The state of the channel 2026: ‘MSPs, get your own house in order to drive forward AI sales’

CRN was at the MSP Show in London this week. We sat down with Carolyn April, VP of research and market intelligence at the Global Technology Industry Association (GTIA) on the direction of the channel

MSPs are already generating meaningful revenue from AI, particularly from consultancy, but most are still some way off turning that into a scalable business model.

Speaking to CRN at the MSP Show in London alongside the launch of the GTIA State of the Channel 2026 report, Carolyn April, vice president of research and market intelligence at the Global Technology Industry Association, said the channel has reached a critical inflection point between experimentation and execution.

The data underlines the opportunity. Around 35 per cent of MSPs say between 11 per cent and 25 per cent of their revenue now comes from AI-related services.

But April cautioned that much of this is still early-stage, often driven by Copilot deployments or advisory-led engagements rather than deeply embedded AI practices.

“There’s revenue there already,” she says. “But it’s not necessarily the depth we’re going to expect down the road.”

Get your house in order: MSPs must operationalise AI before they scale it

The single most important decision MSPs and ITSPs need to take this year is to move beyond informal AI usage and formalise it inside their own organisations.

On paper, AI adoption looks almost universal. In reality, maturity remains limited. While 97 per cent of service providers report using AI in some form, only 28 per cent classify themselves as AI-driven organisations.

That gap reflects a market where most firms are still experimenting at the desktop level rather than executing against a structured strategy.

April’s message is clear: MSPs need to “get their house in order” before they take AI propositions to market. That starts with turning AI into a top-down business objective.

Her number one piece of advice to implement this year is to appoint a clear owner for AI within the business, and build governance around how it is used.

Using the analogy of cybersecurity due diligence and governance, she is calling for MSPs to consider policies, workflows and approved tools to be defined in the same way partners already approach their cybersecurity practices.

Without that internal discipline, she warns, MSPs risk undermining their own credibility.

“There are companies going out and talking to customers about AI and then realising they don’t really have the gravitas to back it up,” she says, drawing a parallel to business-threatening breaches in the channel.

At the same time, there is a clear opportunity to monetise AI even at this early stage.

Much of today’s revenue is being driven by consulting, as customers look to providers for guidance on where AI fits within their end user businesses. For MSPs, that creates a lucrative entry point, particularly when formalised through structured assessment-led engagements that can be repeated and scaled.

“I highly recommend these assessment tools. I'm not going to recommend any individual one, but they exist, and that's a really good tactical starting point for a lot of companies that haven't thought about this yet. That really do help a MSP evaluate their own maturity with AI and they can also be uses to help evaluate their customers as well – and then that becomes a revenue generator.”

The risk, however, is that partners stay in this phase for too long. The next stage of growth will depend on turning that early consulting revenue into operational capability.

What surprised April most about this year’s State of the Channel report?

While much of the data showed alignment across global markets, one area stood out in the UK and Ireland results: the prominence of the skills and talent challenge.

According to GTIA’s findings, 37 per cent of MSPs cite talent shortages as a key issue, but April notes that it ranked higher in the UK data set than in other global regions surveyed.

“Entry into any new market is challenging. One of the things that does stand out in the UK data as a bigger challenge than some of the other countries is the talent issue. Everyone is trying to find the right people to hire, and they're in short supply often,” she says.

“Then you think about, well, how can I retrain people I already have on staff? All of that takes money and resources, and I know that the skills and talent issue or the workforce issue was one of the top challenges service providers in this market mentioned as a challenge.”

In this sense, talent is then likely to become an increasingly key point of differentiation. Those MSPs that can build, retain and structure AI capabilities internally will be better positioned to move from experimentation into execution.

From Copilot to vertical AI: where MSPs will actually differentiate

While AI revenue is already flowing, April was clear that much of the market is still operating in a crowded, horizontal space.

Her advice is for MSPs to consider focusing on vertical niches to grow their AI revenue.

“Verticalisation is where the opportunity is really starting to emerge. The more advanced, AI‑driven MSPs are already figuring out how to apply AI to specific industries, and that’s where there’s good money to be made. But most of the channel isn’t there yet; they’re still focused on horizontal use cases like Copilot, chatbots or internal automation on the helpdesk, which tend to be siloed and not fully integrated.”

She adds: “As you move into vertical markets – whether that’s legal, healthcare or manufacturing, you can apply AI in much more meaningful, differentiated ways. That’s the leading edge right now, and it’s how MSPs will stand out in what is becoming a very crowded AI market. At the same time, we’re seeing more partners reassess their vendor strategies as new, AI-led and vertical-focused providers enter the ecosystem, which is accelerating that shift.”

In fact, April highlighted that the MSPs in the report emphasised vendor diversification as a hedge strategy against current economic instability.

April’s guidance reflects that pragmatism. AI is now non-negotiable for the channel, but it must be approached in a way that is structured, credible and commercially sustainable.

The GTIA State of the Channel findings point to a market that has moved beyond AI hype, but is still working out how to operationalise it. You can click here to access it.

For MSPs, the next 12 months will be defined by how effectively they can turn early AI momentum into structured capability, build internal credibility, and find ways to differentiate in an increasingly crowded market.

Those that do will move into the small but growing group of truly AI-driven partners. Those that don’t risk being left competing on the same commoditised ground as everyone else.