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500+
Attendees
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92%
C-Suite
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70+
Channel Influencers
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50+
Tools & Templates
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Most MSP owners won’t say this in a vendor booth. In a peer conversation, though, the question comes out: What if we’re building the thing that replaces us?
It’s the most honest question in the room right now.
The operators heading to Build IT Live 2026 this August are sitting with a specific, practical version of that fear: if AI can handle L1 through L3 at scale, route tickets intelligently, draft documentation, and predict churn before it happens, what does the MSP bring to the table in five years?
The answer is not obvious. And that is the point.
“There is a difference between an MSP that runs AI tools and one that has restructured its delivery model around AI.”
The case that AI does replace MSPs
It’s worth taking the threat seriously before dismissing it. AI agents are already resolving tickets without human intervention. Agentic workflows are handling patch cycles, alert triage, and compliance checks that used to require a technician. The cost curve for automated service delivery is heading in one direction. And the vendors selling those tools sell straight to the SMBs MSPs serve too.
If the value an MSP sells is technical labor at a markup, that value gets harder to defend every year. The MSPs who are honest about this are rethinking what they’re actually selling.
Two Paths for MSPs in the AI Era
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The Risk MSPs built on technical labor AI handles L1–L3, patch cycles, alert triage. Vendors sell direct to SMBs. Value erodes. Margin compresses every year. |
The Opportunity MSPs built on advice and accountability AI strips delivery cost. Margin reinvested into vCIO work, compliance, strategy. Revenue per client goes up, not down. |
The session at Build IT Live 2026 is built around this gap.
The shift: from MSP to MIP
This is the reframe Sunny Kaila has been building toward. The real question is whether your business is still structured like a Managed Service Provider or whether it’s evolved into something else: a Managed Intelligence Provider.
The MSP model was built for a world where clients needed people to manage technology on their behalf. That world still exists, but it’s shrinking. The new world needs something different. Clients need someone who can look at their data, interpret what it means for their business, and tell them what to do next. That’s the MIP.
| MSP: Managed Service Provider | MIP: Managed Intelligence Provider |
|---|---|
| Sells technical labor at a markup | Sells outcomes, intelligence, and strategy |
| Competes on headcount and response time | Competes on insight, accountability, and trust |
| Vulnerable as AI automates ticket resolution | Strengthened as AI handles the repetitive work |
| Revenue tied to hours and seats | Revenue tied to client success and growth |
The shift means moving up the value stack, so your managed services become the foundation of a higher-margin, higher-trust relationship. The operators who are making this transition are using AI to carry the operational weight so their people can focus on the strategic layer AI can’t replicate.
That’s a business model decision, not a technology one. And it’s the conversation Sunny built this year’s agenda around.
What the session is actually designed to do
The AI and Future track at Build IT Live 2026 is a set of working sessions led by operators and practitioners who are already several implementation cycles in, not vendor showcases or theoretical frameworks. Below is what is on the agenda, and who is leading each conversation.
| Security Around AI Implementations: Protecting Your MSP and Your Clients Joshua Coke |
| From Experimentation to Strategy: Building an AI Roadmap for Your MSP Stephen Boss |
| AI Governance & Compliance: What MSPs Need to Have in Place Before a Client Asks Beth Leonard and Michael Slater |
| AI and Margin: Where Automation Actually Improves Your Bottom Line Baxter Lanius |
| Building the Agentic MSP: The Security Integration Layer for Digital Employees Shahin Pirooz |
| How AI is Making MFA Bypass & Token Theft Significantly Harder to Detect Cooper Edmunds and Nathan Ostrowski |
| Will AI Make MSPs Obsolete? An Honest Assessment Rich Carlton and William Flannery |
| Beyond the Hype: A Working Guide to AI Tools and Use Cases for MSP Operators David Powell |
The format matters
Build IT Live runs August 3 to 5 at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City. The full AI Accelerator on Day 3 runs two parallel tracks: one for owner-operators doing hands-on build work, one for senior executives mapping implementation strategy. Both tracks are included in the $1,495 registration, so depth doesn’t cost extra.
500+ attendees. 92% C-Suite. Tuesday evening dinners are peer roundtables, topic-selected in advance, no presentations at the table.
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AI Accelerator Full day on August 5. Two tracks by role. Owner-operators build. Senior executives map strategy. Both leave with a plan they can act on. |
Coaching Corner Book 30-min one-on-ones with operators who have already solved what you are working through. Priority booking for confirmed attendees. |
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Topic roundtable dinners 10 dinners Tuesday evening. Pick the conversation that fits your business. No presentations. Peers drive it. |
NYSE closing evening Great Gatsby themed poker night on the NYSE trading floor, August 5. Benefiting the American Heart Association. 300 seats, first-confirmed basis. |
