ScalePad’s Chris Day: Partners Need to Return to the Boardroom

ScalePad launched two significant product updates in August, focusing on lifecycle management and compliance services automation. As the company continues to double down on supporting MSPs, we spoke with CEO Chris Day about what he thinks channel partners need to keep in mind as they build for the future.

How Day wants to enable partners to meet the moment in AI and services demand

We caught up with Day in between two significant product launches for ScalePad. On August 12, the company rolled out a free version of its ControlMap compliance offering. This week, the new iteration of its lifecycle management platform goes live.

Lifecycle Manager X, which launched on August 26, is technically a new module added into ScalePad’s existing platform. The company says the new capabilities extend ScalePad’s platform into a “customer success platform purpose-built for MSPs.”

“For ScalePad, these are two huge releases. They just happened to converge on a close timeline like this,” Day said. “We are innovating fast now. The way we are structured, every product can go and build on its own, and then we have an overarching roadmap for the platform, so each unit can really build at the speed they need to be at.”

Lifecycle Manager X brings AI-powered client profiles, meeting summaries, reporting and budgeting presentations, and other automated solutions that should enable MSPs more insights into their clients’ businesses and their own operations.

For Day, 2025 has been a year marked by operational efficiencies and product innovation that will set ScalePad and its partners up for success in what he, and many others, consider a new era. As clients expect more out of their technology and consider it a core function of their operations, partners need to show ROI and connect tech to business outcomes.

“In a sense, that’s what customers care about the most,” Day said, referencing operational efficiency, security and compliance, andother use cases. “Clients don’t necessarily care about the plumbing in the background.”

Why MSPs need to act as business consultants, not just tech advisors

Day also stresses what he sees as the most problematic gap facing partners: their limited time with executives, who are leading their clients through digital transformation and evolving security needs.

“We’re looking in the rearview and we need to be looking forward through the windshield,” Day said, noting that most partners now use QBRs and other client-facing meetings as a way to summarize the amount of work they have done rather than preparing information on how they can help the client better plan for the future.

To Day, compliance concerns are one example of a great entry point for MSPs who want to more strategically support their clients’ business goals. ScalePad’s ControlMap solution promises to help partners automate facets of compliance-focused service offerings. With the free offering now available, Day hopes more partners will be able to show their clients gaps in their security postures. The solution is built for partners of all maturity levels to enter the GRC services market through guided assessments, client risk portals, and more features Day says helps partners show strategic value to their clients.

“If you’re a partner, you need to get back into the boardroom with your clients and understand where they think technology can help drive their business goals,” Day said. “You can take conversations to your clients before you suggest specific technologies. Providing assessments and readiness reports on things like compliance and AI show your clients what they still need to invest in and how that will impact their businesses.”

As Day notes, this type of client engagement will require MSPs to serve as technical advisors and as business consultants, a role that might feel uncomfortable to some but signals how emerging technologies have shifted the role of service providers in the market.

Why Day thinks the AI turning point is coming soon for SMBs and their channel partners

It’s easy, right now, to find channel leaders predicting a bold new world impacted by AI. To some, that time has already come to the channel, and most partners are already behind. Day sees things a little differently, though he too, says MSPs need to begin planning for new opportunities.

“This is a whole new world, and it can create a little anxiety because there’s so much happening every day,” said Day. “I do think we have a little bit of time on the customer side, especially in the SMB side, because most small companies are not necessarily on the bleeding edge.”

Day says that while he understands the level of uncertainty that channel partners might face right now, he still sees AI as a massive opportunity for those providers who can move forward with adapting to the changes.

“SMBs aren’t going to be able to do everything involved with AI on their own, they just don’t have the resources,” Day said. “So who is going to deploy all this AI in the SMB space? It’s going to be MSPs, and especially the MSPs who are proactive and start addressing those needs now.”