Have you grown tired of every message in your feeds and inboxes being about AI or the changes AI have wrought? Well, if your business revolves anywhere around managed services or the MSP acronym, there is no relief in sight. According to KPMG’s “2026 Managed Services Outlook,” AI is now a core expectation for managed services buyers. The report’s survey of 1,224 senior leaders involved in managed services decisions showed that 98 percent of companies see AI implementation as a critical managed services capability, while 91 percent said managed services matter for agentic AI delivery. Perhaps that’s not surprising. Businesses have always relied on MSPs to access cutting-edge and emerging technologies that would tax resources to build and evolve internally. And as organizations operate in an environment where speed, adaptability and constant innovation are prerequisite to competitiveness, AI is seen as an instrument for keeping pace and the bedrock to digital transformation. All the while, nearly nine out 10 respondents (87 percent) said managed services are already highly integrated into their digital transformation strategy. “The findings suggest buyers want providers to address AI deployment friction points that are hard to tackle alone,” said KPMG analysts. Even so, the report found that AI capability is the single most-cited consideration when selecting a managed services provider, narrowly edging out the traditional top consideration of technology or platform expertise. Incidentally, the AI capabilities that managed services buyers want most are data insights and analytics, security and threat intelligence, automation and efficiency gains and optimization of cloud applications. When asked to name the top areas of managed services adoption in the next 24 months, AI management services was far and away the top choice out of 19 functional areas. Much the same emerged when buyers were asked to consider the top areas of expected value delivered by managed services in the coming years – AI management was far and away the winner, named by nearly two-thirds of respondents. The top area today in both managed services adoption and value is IT infrastructure management. Moving forward, however, customers will ask MSPs to do much more than run their environment. They will be looking for providers that can tie AI to cost-control, compliance, resiliency and business outcomes. “Cloud-based applications will remain foundational, but the current AI zeitgeist suggests that AI-enabled automation and operational intelligence will increasingly dominate the managed service value proposition,” said IDC analysts, which conducted the surveys for the KPMG study. “Buyers want assurance not only that providers can deploy AI, but that they will do so with disciplined governance, clear toolchains, explicit data-sharing boundaries, and security controls that reduce risk exposure in a rapidly expanding AI ecosystem.” MSP + AI = Managed AI LETTER Martin Vilaboy Editor-in-Chief martin@bekabusinessmedia.com Gerald Baldino Contributing Editor gerald@bekabusinessmedia.com Percy Zamora Art Director percy@bekabusinessmedia.com Jen Vilaboy Ad Production Director jen@bekabusinessmedia.com Cole deCathelineau Senior Account Executive cole@bekabusinessmedia.com (215)-650-3240 Berge Kaprelian Group Publisher berge@bekabusinessmedia.com (480) 503-0770 Beka Business Media Berge Kaprelian President and CEO Corporate Headquarters 10115 E Bell Road, Suite 107 - #517 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 Voice: 480.503.0770 Email: berge@bekabusinessmedia.com © 2026 Beka Business Media, All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in any form or medium without express written permission of Beka Business Media is prohibited. ChannelVision and the ChannelVision logo are trademarks of Beka Business Media Source: KPMG; IDC How has your contact center operations head count changed over the past 12 months? Top areas of managed services adoption (out of 19 functional areas) 33% 38% 29% 2023 2024 2025 29% 46% 25% 19% 42% 39% IT infrastructure management Today In 2 years AI management services (e.g. center of excellence) Applications management (SaaS) Cybersecurity AI management services Applications management (SaaS) IT infrastructure management Cybersecurity Audit Compliance Contract services Customer service Audit Compliance 40% 56% 33% 28% 27.5% 20% 20% 20% 36% 34% 19% 17% 16.5% 16% 6 CHANNELVISION | 2026 TSD DIRECTORY
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