Cynomi’s latest AI report suggests MSPs aren’t asking whether AI matters anymore; they’re trying to figure out how to survive, sell, and stay useful in an AI-heavy world.
Managed service providers (MSPs) have moved past early experimentation with AI and are now wrestling with more practical questions around security, customer expectations, and business strategy, according to a new report from cybersecurity platform provider Cynomi.
Cynomi summarizes Reddit, search patterns, and partner community
Released Monday, the report examines discussions happening across MSP communities rather than relying on surveys or market forecasts. The company said it reviewed conversations and research activity spanning Reddit discussions, AlsoAsked search patterns, Perplexity Deep Research data, and its own customer community between May 2025 and May 2026.
The report identified five recurring questions that appeared repeatedly across those channels:
- How do we say “no” to client AI requests without losing the account?
- Are clients leaking sensitive data into AI tools?
- Where does AI deliver value in the service desk?
- Is Microsoft Copilot good, and should MSPs sell it, bundle it, or recommend alternatives?
- Will AI replace MSPs, or change what clients need from them?
According to the findings, the discussions point toward an industry less worried about AI replacing providers and more focused on adapting their roles.
Security and governance keep taking center stage
Cynomi’s report argues that as automation takes over more routine tasks, customers are increasingly turning to providers for higher-level guidance involving governance, compliance, risk oversight, and strategic planning.
That conclusion mirrors broader trends Cynomi has been discussing throughout the past year.
In a Dec. 2025 interview with Channel Insider, Cynomi CEO David Primor said providers would increasingly need to separate themselves through specialized security offerings rather than relying solely on traditional IT services.
“What we see is that a lot of MSPs and MSSPs want to differentiate themselves from others, and we think security is one way to do that,” Primor told Channel Insider at the time.
The company’s earlier State of the vCISO data also showed that demand for virtual CISO services was growing significantly, with MSPs increasingly expanding into advisory- and compliance-focused work.
AI is becoming a tool for scale
Cynomi itself has spent much of the last year building AI-driven capabilities around that vision.
In April, the company introduced AI agents intended to function as digital security coworkers for MSPs. Those tools were designed around specific roles such as CISO, auditor, analyst, and executive communicator, helping providers automate reporting, compliance work, and remediation planning.
The company expanded that strategy further last week with broader AI coworker features and new vulnerability management integrations intended to reduce manual workload across customer environments.
Speaking with Channel Insider earlier this month, Primor said AI can help providers increase service capacity without a proportional increase in staffing.
“We can help you to be able to automate many of your processes in a way that you couldn’t do before,” Primor said. “You could onboard a junior CISO or IT guy and turn them to be a sophisticated cybersecurity expert using AI.”
AI competition may come from other providers, not AI itself
One of the strongest themes emerging from the report is the idea that the competitive risk for MSPs may not be AI itself, but providers that adopt AI faster than others.
“What makes this report different is that it reflects what MSPs are actually discussing with their peers, not what vendors think they should be discussing,” Primor said in a statement.
“Across Reddit, AI research platforms, and our own community, we saw the same themes emerge repeatedly. Service providers are no longer asking whether AI matters. They’re asking how to govern it, secure it, operationalize it, and turn it into a competitive advantage. The competitive threat isn’t AI replacing MSPs. It’s AI-enabled MSPs outperforming traditional MSPs.”
The findings suggest that AI conversations within the managed services community are shifting less toward technology adoption itself and more toward what comes after: who manages risk, who advises customers, and who becomes the trusted guide as businesses move deeper into AI use.