MSPs See AI, Cybersecurity Driving Double-Digit Growth
‘AI is all about automation and saving customers money,’ says iCorps CEO Michael Hadley. ‘It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. The adoption is greater than I anticipated. Everyone is trying to save money right now.’
Michael Hadley, president and CEO of iCorps Technology, a Woburn, Mass.-based MSP, said he expects proven cost reductions from the adoption of AI solutions to help drive an estimated 15 percent sales growth this year for iCorps.
“AI is all about automation and saving customers money,” said Hadley. “It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. The adoption is greater than I anticipated. Everyone is trying to save money right now. … Last year people were looking at AI. This year people are adopting.”
In one case, a construction company has saved $200,000 annually with a customized Microsoft Copilot iCorps AI solution aimed at speeding up the contract proposal process and project management.
iCorps is also implementing AI solutions for law firms adopting it for document analysis and for banks to flag abnormal responses and applications for risk management.
Hadley said he expects to see the pace of AI adoption pick up even more next year as more customers see the cost savings and competitive advantages driven by AI solutions. “The tipping point for AI adoption is companies see that it is making them more competitive,” he said.
Rick Jordan, director of sales and strategic alliances for MSP Corp, a Canadian MSP group with 14 MSPs, said he expects 10 percent growth powered in part by cybersecurity and AI solutions. “It’s an exciting time to be in the business with AI,” he said. “It’s the year of AI. Vendors are embracing it. Everyone is incorporating it. We are all in.”
That said, Jordan cautioned that there are still a lot of unknowns with AI and it is up to MSPs like MSP Corp to educate customers to implement the right governance and structure to adopt AI solutions.
“We have had a lot of customers that are eager to adopt, but it has to be structured and phased in,” he said. “We are educating clients about how to properly install and manage AI solutions.”
Leo Bletnitsky, founder and president of Healthy Technology Solutions, a Las Vegas-based MSP, said he expects 20 percent to 25 percent sales growth with his company mitigating security risk for customers.
A big focus is on compliance as a service for health-care organizations and getting customers prepared for the AI era with robust compliance offerings, said Bletnitsky. “We are getting people ready for AI adoption,” he said. “This is not the year of AI. This is the beginning of the decade for AI. The risk is not going away. The risk is increasing. Mitigating that risk is an opportunity for us.”
Bletnitsky said his company is focused on how to use AI in vertical applications to improve the customer service being provided by his clients. “That is the critical piece,” he said. “That will add massive value.”
Healthy Technology Solutions is using MSP software from Hatz AI to create preprogrammed AI prompts for health-care customers. That includes a medical AI app for patients. “If I can save a doctor a minute a patient across a typical primary care doctor that sees 40 patients a day, that is 40 minutes a day,” said Bletnitsky. “There’s a lot of different opportunities.”
Zac Paulson, director of product and strategy for ABM Technology Group, a Fargo, N.D.-based MSP, said he expects ABM sales to grow 10 percent to 20 percent this year “as more customers adopt security and AI solutions.
“Security sales are strong and AI is impacting us, customers are curious and want to see how it can impact their business,” said Paulson.
Paulson expects more deployment of Microsoft Copilot this year after many customers tested the AI offering over the course of the last year. “We are putting all our eggs in the Copilot basket,” he said.
Key to kicking in AI solutions is educating customers about the full potential and capabilities of Copilot and AI solutions, said Paulson. “It is going to change the world, there is no question about that,” he said.
One prospective customer is a municipality that is interested in using an AI bot-based solution for citizens to get information on everything from their tax bill to city services, said Paulson. “Citizens could get information on their tax bill, when is their garbage day or recycling,” he said. “We are in the discovery stage right now. The end goal is that there would be a bot that residents could interact with.”
Among ABM’s AI offerings is a data governance service for AI and Copilot.
Given the robust capabilities and return on investment of Copilot, Paulson said the $30-per-user, per-month subscription for M365 business and enterprise plans is a no-brainer. “When you start to think of the power behind it, it really doesn’t cost a dime,” he said. “Where the money is going to be had for MSPs is in the deployment, data governance and all the things that go into a successful deployment. You can spin up licenses until you are blue in the face, but if you don’t manage the back end of it you will just cause more problems.”
