As organisations lean into their AI plans for 2026, they’re re-evaluating their service provider partnerships. The shape and size of a modern technology footprint is dynamic, oriented around specific outcomes instead of being broken down into consumable units of managed IT componentry. Customer transactions, cases closed, production line capacity and many other core business metrics are replacing network SLAs, cloud consumption, software licences assigned and lines of code created. The market is seeing early activity in new technology delivery pricing and value, while traditional MSPs are being caught flat-footed when presenting welded-on commercial models to customers considering their renewals. Some customers are moving away from MSPs altogether, hoping instead to bring automation and AI to bear across proprietary and off-the-shelf solutions to dynamically build production-scale outcomes.
As the trusted partner and source of IT capability for many organisations, MSPs have the opportunity to reposition their value to customers through the lens of AI and automation centred on business outcomes. For many long-term customers, their service provider’s knowledge of the core business and its operational challenges is key to truly adding value. Yet we are seeing organisations increasingly reach outside these traditional relationships to answer what their long-term partners seem unable to: how should they build, embrace and adopt AI in their strategy? And as AI rapidly escapes the orbit of technology-only engagements, new partnerships and sources of value can be built around lines of business and operational teams rather than through a centralised technology function and procurement office.
The shift away from broad, generic infrastructure management provided by MSPs towards business-centric, automated and AI-driven outcomes creates the opportunity for what we’re calling the Strategic Technology Partner. This partner has the industry-specific domain knowledge that is critical in applying AI and automation for a given customer. They build it on top of core infrastructure, cyber security and application capability, ensuring the way new technologies and techniques are deployed continues to add value for their customers. New engagements may materially disrupt existing commercial arrangements, moving from longer-term, fixed-price contracts that are relatively easy for the service provider to resource, to fast-moving, transformational business change priced on measured value to the organisation. This is a real challenge to the accepted order of things in the industry, and may prove seismic.
MSPs wishing to secure a place as the Strategic Technology Partner for their customers need to revisit their engagement, operating and commercial models. At the same time, customers want to know that the ‘givens’ of an MSP contract – operational reliance, performance, cost-effectiveness and cyber security, coupled with the now-critical company-centric sovereignty – will remain, alongside dynamic, value-oriented offerings using AI and automation. Whether these new capabilities are first built through partnering or by hiring new teams, there’s no doubt the traditional buyer has changed, and with it the sales motion and engagement must change too.
A consultative approach – engaging customers around their business pain points, with a view to sensible, repeatable and reliable AI-driven outcomes that move the revenue, profit or customer service needle – is going to be key. We will continue to see a move away from age-old pricing and procurement models, where RFPs and EOIs are answered with formulaic responses, to consulting-led, business-unit engagements that seek to quickly identify and deploy AI-driven transformation across the technology stack.
Not all MSPs will make the journey and become successful Strategic Technology Partners. But many have begun, and we expect to see an acceleration of partnering and acquisition activity centred on bringing on board the capabilities customers are demanding now. It’s going to be critical to the success of organisations’ AI- and automation-led revolution in their core business, and potentially existential for many more traditional service providers.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn on 16 February 2026.