AI reshapes managed security services but it’s a double-edged sword

A new survey from OpenText Cybersecurity reveals that MSPs find AI as both a driver of growth and source of new challenges as as demand for scalable, integrated tools continues to rise.

In 2024, 93 percent of MSPs and managed security service providers (MSSPs) said AI interest would drive growth in their business that year. That trend has carried forward to this year, with 92 percent of MSPs now reporting business growth driven by interest in AI, and 96 percent expecting AI to drive business growth this year.

However, only about half feel prepared to guide small and mid-sized business (SMB) customers in adopting AI tools, citing limited resources, tool sprawl, and the challenge of standardizing services across customer environments. This marks a sharp decline from last year, when 90 percent of MSPs surveyed felt ready to meet AI-related security needs.

"MSPs are under pressure to match the pace of AI adoption by their SMB customers," says Michael DePalma, vice president of business development at OpenText Cybersecurity. "They need security partners who can deliver integrated, scalable services that reduce tool fatigue and simplify operations. That's exactly, what OpenText Secure Cloud platform provides -- flexible bundles, simplified deployment, and a channel team with deep industry expertise to help MSPs achieve scalable, profitable growth that meets the accelerating demands of AI-driven security."

Among other findings less than half have built or deployed AI cybersecurity agents for SMB customers. Many are using AI internally to build expertise though, 67 percent use it for customer support, 66 percent for technical support/ticket triage, and 58 percent for threat detection and response. Overall AI expertise has become the third most important MSP attribute for SMBs, following threat prevention and 24/7 support.

Bundled security packages are gaining traction according to the findings, 71 percent of SMBs prefer all-in-one prevention, detection and response bundles, followed by 45 percent preferring endpoint, network and email security bundles. Ease of integration ranks as ‘extremely important’ for 78 percent of MSPs, outranking vendor count.

Among MSPs 95 percent plan to expand managed service offerings in the next year, and 57 percent are actively developing new services. Priorities for these new services include integration across tools (38 percent) followed by high attach-rate with core services (18 percent), and broad applicability across SMB verticals (16 percent).

You can find out more on the Global Managed Security Survey on the OpenText site.

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