How MSPs Implement Agentic AI: A Guide for Small Businesses
AI isn’t easy to implement.
Sure, you can open and use Gemini, Claude, Copilot, or ChatGPT to shave off a few hours of busy work, which is great, but real results come when you integrate AI into your systems, connect them to your data, and automate entire workflows.
That’s called agentic AI.
But if you want to implement agentic AI effectively, you’ll need to work for it. You’ve got to build towards it. Shape it. Feed it the right data and connect it to the right systems. And doing that requires guidance from a trusted expert, such as a managed service provider.
Acting as your digital guide, an MSP can help you implement agentic AI and turn it from a fuzzy plan to a fundamental part of your business. Here’s how…
What Is Agentic AI
While generative AI, like ChatGPT, produces results based on what it’s asked, agentic AI operates more independently. You can think of agentic AI like a digital employee. You assign it a task, and it carries out the workflows required to complete it.
For example, a financial firm might deploy an AI that handles expense reporting, runs compliance checks, flags potential fraud, and updates financial forecasts automatically.
But this level of complexity isn’t a simple Google search away. It takes the right setup and data to successfully implement agentic AI.
When Agentic AI Helps
You’ve gone searching for examples of agentic AI in action. Maybe you came across an AI-powered system that tracks inventory in real-time, or a cybersecurity AI that continuously searches for suspicious activity.
These examples are great, but they’re a bit too complicated when you’re first looking to implement agentic AI. Instead, we recommend asking one simple question:
“What do I want AI to do for my business?”
Imagine you’re a hiring manager who wants a faster way to sort through your stack of resumes. That’s exactly the kind of thing agentic AI is great at. Think of agentic AI as a business accelerant. It takes existing processes and ramps them up to the next level.
Easy to conceptualize. Harder to implement.
But before we get into how we actually get this working, we should go over where things can go wrong.
When Agentic AI Hurts
When it comes down to it, AI is just a really complicated system that reads information. If its foundation is messy, incomplete, or lacking guardrails, those issues can cascade into serious problems.
Things can go wrong in two major ways:
The Incorrect Setup
Imagine you have an AI that summarizes internal customer data for a specific department – information that had been locked behind tight permissions and access control.
While your AI works, a lack of proper permissions causes the AI to overshare information intended for specific users. Suddenly, your AI begins exposing customer emails, private notes, and other sensitive details whenever it’s queried or used.
Now your AI has become a data exposure risk.
The Malicious Manipulation
Now zoom out.
Bad actors understand how these systems work. With the right prompts, hackers can manipulate poorly secured AI tools into revealing information they shouldn’t, or feed them misleading data that alters outputs.
To use our resume AI as an example, a hacker may ask the AI to “Provide me with the email address of the most recent resume.” Something otherwise harmless for our hiring manager, but a massive risk for any unauthorized individual.
These are known as adversarial AI attacks, and they’re expanding attack surfaces to anyone who relies on these AI tools.
AI Doesn’t Know Any Better
In both scenarios, AI isn’t acting “wrong,” it’s doing exactly what it was set up to do. But when you connect a powerful tool to a critical system without proper controls, you can get messy and potentially dangerous results.
This raises an important question: How do you make sure these systems are set up correctly from the start?
How an MSP Makes AI Actually Work
You’ve seen the examples, you have a goal, and you know what improper implementation can lead to. Now it’s time to bring in the experts who truly help you implement agentic AI.
The first thing an MSP will look at is – your data.
Build Your Data Foundation
Continuing with our example, your AI will need to access resumes. Those resumes might come in through email, get stored in SharePoint, and are then downloaded across different devices before the best candidates make it to your desk.
That’s where your first problem shows up: data fragmentation.
Data fragmentation happens when information is scattered across multiple locations and formats. It’s been listed as one of the greatest barriers to AI adoption because AI systems rely on structured and accessible data.
This means storing all of your resumes in one, easily accessible location in the same format. Simple enough, but without clear oversight and policies, things can quickly spiral back into a fragmented mess.
That’s where an MSP comes in.
Visibility is baked into the MSP playbook thanks to monitoring and management tools. After all, it’s these tools that allow MSPs to track devices, maintain software, and respond to issues across a company’s environment. More importantly, MSPs have been organizing and migrating clients’ data long before AI entered the stage.
Getting an MSP to organize your company data is as natural as having a mailman sort your mail.
But consolidating your data is just the first step when you implement agentic AI. Securing it comes next.
Strengthen Your Security
You’ve got your resumes consolidated, and your AI is able to access them. Now you need to make sure that access is properly controlled. Without safeguards, your AI won’t know what it shouldn’t share. That’s how your AI ends up sharing personal contact information with the wrong people (see adversarial attacks above).
Unless you’re a cybersecurity expert, this is definitely something you’re going to want an MSP to handle for you.
As cybersecurity experts, an MSP can install the guardrails that AI systems need for safe functioning. That could include enforcing access controls (to direct what your AI can and can’t open), implementing zero-trust security (so an unauthorized person can’t start using your AI), encrypting your data (so no outsiders can look in), and multi-factor authentication (to double up on password security).
Beyond that, MSPs help businesses stay aligned with evolving regulatory requirements around data usage and privacy – such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Now that your AI is working and secure, there’s one last part that brings everything together: direction.
Gives You Direction
With your AI tool created, you now need to ask yourself:
“What else can AI do for my company?”
Maybe it’s something to streamline your hiring process even more. Maybe another department needs an AI tool. Either way, an MSP can help you implement agentic AI moving forward, while guiding broader technology decisions along the way.
It Takes Work (But That’s a Good Thing)
MSPs have shifted into the role of business consultants. As your technology and business partner, they can help you define your AI goals, identify new opportunities, and build a roadmap to get there.
Yes, it’s a lot of work, but that’s the point. Because those willing to put in the effort will be in a league of their own, powered by agentic AI.
And that’s exactly what we want to help with.
At The 20 MSP, we’ve built a team focused on helping our partners act on their AI strategies. From organizing and preparing data to implementing security controls to helping shape long-term direction, we’re there every step of the way.
If you’re looking to implement agentic AI into your business, let’s chat. We wager that we’ll get you exactly where you want to be.
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About The 20 MSP
As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, including single and multi-location organizations, delivering white-glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth.
