MSP 501 executives expect 2026 will be a pivotal year for AI adoption, cybersecurity, resiliency and acquisitions. In some cases, these topics are intertwined. The 2026 predictions also make it clear that earning customers’ trust will be more important this year than ever before.
“For 2026 I see continued consolidation with M&A activity, AI adoption is going to continue to accelerate in the MSP and SMB space, and vCISO and compliance services will continue to be a growth area,” is how Tim Guim, CEO of PCH Technologies, summed up his 2026 predictions.
MSP 501 executives don’t just expect AI to accelerate; they think it will dominate across all the services they offer.
“I believe that organizations will be challenged internally and externally to streamline and enable operations to involve AI or some form of automation in every step,” said Chris Ichelson, CEO of 360 SOC. “This will create opportunity for next gen vendors MSPs and MSSPs, and this also will challenge many of these same firms’ business models. How you adopt will change the trajectory of the future.”
AI: MSP 501 Expectations
Ocean Solutions CEO Ahmed Mahmood predicted 2026 will be the year MSPs move from experimenting with AI to generating revenue from the technology.
“I think more and more MSPs will try to find a way to make money with AI,” he said. “It's no more about ‘Let's play with AI. Let's say that we do AI just for fun.’ MSPs are going to try, and I think the best and easiest approach to making money from AI is going to come from things like DLP solutions around AI. MSPs can start generating revenue out of AI by putting in guardrails and providing visibility at the client level.
“I also feel that the MSPs who have AI subject matter experts are going to generate some non-recurring revenue projects out of doing AI scope of work for customers. Things like assessments and needs analysis. I think there will be a lot of non-recurring revenue that's going to come out of that and building the projects and putting clients on track.”
Sourcepass CEO Chuck Canton said AI will bring opportunities as well as challenges, particularly for MSPs serving mid-market companies.
“Expect MSPs to launch AI-included SKUs with premium pricing, as automation and intelligence become table stakes,” Canton said. “The mid-market will emerge as the key battleground, offering scale, complexity, and strong growth potential. Vendors will continue to accelerate platform consolidation, pushing providers toward unified ecosystems with integrated security, automation, and billing.”
Simon Chappel, CEO of Assured-Data Protection (DP), said AI governance will play a huge role in gaining customers’ trust and business.
“Organizations will no longer tolerate black-box AI,” Chappel said. “MSPs will need private, domain-trained models with clear data boundaries. Those who cannot prove how their AI is governed will lose trust -and market share.”
Thrive CTO Michael Gray said “2026 will bring cybersecurity’s ‘AI moment of truth’” because of the potential for breachers.
“The first major public breach of an AI model will expose how fragile model pipelines and data integrity really are,” he said. “Attackers will learn to ransom or corrupt models used in high-stakes industries like insurance and finance, forcing companies to treat AI as critical infrastructure rather than an experimental tool. The fallout will drive investment in model governance and ‘AI firewalls’ that verify system output for accuracy and trustworthiness, proof that advanced defenses mean little without getting the basics right. In the aftermath, regulators and security leaders will face growing pressure to define standards for AI integrity before public trust erodes further.”
Cybersecurity: MSP 501 Predictions for 2026
Thrive's Gray isn’t the only MSP 501 leader to point out the role AI will play in cybersecurity. BlackHawk Data CEO Maryann Pagano said attackers are using AI faster than defenders can keep up with and MSPs will have to work hard to stay ahead of the attacks.
“Teams will struggle to keep up without AI-driven threat defense,” Pagano said. “Everyone really has to take a good hard look at their security posture. I know we say it all the time, clients always say, ‘well we are good.’ But most simply are not. They wait until an attack happens to realize it. Proactively is going to be the key to keeping your company safe this year.
CloudWave CEO Erik Littlejohn said AI will continue to reshape cybersecurity, particularly in healthcare and other mission-critical industries. He predicts AI-driven attacks will outpace traditional defenses in healthcare, the industry CloudWave focuses on.
“2026 will be marked by a necessity for organizations worldwide to redefine their cybersecurity frameworks, ensuring that they not only meet compliance standards but also foster demonstrable resilience and trust in the systems that contain sensitive information,” Littlejohn said.
“The speed of AI-enhanced cyberattacks will outpace traditional cybersecurity defenses and human-led detection capabilities, requiring a paradigm shift towards autonomous/semi-autonomous AI-powered security solutions in the healthcare sector. This includes real-time detection and response technologies that move beyond traditional defenses, such as AI-powered endpoint detection and response (EDR) to help detect behavioral anomalies instantly, as well as managed detection and response (MDR) services with automated correlation to enhance threat detection and response capabilities. Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) solutions can also automate containment and incident response.”
Assured-DP’s Chappel predicts recovery SLAs will become the “new gold standard” for MSPs.
“Clients will evaluate service providers not by the features they offer, but by their demonstrated ability to recover businesses reliably under fire,” he said.
Other 2026 Trends Seen by MSPs
There is much talk of an AI bubble as investment in the technology outpaces revenue. MSPs are left wondering if that bubble will burst in 2026.
Thrive’s Gray predicts the AI bubble is headed for a “sharp correction – less of a bubble burst and more of a tidying up.” That will result in a consolidation of infrastructure players and a focus on vendors who add value.
“Companies will need to take a step back to understand where they are in their AI deployment and set out to master where they currently are before they scale,” he said. “The winners of this next phase won’t be those with the largest models, but rather those that prove the clearest value. Consolidation will usher in a more disciplined market, where substance and specificity finally outweigh hype.
Besides cybersecurity, AI will also play a role in cloud adoption, according to Blue Mantis CTO Sean Foley.
“Pressure on organizations to complete their cloud adoption will intensify significantly,” Foley said. “As a result, a greater focus for CIOs and their teams will be centered on portfolio and application rationalization, service rationalization, and the modernization of the overall IT operating model. There are greater expectations around AI adoption, but organizations need to finish their ‘dinner’ – cloud -- before they can move on to ‘dessert’ -- (AI).”
“Cloud environments are more fragmented than ever,” she said “Everyone raced to the cloud but didn’t really do a good enough analysis before they did. The industry is shifting toward cloud simplification, not cloud expansion. People need to bring in [service providers] who look at an environment from an agnostic perspective. Some sell product; some sell a solution to a problem. Picking the right people to help is important.”
Otava CEO TJ Houske said successful MSPs in 2026 will sharpen their focus on key areas.
“As the cloud continues to mature and cyber threats escalate, a few critical trends are defining the future of the MSP industry,” Houske said. “First, MSPs will deepen specialization. Specifically they will create a stronger focus on industry compliance and certifications. At the same time, the IT skills gap will persist, which will lead to more demand for high-touch MSPs that offer hands on support. And last but not least, technology channel partners shift their focus to cybersecurity. The fact is, cyberattacks are becoming more and more sophisticated. MSPs are recognizing this and increasingly moving toward providing this essential support.”