Managed service providers have spent years evolving beyond the break-fix model, but conversations at GTIA ChannelCon 2026 suggest the industry is entering another significant transition.
AI is automating parts of service delivery, reshaping workforce expectations, and giving customers direct access to technology they once relied on providers to manage. That is raising the value of something technology itself cannot easily replace: an MSP’s ability to understand a customer’s business and translate technology into an outcome.
“The AI is just part of the how,” Auvik Vice President of Product and Market Strategy Steve Petryschuk told Channel Insider at ChannelCon. “What is the problem my end client actually has? And how do I help them leverage AI to solve that problem?”
The implication is increasingly clear: technical competence remains foundational, but it may no longer be enough to differentiate an MSP.
MSPs move toward business advisory services
Petryschuk said the industry should resist turning every customer interaction into an AI conversation.
“Not every conversation needs to be about AI, not every conversation needs to be pushing that agenda,” he said. Customers are ultimately “focusing on solving their business problems,” he added, and MSPs need to determine whether AI belongs in that solution.
That aligns with a broader shift Channel Insider has tracked as MSPs develop AI advisory practices and look for ways to move beyond technology implementation toward strategy, governance and transformation work.
“Our job is to go out and really stay on top of these various different market changes and trends… We’ve always had some level of responsibility for staying on top of these types of trends,” said Jeremy Nelson, CISO for North America at Insight, in an interview with Channel Insider in July.
Coro executives Demetrios Georgiou and Heather Paunet made a similar argument at ChannelCon. Georgiou said partners trying to monetize AI should begin with expertise they already possess rather than chasing every emerging use case.
“You have over 20, 30, 40 years of experience with specific edge cases around your business,” he said. “Focus on what your expertise is, and that’s where [you] utilize AI.”
Vendors rethink how they support MSP partners
Paunet said vendor conversations with MSPs are also changing.
“The majority of the conversations I have [are] less about us and more about helping them,” she said, including questions such as, “How do I penetrate a new market? How do I get visibility? How should I structure my team to do this new strategy that we’re going after?”
“Sales ends up being a byproduct of you being a consultant on a larger scale for them,” Paunet said.
As AI and other market demands continue to push MSPs into new areas, vendor executives are redesigning partner programs and approaching in-person events and community building with a refreshed urgency.
AI changes the skills MSP employees need
The same transition is reshaping the MSP workforce.
During ChannelCon’s Visionaries panel, executives repeatedly described AI as a way to move employees away from repetitive work and toward more strategic responsibilities.
Microsoft’s Nina Harding described partner development managers who may eventually operate with “15 agents behind them,” allowing routine work around customer lists, value propositions and case studies to happen in seconds.
“But that PDM now has to have the skills around negotiation,” Harding said. “We have to be more of a strategist, to know where to point the business.”
Cybersecurity professor and MSP founder Sandellyo Kauba said that change is already reaching entry-level technical roles.
“Most organizations that we partnered with that are part of our advisory boards have come back and said, ‘We’re not looking for Tier 1 entry-level candidates anymore,’” Kauba said.
Employers increasingly want workers who already know “how to utilize these emerging technologies, AI, scripting and so forth,” he added, because many tasks previously assigned to inexperienced employees can now be handled through prompting and automation.
“So now what we have to do is ensure that our students are Tier 2,” Kauba continued. “They’re not just getting theory; they’re getting hands-on, and they’re able to be seen as an asset from day one.”
Business maturity becomes a stronger MSP differentiator
AI is also exposing another distinction inside the MSP market: the difference between operating a technical practice and running a mature company.
Evergreen M&A advisor Craig Fulton said some owners approaching a sale discover they have spent years thinking primarily like technicians rather than business operators.
“They’ve been running the business maybe more technically than financially,” Fulton said.
His recommendation for owners considering an eventual exit is straightforward: “If you’re getting serious about selling within like three years, start running the business as if someone else is gonna buy it.”
That includes cleaning up expenses, understanding adjusted profitability, addressing succession planning and building a company that can operate beyond its founder.
Fulton also argued that the people component remains fundamental despite AI’s growing role.
“Every business in the world is there because of people,” he said. “I don’t care what AI’s going to do. It’s the people.”
MSP value shifts beyond technology delivery
Taken together, the ChannelCon conversations point toward an MSP model in which technology remains essential but increasingly serves as the foundation rather than the entirety of the value proposition.
The companies positioned to benefit most from AI may not simply be the ones that automate the most work. They may be the ones that pair technical expertise with industry knowledge, business strategy, operational maturity, and employees capable of turning increasingly powerful technology into measurable customer outcomes.
“We can’t just be a utility keeping the lights on anymore,” Integris CEO Rashaad Bajwa told Channel Insider recently. “The MSPs are the people. We are the service. We are the trusted advisor for our customers, and we need to be where they need us.”