AI+Automation Systems for MSP

How MSPs Win With AI Operating Systems

• Growth Right Solutions, llc

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We map the shift from selling one-off AI tools to delivering outcome-focused AI operating systems that anchor $25k–$50k contracts. We share the four-part “power cube,” niche strategy, ROI framing, and a practical starting path MSPs can use right away.

• the commoditization of single-use automations
• why clients buy outcomes not workflows
• defining an AI operating system across functions
• the automation power cube: AI, automation, database, front end
• dashboards as trust and pricing leverage
• market stats on SMB adoption and ROI
• picking million-dollar niches and selling the math
• concrete outcome examples for hiring and lead nurture
• platform-driven consulting mindset shift
• a step-by-step build path using no-code, databases, and webhooks


MSPs are guaranteed to miss out on every opportunity they do not take.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, let's unpack this. If you're an MSP managed service provider and you're running lean, maybe under 50 employees, you've been in a tough spot. A real dilemma. The question is, how do you actually capitalize on this whole AI revolution? I mean, without the uh massive distraction and the cost of building a whole RD team from scratch, for most of you, hiring data scientists, dedicating people to custom build, it's just a non-starter. We get it. So we've structured this deep dive for you. Think of it like a feature story in a top business magazine. Our mission today is to map out the high-leverage AI market as it exists right now, where you can find value immediately. And the headline for our story is this the blueprint versus the skyscraper. Why selling AI workflows is out, and AI operating systems are your$50 K-ticket.

SPEAKER_01:

That headline, it really captures the shift that needs to happen. Yeah. And you know, if there's any doubt that your clients, the small and mid-sized businesses, are ready for this kind of big investment conversation. Well, the data is just crystal clear. If we were really laying this out on a magazine page, this next part would be the pull quote, you know, big letters right in the middle. It's this 96% of small business owners plan to adopt emerging technologies, including AI.

SPEAKER_00:

That's staggering.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. This isn't a market that's just thinking about it. They are actively planning to buy. So our whole narrative today is about that strategic shift. You have to move away from selling uh single-use AI agents, the blueprint we're calling it, right. And start selling these deeply integrated long-term AI operating systems. The skyscraper. That's where the real sustained revenue is.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell, Jr.: So let's start with the trap, Act One, the commoditization crisis. It's just shocking how fast value has evaporated in the space. I mean, just look at the difference between early 2024 and today. A little over a year ago, if you could build a simple automation connecting Gmail inquiries to an airtable database, that was wizardry. You could charge a premium for that.

SPEAKER_01:

You really could.

SPEAKER_00:

But what we're seeing in all the sources now is that those days, they're just gone. Selling a single automation, a single agent that does one little thing, it's become what they call commoditized time trading.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell And that's the trap.

SPEAKER_00:

It is. You're trading your valuable skill for a small one-time payment, and then you're right back to hunting for the next gig. That model just doesn't scale. It's not getting you to that$50,000 contract. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01:

And what's fascinating here is the psychology behind why the price is dropping so fast. It's not just that the tools are getting easier to use. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00:

The education, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Trevor Burrus, Exactly. The education is everywhere. So when a client sort of understands what an AI agent is, you know, a prompt, a workflow, they think, huh, I could probably learn to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Or they find someone cheaper online to do just the setup. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01:

Precisely. They'll hire a freelancer to handle just the technical part. And that creates this immense downward pressure on your price.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell But wait a second. If 96% of businesses are planning to buy AI, why isn't that budget translating into high value sales for MSPs? Shouldn't that demand, you know, fight against the commoditization?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Ah, that's the core perception problem. It's all about how you pitch it. When an MSP comes in and, you know, they show off the complex back end, I can just picture it pulling up a screen with a hundred node NEN and workload.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, I've seen that pitch. The client's eyes just glaze over.

SPEAKER_01:

They do. Because they don't see a strategic partner. They see a technical operator selling them a really complicated, maybe even fragile tool.

SPEAKER_00:

They're thinking, what happens if this guy leaves? Who's going to maintain this mess?

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Yeah. And that is why a$5,000 pitch for a cool internal chat bot almost always fails. The client doesn't have a budget for no's, they have a budget for an outcome.

SPEAKER_00:

Such a crucial distinction. Okay, so that's the trap. Selling the blueprint. So how do we get out of it? This brings us to the turning point, the AI operating system.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Exactly. We stop selling a single wall and we start selling the entire building. The AI operating system, the AI OS. That's the new focus. So the definition is it's a deep software platform. It acts as the digital backbone for the client's whole operation, not just one department. Aaron Powell Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's not just helping HR or just helping sales.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Not at all. It integrates AI across all business functions to optimize everything at once, gives them real-time adaptability, better decision making.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell So the key shift then is in the conversation you have with the client. You're not trying to solve a tiny automation problem anymore, like, hey, can you sort these 50 resumes for me? Right. Instead, you're solving a fundamental high-cost business problem, something like we need to cut our time to hire in half and guarantee we land better candidates.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell And that's something companies have a budget for, a big one. They have line items for slashing operational costs or accelerating growth. They do not have a line item for fancy new tool.

SPEAKER_00:

It really is about selling the architecture versus selling a widget, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell That's the perfect way to put it. A single agent is a widget. It's replaceable. A cheaper, better one will come out next month. But an operating system, that's the foundation, the architecture. It gets deeply embedded in how they run their business. When you build that, you're creating something incredibly sticky. It leads to those long-term high-value relationships.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell So if we're going to build the skyscraper, we need a solid foundation. What are the must-have components?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell We call it the AI automation power cube. Every single resilient, flexible AI OS has to have these four components. If you miss one, the whole thing falls apart or just doesn't deliver the value.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Okay, what's number one?

SPEAKER_01:

First is the AI. This is the brain, the engine. It's your large language model, your chat GPT, Gemini, Claude, whatever it is that's powering the decisions.

SPEAKER_00:

Then you need the connections, the wiring.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Component two is automation. These are the no-code tools like NAN, make Zapier. They're the plumbing that connects all the different systems, you know, from their CRM to their email.

SPEAKER_00:

Makes sense. What's third?

SPEAKER_01:

Third, the database, the system's memory. This is where all the data is stored and structured. Could be airtable for a quick start, could be something more robust like Postgres, but you absolutely need it.

SPEAKER_00:

And the fourth piece, you mentioned this is the one that really fixes that perception problem we talked about earlier.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. This is the front end. And it's probably the most underrated but highest leverage part of the whole system. This is the beautiful, simple dashboard the client actually looks at every day. They don't want to see your 100-node workflow.

SPEAKER_00:

No, they want to see the result.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. They want to log in and see a graph showing that their customer support times have dropped 40%. That visibility, that's what builds the trust. That's what justifies the contract.

SPEAKER_00:

And that front end completely changes the pricing conversation. Now you're not charging for set hours. You're charging for infrastructure for a compounded outcome. I mean, we're talking about a huge leap in revenue. The sources mentioned a law firm, right? They had an MSP solve a broader process problem, and it was a minimum contract of$25,000 a year.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the difference. That is building a defensible asset for your client versus just trading your hours. And we connect this back to the bigger SMB market. This isn't some far-off future thing. The market is moving incredibly fast.

SPEAKER_00:

They're catching up.

SPEAKER_01:

They really are. Small businesses aren't five or ten years behind the big enterprises anymore, like in past tech cycles. With AI, they're maybe, maybe a year behind. It's a massive acceleration.

SPEAKER_00:

What do the numbers say?

SPEAKER_01:

The data is wild. 75% of small and growing businesses are already experimenting with AI. 75%. Wow. And look at the growth rate. Small business AI adoption jumped from 6.3% to 8.8% in just six months. That curve is getting steeper.

SPEAKER_00:

And crucially, are they seeing a return on it? Because that's what a client will ask.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the clincher. 91% of SMBs who have adopted AI report that it directly boosts their revenue. The business case is already proven.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so the market is ready. So the next logical question for an MSP is how do I capture this value? How do I avoid competing with everyone?

SPEAKER_01:

Specialization.

SPEAKER_00:

You have to find a niche.

SPEAKER_01:

You have to. Stop chasing every client and start targeting what we're calling million-dollar niches. High margins, standardized processes. Aaron Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_00:

Give me an example. What does that look like?

SPEAKER_01:

Think about coaching businesses. They often have, say, one to five million in annual recurring revenue. Yeah. They have very predictable processes for leads, scheduling, content, perfect for an AIOS.

SPEAKER_00:

Or mid-market companies.

SPEAKER_01:

Or mid-market, absolutely. Five to one hundred million in ARR. For them, a fifty or a hundred thousand dollar AIOS, that's a rounding error in their budget.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But the cost of failure, losing a key person, missing a quarterly goal, that's huge. They happily pay to solve expensive problems.

SPEAKER_00:

And when you talk to them, you have to speak their language, the language of ROI.

SPEAKER_01:

It's everything. You're not selling an HR AI. You're selling a recruiting operating system that's engineered to cut their time to hire from 47 days down to 18.

SPEAKER_00:

And saves them$3,000 per hire. You sell the math.

SPEAKER_01:

You sell the math. The system pays for itself multiple times over.

SPEAKER_00:

Or uh a lead nurturing system. Let's say you have a retail client. They need people to show up for appointments. You deploy an AI voice agent, it confirms appointments, re-engages no shows. What if it could reliably double the number of people who walk through that door? You've just doubled their business's sales capacity.

SPEAKER_01:

Without hiring a single new person. That's the kind of high-impact result that justifies a premium contract, no question.

SPEAKER_00:

So this really requires a different mindset from the MSP. They have to embrace this platform-driven consulting.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell That's the term. You're moving up the value chain. You're not just the person who manages their software licenses anymore. You're becoming a strategic advisor. You're integrating an AI strategy that actually redesigns how they operate. It's about changing how they work, not just the tools they use.

SPEAKER_00:

So for the MS ke listening right now, maybe they're thinking, okay, this sounds amazing, but I'm an IT guy, not a business architect. Where's the practical starting point? How do you actually start building that power cube?

SPEAKER_01:

For a technical start, the path is pretty clear. First, master no-code automation. Get your hands dirty.

SPEAKER_00:

Like make dot com.

SPEAKER_01:

Make.com is a great place to start. It's very visual, very engaging. You just practice connecting systems. Then you learn to store the data from those automations in a database. Airtable is probably the easiest place to begin.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so automation, then database.

SPEAKER_01:

And then the crucial third step is learning to use webhooks. That's how you connect your automation flows to a simple front end, something like livable, or even just a basic web dashboard. That's the hands-on path. That's how you build your first AI power cube.

SPEAKER_00:

So what does this all mean? If we boil it all down, the core lesson here is pretty clear. The biggest opportunity for you, the MSP, is not in selling those individual blueprints, those little workflows.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a race to the bottom.

SPEAKER_00:

It is. The real leverage is in building and selling functional, outcome-focused AI infrastructure, the skyscraper. That strategic pivot is how you escape the commoditization trap, how you command those$25,000,$50,000 a year contracts, and how you become truly indispensable to your client.

SPEAKER_01:

And here's the final provocative thought to leave you with. This really highlights the size of the gap in the market that's waiting for you. So AI agent adoption rates are pretty high. Around 79% of organizations say they've tried. But here's the kicker there's a staggering failure rate.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01:

A huge one. Only 34% of organizations actually succeed in implementing these agented AI systems.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. So two-thirds fail.

SPEAKER_01:

They do. And that massive implementation gap, that canyon between wanting AI and successfully deploying it, that is your multi-million dollar opportunity. The market is littered with failed blueprints. They need someone who can reliably build the skyscraper.

SPEAKER_00:

That implementation gap is your runway. So we'd encourage you to look at your clients, look at those high margin niches you serve, and ask yourself a simple question. What are your unique superpowers in that industry? Now, how can you package that expertise, that measurable outcome into an irresistible AIOS offer? The market is more than ready for the skyscraper. The only question is, are you ready to build it?