Government AI Skills Boost for workers

Pax8 has joined the UK Government's AI Skills Boost programme as a Strategic Partner, expanding the roster of companies involved in a national workplace training initiative focused on artificial intelligence.

The programme, led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, sets out an ambition to equip ten million workers with practical AI skills by 2030. Pax8 joins a group of founding partners that includes Microsoft.

Training offer

AI Skills Boost provides free AI courses through the Government's AI Skills Hub. The programme positions the courses as industry-developed. It says they have been benchmarked against Skills England's AI foundations standard.

The course content covers workplace tasks such as creating content and using AI tools in day-to-day workflows. The materials also cover productivity-related use cases, according to the programme description.

Channel route

Pax8 operates a cloud commerce marketplace and works with managed service providers and software vendors. The company said its role in the initiative will focus on the channel community.

As a Strategic Partner, Pax8 will drive AI learning opportunities through that channel, according to the company. It will also share insights and adoption trends from across the small and mid-sized business technology market.

The company framed the partnership in the context of its work with managed service providers that package and deliver IT services for smaller firms. Pax8 refers to those partners as Managed Intelligence Providers.

In the UK technology sector, managed service providers often act as an intermediary between software vendors and smaller organisations that lack dedicated IT teams. That model can influence how quickly new technologies reach small businesses, since managed service providers commonly decide what to recommend, deploy and support.

Pax8 said it has a global network of more than 47,000 managed service providers. It said it links partners, vendors and small to mid-sized businesses through its marketplace platform.

The company also described the use of AI-powered insights and product support within its marketplace. It said it provides software and services to small and mid-sized businesses and focuses on security among its areas of work.

Government focus

The AI Skills Boost programme sits within a wider policy push around digital skills and the adoption of AI tools in the workplace. The Government has pointed to AI as a source of productivity improvements, while also highlighting the need for workers to gain practical skills and familiarity with new tools.

Skills England has developed a standards framework that includes an AI foundations standard. The programme states that its courses have been benchmarked against that standard.

Pax8 said it expects the partnership to connect its partner base with the training content offered through the Government hub. It also positioned its input as a source of data points on adoption patterns among small and mid-sized businesses.

Partner comments

Pax8 described its channel ecosystem as a route for smaller firms to engage with new technologies. The company linked that view to the AI skills agenda.

"Pax8 is committed to ensuring that businesses are not left behind in the AI transformation. Our ecosystem of Managed Intelligence Providers plays a crucial role in enabling smaller businesses to adopt new technologies with confidence. We are proud to support this national effort alongside DSIT and other leading organisations and we look forward to helping people across the UK build the AI skills they need to thrive," said Harald Nuij, Pax8 EMEA CEO, Pax8.

The AI Skills Boost programme continues to add partners and course material through the Government's AI Skills Hub as it works towards its 2030 workforce target.