The next wave of the AI revolution is upon us. Agentic AI is here, with recent research estimating that 85% of organizations will use AI agents in 2025. The rise of agentic AI is already creating a massive business opportunity for MSPs, but as MSPs work to meet demand for agents, they should also understand that agentic AI also has the power to transform the way that they operate, saving them additional time and money, and upleveling the power of their services.

Unlike generative AI tools, AI agents have the power to make expert-level decisions without direct prompting from a user; that’s a big part of the reason why we’re starting to see more partners leverage agentic AI to streamline operations, improve security posture, and build economic resiliency in the face of a continued skills shortage and an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

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What is Agentic AI?

Agentic AI is a specialized AI system with some level of decision-making authority (meaning that it doesn’t need to be prompted to perform every action). This technology has many clear applications in customer service and support scenarios, and it also has a growing number of potential behind-the-scenes use cases.

Imagine paying just a few dollars a month for a customer service or cybersecurity support professional with expert-level knowledge and decision-making power—that’s one thing that agentic AI can provide to organizations like MSPs. These intelligent systems can operate tirelessly, and adapt to complex scenarios to deliver consistent, high-quality results without the need for human intervention. By handling repetitive and time-consuming tasks, agentic AI allows human workers to focus on strategic initiatives, fostering innovation and driving business growth. Furthermore, its autonomous decision-making capabilities mean that critical actions can be executed instantly, eliminating delays caused by human factors, and ensuring faster problem resolution and enhanced operational efficiency.

The Role of AI Agents in MSP Operations

While general AI models provide broad, generic responses, AI agents operate with specialized expertise and autonomous decision-making power within domains like customer service, IT support, and sales. The key distinction lies not only in their technical sophistication but in their ability to function as virtual team members rather than mere tools, which is a big part of the reason why they’re so valuable.

When a security alert triggers at 2 a.m., for example, an AI agent doesn’t need coffee or time to get up to speed — it immediately begins executing predefined response protocols set by their human creators, gathering diagnostic information, and implementing initial remediation steps while simultaneously notifying the appropriate human technicians for complex issues requiring expert intervention. For MSPs handling repetitive, high-volume tasks across multiple client environments, this specialization and autonomy represent a fundamental shift in operational efficiencies. AI agents can observe their environment, recommend resource checks based on predefined goals, and take actions to achieve those goals — all while learning and improving from each situation or incident.

By using agentic AI to continuously monitor performance metrics, usage patterns, and historical incident data, MSPs can also shift from reactive firefighting to proactive service delivery, reducing emergency response scenarios while improving overall client satisfaction. All of this makes agentic AI a game-changing, cost-saving innovation for MSPs.

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Implementing Agents Securely and Effectively

AI agents’ autonomous learning process means MSPs can implement automation without the traditional overhead of manual workflow creation. That’s why 71% of companies expect AI agents to drive automation, and 64% expect them to free up human workers from routine tasks, such as system updates, regular maintenance, and monitoring alerts. This helps providers like MSPs not only cut down on errors and costs but also raise productivity and improve the general efficacy of their offerings, resulting in better outcomes for everyone involved.

When introducing agentic AI, organisations should approach the onboarding and enabling the same way they would a new staff member:

  • Job clarity: A human employee requires clarity specific to their role in an organization in order to succeed, and so does an agent. When agents have established job clarity, it’s very clear to see how success is defined and measured, which makes success easier to achieve.
  • IQ: An employee’s intelligence and skill comes from the data and experiences throughout their life and career. The same is true of an agent, and the data available to the agent becomes critical in the ability for it to be able to perform effectively. An organization’s data and content are the brain of an AI agent.
  • Intelligence and reasoning: A human’s ability to reason is what sets us apart. Because agentic has the ability to reason, it is important for organizations to build agents on top of models that are best suited to both the organization and the desired agent role.
  • Ability to execute: If agents can’t execute, they can’t be effective and drive results. That’s why it’s important that organizations have the processes and automation for the agent to execute tasks.

AI is uniquely poised to revolutionize the way MSPs operate and engage with their customers, offering unprecedented opportunities for efficiency, innovation, and value creation. By adopting this next-generation technology, MSPs can streamline operations, enhance proactive service delivery, and elevate customer satisfaction, all while navigating a landscape shaped by economic and skills challenges, though it’s important to remember that success hinges on responsible implementation, grounded in robust data governance and strategic frameworks like Gartner’s TRiSM. With secure, thoughtful adoption, agentic AI can empower MSPs to refine and redefine their role as trusted partners in the digital age.

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