ScalePad CEO Chris Day says MSPs are facing mounting pressure to support artificial intelligence as SMB clients adopt AI tools faster than many providers can operationalize, creating new urgency around automation, advisory services, and AI governance.
Clients are moving faster than providers
MSPs are being pulled into artificial intelligence faster than many expected, as small and midsize business clients begin adopting AI tools on their own.
“The customers that [partners] support are starting to push forward on AI, like shadow AI stuff themselves,” Day said in an interview with Channel Insider.
“MSPs are kind of stuck between two worlds: I’m trying to get this stuff going for myself as patient zero or customer zero. But then I also have this pressure from the VP of operations or another leader at the client, and he’s already deploying stuff.”
An emerging stressor for partners is how to quickly build a deeper understanding of AI to retain their customers’ trust, as demand outpaces strategy in some cases.
“My concern is just that SMBs lose interest in MSPs because they’re like, ‘I’m not getting good guidance here,’ or they think they can do more on their own,” said Day.
MSPs struggle to expand AI offerings
Day said most MSPs are not yet bringing AI to customers in a mature way. Instead, many are focused internally on service desk use cases.
“Everybody’s trying to kind of automate tier one support or tier two support,” he said. “There’s a ticket coming in. How do I respond better, give my tech better context, maybe automate time entries?”
Tool fatigue complicates adoption
That operational push comes as MSPs face a crowded market of AI tools.
“There’s got to be like almost one a day of new tools that are now popping up,” Day said. “Evaluating products right now feels like the plane’s in the air, and you’re trying to swap out the engine while flying.”
Day said vendors have a responsibility to reduce complexity by bringing AI capabilities into existing applications rather than forcing partners to bolt on more tools.
“I think it’s going to be the software companies that can bring that functionality quickly to existing apps where it’s like I don’t need to bolt on 20 things to make it work,” he said.
He added that MSPs should distinguish between major platform changes and lower-risk AI experiments.
“Switching PSAs, for example, is kind of like a one-way door,” Day said. “But if you want to buy an agent that’s going to help you process tickets and assign tickets and do research, I feel like it is a two-way door.”
In that analogy, Day said, the two-way door options are also relatively easy to pivot away from if the tool doesn’t fit the business’s long-term needs.
AI use cases beyond automated ticketing
Day said MSPs should also look beyond operations and use AI for marketing, sales, reporting, and strategic client engagement.
“There’s only so much blood you can squeeze from that stone,” he said of operational optimization. “Attracting new customers is one where I think there’s not enough work going into what’s possible.”
He also pointed to Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a way to reduce manual work across systems, saying MSPs can use AI to perform workflows that previously required “500 clicks.”
Why MSPs need to focus on AI and security advisory services
Ultimately, Day said AI could force MSPs to rethink their value proposition.
“The value will just shift from password resets and slow computers to helping to manage and secure AI processes for SMBs,” he said. “That’s a much higher-value operation for MSPs to provide. It’s way more fun too, right?”
As MSPs rethink their pricing models amid the growing popularity of AI advisory services, Day said there are ways to continue earning standard margins on new offerings.
“I still believe [what you provide is] worth $5,000 a month, right? It’s just $5,000 a month for a different thing, and it’s more on the advisory and the strategy side,” said Day.
“It’s always just been like, what is the customer feeling? And if they’re feeling like you’re their partner and you’re helping them get through this stuff and making improvements, then they won’t question the bill.”We’ve put together a guide for MSPs looking to build an AI strategy for SMB customers in 2026. Read it now and let us know what else would be helpful for you and your business.